A Strategic Framework for Enhancing Ethical Leadership Through Policy Implementation in South Africa’s Mobile Industry
Abstract
This study developed a strategic framework to enhance ethical leadership by exploring factors affecting the implementation of policies and procedures in the South African mobile industry, with a focus on Cape Town. Using a qualitative, exploratory research design grounded in interpretivism, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 purposively selected management employees from a leading mobile network provider. Thematic analysis revealed that successful policy implementation depends on contextual variables, local capacity, and stakeholder motivation. Barriers included misinterpretation, organisational culture misalignment, and lack of communication. The study proposes a strategic ethical leadership framework centred on training, communication, and leadership modelling to foster ethical behaviour and policy adherence. The framework addresses challenges and provides practical, replicable strategies to embed ethical leadership within the South African mobile telecommunications context.
References
Alford, J. (2020). Public Sector Strategy: Realizing Public Value through Design, Governance and Outcomes. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Bason, C. (2021). Leading Public Sector Innovation: Co-Creating for a Better Society (2nd ed.). Bristol: Policy Press.
Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2022). Thematic Analysis: A Practical Guide. London: SAGE Publications.
Brown, M. E., & Treviño, L. K. (2020). Ethical leadership: A review and future research agenda. The Leadership Quarterly, 31(6), 101388.
Creswell, J. W., & Poth, C. N. (2018). Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design: Choosing Among Five Approaches (4th ed.). Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications.
Denzin, N. K., & Lincoln, Y. S. (2023). The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Research (6th ed.). Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications.
Engelbrecht, A. S., Heine, G., & Mahembe, B. (2022). Revisiting integrity and ethical leadership in dynamic organisations. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 43(4), 475–492.
Etikan, I., Musa, S. A., & Alkassim, R. S. (2016). Comparison of convenience sampling and purposive sampling. American Journal of Theoretical and Applied Statistics, 5(1), 1–4.
Flick, U. (2018). An Introduction to Qualitative Research (6th ed.). London: SAGE Publications.
Gill, P., Stewart, K., Treasure, E., & Chadwick, B. (2008). Methods of data collection in qualitative research: interviews and focus groups. British Dental Journal, 204(6), 291–295.
Lincoln, Y. S., & Guba, E. G. (1985). Naturalistic Inquiry. Newbury Park: SAGE Publications.
Nowell, L. S., Norris, J. M., White, D. E., & Moules, N. J. (2017). Thematic analysis: Striving to meet the trustworthiness criteria. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 16(1), 1–13.
Orb, A., Eisenhauer, L., & Wynaden, D. (2001). Ethics in qualitative research. Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 33(1), 93–96.
Park, E. J. (2022). Ethical decision-making models in organisational leadership. Journal of Business Ethics Education, 19(1), 52–66.
Sabatier, P. A., & Weible, C. M. (2021). The Advocacy Coalition Framework: Innovations and clarifications. In: P.A. Sabatier & C.M. Weible (eds.), Theories of the Policy Process (4th ed.), pp. 189–220. New York: Routledge.
Saunders, M., Lewis, P., & Thornhill, A. (2019). Research Methods for Business Students (8th ed.). Harlow: Pearson Education.
Sharma, A., Agrawal, R., & Khandelwal, U. (2021). Strategic approaches to ethical leadership in emerging markets: A South African case. International Journal of Ethics and Systems, 37(3), 421–437.
Swedberg, R. (2020). The Art of Social Theory. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Van Manen, M. (2021). Phenomenology of Practice: Meaning-Giving Methods in Phenomenological Research and Writing (2nd ed.). London: Routledge.
Wahyuni, D. (2012). The research design maze: Understanding paradigms, cases, methods and methodologies. Journal of Applied Management Accounting Research, 10(1), 69–80.
Yuan, L., Chia, R., & Gosling, J. (2023). Confucian virtue ethics and ethical leadership in modern China. Journal of Business Ethics, 182(1), 119–133.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Shoayb Sheik Emam, Charleen Jackson, Elroy Denver Barry
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
The author fully assumes the content originality and the holograph signature makes him responsible in case of trial.
