Mohammed, Abdul-latif

Studies highlighted the importance of leadership for sustaining social enterprises (SE) social and economic mission pursuit, but very little is known about specific leadership behaviours as necessary for SE social and economic goal pursuit. Moreover, scholars recognise the depth of research on leaders and leadership in the Western and Asian contexts, but the study of leadership in Africa remains nascent. Drawing from theoretical underpinnings and examples from multiple case studies, this qualitative study addresses this gap by exploring how twelve healthcare SEs in Ghana adopt various leadership behaviours to exercise a particular leadership style when aligning employees with seemingly inconsistent social and economic missions. The findings reveal various leadership behaviours linked to transformational, participatory, servant and authentic leadership styles as effective in this process. Moreover, the findings suggest that Ghana's context could influence the adoption of these behaviours. This study discusses theoretical and practical implications for the wider SE literature.