As South Africa is a multicultural country with an extremely diverse workforce, it is imperative that leaders in South Africa have the skills to effectively manage diversity to facilitate efficient follower commitment, as well as the opportunity for human capacity and organisational development (Getz & Roy 2013:1; Rosenberg, Lotz-Sisitka & Ramsarup 2018:250). Leadership in a developing nation such as South Africa is underdeveloped in comparison to First World nations due to insufficient academic provision for leadership development, as well as a lack of leadership training (El-Gohary & Eid 2013:180). Leadership development is vital as it enriches leadership capabilities which are necessary for improved performance and involves influencing subordinates towards organisational goals (Dartey-Baah & Addo 2019:148). El-Gohary and Eid (2013:180) further state that young leaders have the potential to facilitate change and innovation in business environments, thus improving economic growth and organisational efficiency. As South African students studying within the field of business management on undergraduate level are between the age of 18 and 22, these students could be seen as the business leaders of tomorrow. This age group also classifies these students as part of Generation Z, and thus their perceptions and preferences regarding leadership in the future have become critical factors to take into consideration when focusing on South Africa’s future business leaders (Ramachandiran & Dhanapal 2018:2117).

In terms of how leadership has a current impact on businesses in South Africa, the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor of 2017/2018 (2018) states that, amongst other reasons, small- and medium-sized businesses in South Africa are neither surviving nor growing because of a lack of leadership. Furthermore, the lack of academic provision of leadership development in terms of the youth of South Africa, especially in terms of Generation Z, is a significant problem, which creates a need for decision-makers throughout the country (Crowne 2019:2). These decision-makers will have to enhance the collaboration between higher education institutions and businesses to promote the development of leadership, as well as convey the important contribution which leadership makes towards future prosperity for individuals and businesses (Feagan 2018:681). It has, therefore, been suggested that there is a need to expand leadership development training, not only to South African businesses but also to universities that have been called upon to produce a new generation of sustainability leaders (Feagan 2018:682). This expansion could possibly create efficient future leaders and thus might reduce the high failure rate experienced by small, medium and micro businesses (Isa et al. 2018:149; Ladzani, Smith & Pretorius 2012:3989).

As South Africa has a very diverse workforce, it is important to provide an understanding of the multi-dimensional concept of leadership and what it entails, through a literature review. Rahman (2016:207) noted that the study of leadership and leadership theories reveals a lack of consensus on the idea of leadership and divides experts, business organisations and government organisations. Leadership, in the traditional sense, is seen as being a hierarchy (i.e. top-down) management approach where decisions and actions are primarily made and discussed at top-level management and carried out through the lower levels (Denning 2015:14). A prominent finding when investigating leadership literature in a business or organisational context is that of the large number of leadership styles. However, for the aim of this study, the four predominant styles will be focused on and include (1) charismatic leadership, (2) servant leadership, (3) transactional leadership and (4) transformational leadership. Getz and Roy (2013:2) noted that, due to a variety of cultural norms, there is a lack of clarity as to which leadership style is prominent in South Africa. Along with these leadership styles, various traits and characteristics need to be taken into consideration, and even more so in terms of how South Africa’s current youth (i.e. especially Generation Z), as potential future business leaders, would interpret such information (Abbasiyannejad et al. 2015:71; Bornman & Puth 2017:6; Deverachetty 2012:63; Grow & Yang 2018:9).

Taking this into account, it is also important to determine how the four dominant styles of leadership differ between genders based on their perceptions. Males are perceived to make use of a transactional leadership style, while females are perceived to utilise transformational leadership styles. However, it is perceived that males, rather than females, are more effective leaders (Grow & Yang 2018:9; Kaiser & Wallace 2016:73; Lai 2011:4).

Within the literature review, key terms and concepts were investigated, which include aspects such as defining leadership, focusing on different leadership styles, traits and characteristics (including charismatic, servant, transformational and transactional leadership), Generation Z and gender-based perceptions of leadership, before unpacking the study’s hypotheses.

Although the definition for leadership is seen as non-concrete and various elements form part of how leadership is defined, for the basis of this study the definition compiled by Winston and Patterson (2006:7) will be utilised as it provides an integrative definition of leadership and incorporates what a leader is and the roles that a leader is involved in. The definition describes a leader as (Winston & Patterson 2006):

From this definition it can be note that leadership: (1) requires a leader who can motivate and inspire others to achieve organisational goals and (2) requires followers who have the necessary skills, abilities and willingness to successfully meet organisational goals and objectives in a coordinated manner. Dartey-Baah (2015:100) adds to this notion by stating that leadership is about initiation; it involves people (i.e. followers) and it focuses on providing direction to resources, behaviours and energies towards goal achievement. Therefore, through a leader–follower relationship, organisational missions and objectives are reached through the process of leadership. Bornman and Puth (2017:7) state that the process of leadership changes constantly, and individuals experience and perceive unique leadership moments recurrently; therefore, it is important to note that leadership is implemented in various ways based on a leader’s characteristics or traits, as well as the leadership style chosen by the specific leader.

