Date of Conferral
2016
Degree
Doctor of Business Administration (D.B.A.)
School
Business Administration
Advisor
John House
Abstract
The ability to sustain small businesses operating in war-torn areas is important not only to the business owners, but also to foreign communities receiving United States contract services for recovery from widespread decimation. While all small businesses address a wide range of issues, businesses operating in war-torn areas also face cultural diversity, local regulations, and potential threats to employee safety. The conceptual framework for this exploratory multiple case study was transformational-transactional leadership theory, guiding the research to discover traits and strategies of successful leaders in the population of small businesses that were profitable beyond 5 years while operating in the war-torn area of Afghanistan. In addition to participant questionnaires and review of the businesses' balance sheets, income statements, and tax returns, data were collected from 3 CEO participants in face-to-face, semistructured interviews. Participants' verbatim comments were analyzed via thematic analysis. The coding system evolved from applying preliminary codes to a small sample of data and reiteratively refining the codes as prominent themes emerged. Participants identified unique challenges of working with a multinational workforce. There were 3 primary findings: successful leaders used elements of both transformational and transactional leadership; the most important strategy was gaining knowledge of regional infrastructure and customs; and successful leaders used management assistance. These findings may contribute to social change by prompting small business leaders to re-examine their perspectives on workforce diversity; they will also enable leaders who provide services overseas to realize profitable business goals while contributing to foreign local economies.
Recommended Citation
Barton, Eric Wayne, "Perceived Best Practices of Small Business Executives in War Zones" (2016). Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies. 2470.
https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/2470
Included in
Business Administration, Management, and Operations Commons, Management Sciences and Quantitative Methods Commons