Towards defining leadership competence around the world: What mid-level managers need to know in twelve countries

To further understand the roots of leadership success in the global marketplace, this study compares the importance placed on specific mid-level leadership skills across twelve countries. Supervisors' importance ratings were compared and contrasted. Overall, results showed that two leadership competencies have similar amounts of importance placed upon them regardless of managerial location. However, canonical discriminant functional analysis demonstrated variation. Depending on the country, leadership competence is conceptualized differently. Regional groupings do not accurately measure cultural effects on expectations of mid-level managers. Implications of the findings for HRD are discussed.