Although previous studies have identified a large number of leadership styles; the predominant styles include (1) charismatic leadership, (2) servant leadership, (3) transactional leadership and (4) transformational leadership; the styles have been selected for the purpose of this study. Each leadership style is different and requires specific roles to be undertaken by the leaders (Gachter et al. 2012:953; Schyns et al. 2012:1). Although not forming part of this study, each of these leadership styles will also have to be adapted when taking into consideration how global developments such as the Fourth Industrial Revolution unfolds, and how culturally diverse business associates or teams will have to be able to effectively manage themselves while being spread out geographically (Ardito et al. 2019:323; Nascimento et al. 2019:607).

Furthermore, it is evident in previous studies that a leader’s effectiveness and success are dependent on his or her personality traits. The trait theory mentions that leadership is solely dependent on a leader’s characteristics or personal traits (Bolton, Brunnermeier & Veldkamp 2013:515; Judge et al. 2002:765). However, Hughes, Ginnett and Curphy, and Yukl and Van Fleet (in Judge et al. 2002:765) argue that traits may differ according to the situation. It can, therefore, be concluded that each leader possesses a set of personal traits, using specific traits for certain styles of leadership.

According to Ramachandiran and Dhanapal (2018:2117), individuals born into the world of technology between 1995 and 2012 are classified as the cohort Generation Z. Generation Z are children of millennials (i.e. Generation Y) and possess qualities such as being loyal, thoughtful, responsible and determined, while being less motivated by money and more entrepreneurial than millennials (Chillakuri & Mahanandia 2018:34). Bencsik, Horváth-Csikós and Jubász (2016:93) point out that these individuals are also known as ‘the net generation’, the ‘iGeneration’ or ‘digital natives’. In some cases even referred to as ‘screen-agers’, these individuals also have characteristics which include that they are independent in nature but can collaborate or connect well with others, can multitask, not afraid of continuous changes, are flexible in terms of their workplace, have experienced global exposure and are seen as technology proficient.

Furthermore, as Generation Z has been exposed to technology from an early age, this has had a major effect on higher education institutions and businesses’ working environments. These sectors have had to go through a paradigm shift with the advancements of technology challenging the traditional system of learning, as well as the traditional workplace environment. Instead of Generation Z individuals asking where they see themselves in their respective organisations, these individuals are asking what a business or organisation could offer them in terms of growth opportunities or different experiences (Lidija et al. 2017:5).

For leaders to influence their followers, it is imperative that leaders create a perception that will have a strong influence on how their followers perceive them. Lindsay and Norman (in El-Gohary & Eid 2013:183) define perceptions as ‘the process by which organisms interpret and organise sensation to produce a meaningful experience of the world’. Along this notion, Getz and Roy (2013:2) conducted research investigating the perceptions of university students regarding which leadership style they prefer and found that university students favour the transformational leadership style. Investigating the viewpoints and opinions regarding leadership of undergraduate Generation Z students studying business management can therefore assist to determine their perceptions towards leadership (Shaked, Gross & Glanz 2019:294).

Individuals are able to categorise a leader as effective or ineffective based on their perceptions towards leadership, and thus these perceptions play an instrumental role across numerous levels, namely: the societal, organisational, interpersonal and individual levels of how males and females perceive leadership (Lai 2011:1; Shaked et al. 2019:294). A form of perception that is most commonly formed when addressing leadership is the stereotyping of individuals into groups based on their gender, and this influence of stereotyping of males and females could enable an understanding as to why people find it difficult to accept females as leaders and see them as ineffective (Grow & Yang 2018:9). In society, leadership is perceived to consist of masculine traits such as ambition, assertiveness, control, persuasion, aggression and distancing one’s personal self from their role as a leader. These traits are perceived to be needed for success and are strongly associated with men rather than with women (Lai 2011:5; Shaked et al. 2019:294).

In contrast, society perceives females as having communal qualities, such as warmth, selflessness, nurturing nature, compassion, participative qualities and an emphasis on people skills which are not perceived as qualities for effective leadership (Eagly & Carli 2003:818; Grow & Yang 2018:9; Kaiser & Wallace 2016:73). This gives rise to the phenomenon of role incongruity for female leaders, as they are less likely to fit the conventional model of leadership and are discriminated against due to the perception that they do not exhibit more traditional masculine traits (Eagly & Carli 2003:818; Lai 2011:6; Scheepers, Douman & Moodley 2018:467).

