The relationship between some demographic variables and leadership effectiveness among local government managers in South Africa

Scholars have argued that demographic variables are critical factors that could also be used together with other factors to explain the variances in the behaviour of effective leaders. They are very significant to virtually all kinds of modern organizations. The current workforce is increasingly getting younger and highly educated. And an increasing proportion of female managers are also found in today’s organizations. The present study therefore, explored the relationship between some demographic variables and leadership effectiveness among local government managers in Eastern Cape Province. The data were collected from a sample of 222 local government managers using a selfdesigned biographical and occupational data questionnaire, and a leadership effectiveness questionnaire adopted from Fleenor and Bryant. Leadership effectiveness was measured as a unitary concept. The results indicated that gender, age and education have a positive and significant relationship with leadership effectiveness. The present study therefore, recommends that, local government departments should consider these demographic variables when assigning leadership responsibilities to managers.


INTRODUCTION
An understanding of leadership effectiveness often varies among different scholars (Avolio et al., 2003;Yukl, 2006).However, it is perceived globally, as something critical for the success of an organisation (Phipps and Prieto, 2011).Scholars have spent more than a century trying to understand the characteristics of effective leaders (Zaccaro, 2007).Waldman et al. (2001) however argue that this variable continues to attract a lot of interest in scholarly research.Globalization and the challenges of working in the global economy have only helped to increase this interest.Ineffective leadership destroys the human spirit that is critical in ensuring that the organisation is effective (Alimo-Metcalfe and Alban-Metcalfe, 2003).Effective leadership in organisation is also understood as the relative lack of interpersonal weaknesses (Collins, 2001).Furthermore, it also involves having knowledge, and understanding of organisational dynamics and people.Scholars have argued that demographic variables could also be used with other factors to explain the differences in the attributes of effective leaders (Tsui and O'Reilly, 1989).As such, some demographic variables such as gender, age and education can have a significant influence on leadership effectiveness (Chen and Francesco, 2000).These changes challenge contemporary organisational research to explore whether established relationships between these variables exists (Maurer, 2001;Warr and Fay, 2001).

Statement of the problem
Several factors account for differences in the attitudes and behaviour of effective leaders (Mitchell, 2000).The level of education, gender and age was also identified as important determinants.The scholar argues that these demographic variables influence people's values, wants and needs, and makes them think and behave differently (Mitchell, 2000).The South African labour market is becoming flooded with people with high education.Scholars argue that managers are selected mainly because of their formal education and previous merits (Hooijberg et al., 1997).This has created a challenge for organisations in identifying effective leaders among people with seemingly good qualities.These credential requirements are seldom important, and too often, people with high education levels do not have the competencies to match with the job (Guion and Highhouse, 2004).Some scholars argue that without educated, skilled and motivated public managers, efficiency and effectiveness will never be attained (Gildenhuys, 2004).However, the scholar argues that, it is possible that leaders can be educated and learn by experience to become effective public managers.The personal qualities for effective managers include among others, intellectual capacity (Gildenhuys, 2004).Ineffective leadership destroys the human spirit that is critical for ensuring organizational effectiveness (Alimo-Metcalfe and Alban-Metcalfe, 2003).The human outcomes of ineffective leadership include among others, employee stress, disenchantment, lack of creativity, cynicism, high staff turnover and poor performance (Fincham and Rhodes, 2005).The present study therefore, seeks to explore the relationship between some demographic variables and leadership effectiveness among Local Government managers.

Objectives of the study
1. To determine the relationship between gender and leadership effectiveness Bell et al. 51 2. To determine the relationship between age and leadership effectiveness 3. To determine the relationship between education and leadership effectiveness

Significance of the study
Establishing the relationship between some demographic variables and leadership effectiveness could be of benefit to organisations because they can be used together with other factors as predictors of leaders' behaviour.The present study focused on the three most commonly examined demographic variables of age, education and gender (Murphy and Ensher, 1999).These demographic variables are relevant because they are easily measurable attributes (Somech, 2003).They are associated with the underlying work-related attributes (Jackson, 1996).And they have been shown to influence a leader's work behaviour (Epitropaki and Martin, 1999;Yukl and Fu, 1999).Moreover, they influence work perceptions and attitudes through interpersonal attraction (Tsui and O'Reilly, 1989).As such, they are a critical consideration to be included in the multiple factors that measure leadership effectiveness (Somech, 2003).
Understanding this relationship can also help organisations improve their leadership development process.Thus, they will make effective development decisions of people suitable for leadership positions (Guion and Highhouse, 2004).Accordingly, the foregoing extant arguments suggest the significance of some demographic variables on leadership effectiveness processes in organisations.