As transactional leadership is seen as a very effective and important leadership style, it guarantees that the objectives of leaders are met. On the other hand, transformational leadership can be seen as even more important as the objectives of the leader are met above and beyond expectations and done by building a strong base of employee motivation (Afshari & Gibson 2016:509; Breevaart et al. 2014:139). Thus, the first hypothesis that was formulated states:

However, it has been noted that females in a position of leadership exhibit transformational leadership behaviour as it exemplifies perceived feminine types of behaviour and females have a tendency to exhibit more emotional intelligence than males (Jogulu & Wood 2008:604; Lopez-Zafra, Garcia-Retamero & Martos 2012:98–99; Shaked et al. 2019:294). Eagly et al. (in Eagly & Carli 2003:817) state that females also engage in a dimension of transactional leadership behaviour, namely contingent reward. Therefore, transformational leadership, along with the dimension of contingent reward, is more associated with female leaders, thus leading to the suggestion proposed by the author that there is an existence of female advantage (Lai 2011:5).

Male leaders, however, are associated with transactional leadership and are more likely to exhibit active or passive management by exception, as this dimension is congruent with masculine behaviour (Eagly & Carli 2003:817; Grow & Yang 2018:9). The following two hypotheses are thus stated:

Followers only react positively to contingent reward and negatively to the other transactional leadership dimension, management by exception (Grow & Yang 2018:9; Jogulu & Wood 2008:603). Therefore, from previous studies, it was found that transformational leadership is associated with a more effective leadership style than transactional leadership.

Now that the hypotheses have been formulated, the methodology section focuses on the sampling method, sample design, research design, the target population and units of analysis that was employed in this study.

After an initial pre-test of the questionnaire was completed with a convenience sample of 10 undergraduate students at a tertiary institution in South Africa, the data for the main study were collected by means of a self-completion questionnaire. The questionnaires were administered and distributed in the last 10–15 min of undergraduate business management lectures at a tertiary institution in South Africa. No incentives were given to the students to complete the survey, and this was the most appropriate method due to the cost effectiveness and time constraints (Cooper & Schindler 2014:228). Furthermore, this method has been used in previous research studies by various authors and researchers (Getz & Roy 2013:1–10; Gird & Bagraim 2008:711–724; McDowell, Huang & Caza 2018:227; Munyaka et al. 2017:1; Ramachandiran & Dhanapal 2018:2117).

The results of H₁ show that both male and female Generation Z students perceive it to be more important for business leaders to exhibit feminine traits. This is contradictory to the results found by Eagly and Carli (2003:818–819), Grossman, Komai and Jensen (2015:368–388), Javidan, Bullough and Dibble (2016:59–73), Lai (2011:5), which state that masculine traits such as ambition, assertiveness, control, persuasion, aggression and the act of distancing one’s personal self from their leadership role, are perceived to be more important for success. The study found that male Generation Z students perceived feminine traits to be more important than masculine traits. This could be attributed to the increase in preference for the transformational leadership style, which embodies feminine traits (Grossman et al. 2015:368–388; Jogulu & Wood 2008:604; Lopez-Zafra et al. 2012:98–99). This increase in preference for the transformational leadership style was made evident when testing H₂ and H_3. The study found that the total sample perceived effective business leaders to exhibit stronger transformational leadership style characteristics than transactional leadership style characteristics.

The findings for H₂, which measure Generation Z females’ perceptions relating to the transformational leadership style, are not consistent with previous studies. The previous studies found that female leaders are strongly associated with the transformational leadership style as it is congruent with feminine traits (Javidan et al. 2016:59–73; Jogulu & Wood 2008:604; Lai 2011:5; Lopez-Zafra et al. 2012:98–99). However, the study found that male Generation Z students perceive effective business leaders to exhibit a transformational leadership style slightly more than female Generation Z students. The small mean difference of 0.01 that was found, however, is not statistically significant and therefore does not indicate a real difference between the male and female Generation Z students from which the sample was drawn. Therefore, the findings from H₂ determine that male and female Generation Z students do not differ in their perceptions of the extent to which business leaders exhibit transformational leadership style characteristics.

The same mean difference of 0.01 between male and female Generation Z students’ perceptions was found when testing H₃. This indicates that male Generation Z students showed a slightly stronger perception for the transactional leadership style than female Generation Z students. However, the mean value is not statistically significant and therefore does not indicate a real difference between the male and female Generation Z students from which the sample was drawn. These findings therefore determine that, similar to the transformational leadership style, male and female Generation Z students do not differ in their perceptions of the extent to which business leaders exhibit transactional leadership style characteristics. These findings are contradictory to previous studies which found that male leaders are strongly associated with transactional leadership as this leadership style is congruent with masculine behaviour (Javidan et al. 2016:59–73; Grossman et al. 2015:368–388; Eagly & Carli 2003:817).

In terms of tertiary institutions in South Africa, other higher education institutions and businesses, the results of this study provide guidance for the development of leadership, as well as convey the importance of leadership towards future prosperity for our country as a whole. Male and female Generation Z students did not differ significantly on any of the constructs. Transformational leadership was found to be favoured over transactional leadership by a slight margin by both gender groups, and feminine traits were found to be favoured over masculine traits. Therefore, given that transformational leadership has been most frequently cited in literature as the prominent and successful leadership style of the 21st century and that it exemplifies feminine traits, all leadership courses and training workshops should be aimed at encouraging future leaders to develop a transformational leadership style.

Therefore, tertiary institutions in South Africa and other higher education institutions should develop and implement leadership courses throughout all business-related degrees in order to enhance the students’ leadership skills and aid them in their progression towards transformational leadership. Tertiary education institutions should therefore also expose students to more leadership development in a business context by conducting workshops with business leaders in different industries in order to broaden the students’ perceptions of leadership.

The majority of the limitations of this study relate to data collection and interpretation. Firstly, this study was conducted on the main campus of one tertiary education institution using a nonprobability sampling method. This means that the probability of any element of the target population being chosen is unknown and cannot be calculated (Cooper & Schindler 2014:343). Therefore, it cannot be established as to what degree the sample represents the target population. Thus, the results of this study cannot be generalised to other undergraduate Generation Z students studying business management at other tertiary education institutions in South Africa. Secondly, as the study focused solely on undergraduate students, the results of the study cannot necessarily be generalised to another context such as postgraduate students. Thirdly, there is a limitation regarding the MLQ measurement instrument which was used to measure transformational and transactional leadership. The reliability of this scale could not be compared to the study that the scale was adapted from, as the study did not use a Cronbach’s Alpha to test the reliability of the scale. The MLQ measurement instrument has, however, been used in numerous studies (Bass et al. 2013:207–218; Goswami et al. 2016:1083–1099; Van Jaarsveld et al. 2019:604–613).

Furthermore, there is a limitation regarding the measurement instrument used to measure the characteristics and traits of a good business leader. The reliability of this scale could not be assessed. Thus, the characteristics and traits scale was assumed to have reliability. However, the Cronbach’s Alpha value for this scale was below the recommended value of 0.7 which could not be improved by deleting items from the scale. Therefore, this is a limitation on this study. Furthermore, the reliability of the scale used to measure masculine and feminine traits of a good business leader could not be compared to the study that the scale was adapted from as the study used percentages to test for reliability.

As the study’s questionnaire was based on specific research objectives focusing on only certain leadership styles (i.e. the preference of transactional- and transformational leadership), it is recommended that for future studies it should be tested as the following: Generation Z students differ in their perceptions regarding the extent to which effective business leaders exhibit charismatic-, servant-, transactional- and transformational leadership styles. Furthermore, future research should expand the study’s target population to postgraduate students to increase the accuracy of the results in relation to the population. It is also recommended that future studies survey business leaders along with students in order to obtain a comparison between these two groups. This will allow researchers to further determine if students understand leadership in a business context. Moreover, if this study proves to be successful, it can be conducted on a national scale to improve its accuracy and it could further incorporate an additional variable such as culture, as South Africa is a culturally diverse nation.

As the importance of gender equality and the fair distribution of opportunities in the context of organisations are increasing, correct leadership styles and traits are becoming a critical aspect to organisational success. As undergraduate business management students at tertiary academic institutions are the next generation of possible business leaders; current leadership education and training should be aimed at developing potential future leaders who practice the correct leadership styles while implementing the correct leadership traits.

As leadership styles such as the transformational leadership style is perceived as preferred amongst undergraduate Generation Z students and as these future business leaders are constantly developing and transforming within their current educational environment, tertiary institutions need to implement the correct leadership training and make sure that these students get exposed to not just correct theories and literature but also to industry and practice. This type of leadership development, along with the inclusion of feminine traits (such as warmth, selflessness, a nurturing nature, compassion, participative qualities and an emphasis on people skills), could possibly create a stronger base for individuals who could become successful business leaders in future; it will help gather understanding about how they should conduct themselves within a competitive business work environment to ensure organisational success.

This study can contribute to the success that leadership education can have on understanding how leaders should act or behave, as well as effective leadership training and development. This study will also help to understand the interdependence of leadership development and gender-based traits which in general, as well as from a South African perspective, has to be further investigated as there is a lack of literature within this field.

If the correct and relevant leadership training and development is correctly implemented at earlier levels of education (i.e. during undergraduate studies), then potential future leaders might also later be able to develop their own followers and inspire or motivate them to develop as leaders themselves. This will in turn possibly craft a conducive leadership development environment in which transformational leadership and gender-based leadership traits can be integrated successfully to lead to organisational effectiveness, efficiency and success.