Social role theory
This theory argues that society prescribes different roles to members of different groups, and such roles generally coincide with power and status norms.When work roles break with social roles or traditional hierarchies, this conflict can lead to discomforting environment for the manager (Eagly, 1987).On the one side, when employees are older than their managers, such employees are more likely to resent and to disrespect their managers.On the other side, younger managers may defer older employees and may refrain from exercising their authority in order to avoid discomfort and disapproval.As such, these age differences dynamics have effect on leadership effectiveness (Eagly, 1987).

Social identity
Scholars adopt the social identity theory to understand the effects of workplace diversity (Northcraft et al., 1995).
However, a social identity theory has been used to predict and understand how age and gender diversity have influence on managers' attitude and behaviour (Jackson et al., 2003).In explaining the effects that age and gender diversity have on a manager's behaviour, the basic argument could be that manager's similarity on visible and relatively immutable traits influence manager's feelings of identification (Tsui et al., 1992).Gender is one obvious example used to illustrate how self-categorisation may increase or decrease the attractiveness of a group to a manager (Hoffman and Hurst, 1990).As such, it affects the interpersonal relations between the two groups.
Effective leadership in organisations is also understood by the relative lack of interpersonal weaknesses (Collins, 2001).During the process of self-categorisation, managers classify themselves and others into social categories using attributes such as age, and gender (Williams and O'Reilly, 1998).This process allows a person to define him or herself in terms of social identity, and that leads to in-group or outgroup distinctions (Tajfel and Turner, 1986).Furthermore, individuals desire to maintain a high level of self-esteem and a positive self-identity (Tajfel, 1981;Tajfel and Turner, 1986).Individuals may seek to maximize intergroup distinctiveness in order to maintain a positive self-identity, and thus viewing individuals from other groups as less trustworthy, honest or even co-operative than members of their own group (Kramer, 1991).

Situational leadership
The situational leadership theory is regarded as a contingency theory because it focuses on effective leadership behaviour for a specific situation (Hersey and Blanchard, 1988).
These scholars argue that leaders are effective to the extent that they are able to behave appropriately in the situation they encounter.As such, leadership effectiveness is the outcome of interplay between leader behaviour and situation.This therefore, depends on the maturity of subordinates, their readiness to take responsibility for their behaviour.This in turn, is hinged on task and relationship behaviour.Task behaviour relates to the extent to which subordinates have the appropriate job knowledge and skill, and their need for guidance and direction while relationship behaviour denotes the extent to which subordinates are motivated to work without having a leader's guidance, and their need for emotional support.A combination of high and low levels of these individual dimensions creates four different types of work situations, each of which is associated with a certain leadership behaviour that is most effective.Thus, this theory explains leadership effectiveness from a contingency perspective (Hersey and Blanchard, 1988).

Path-Goal theory
The Path-goal theory proposes that subordinates are motivated by a leader only to the extent that they perceive this individual (e.g., age, gender and education) as helping them to attain important goals (House, 1971).The significance of the theory is the notion that effective leaders behave in ways that support subordinates situations and capabilities in a way that covers up for their weaknesses and it increases subordinates satisfaction and their performance (House, 1996).This theory contends that subordinates react favourably to the leader only if they perceive this individual as helping them to achieve their goals by clarifying the actual paths to such rewards.Thus, effective leaders simplify the path taken by subordinates to reach their destinations, and to help them do so.The theory therefore, suggests that leaders are effective to the extent that they help subordinates achieve organisational goals, and goal achievement is instrumental to performance.

Gender and Leadership effectiveness
The value of gender in our everyday life and society has increased substantially (Ijeoma, 2010).It was for the first time brought about in the 1970s by the feminist scholars.The underlying reason was to use gender as a measure for understanding the fact that women do not behave like men in all situations, and most importantly, that the position of women in society varies considerably (Ijeoma, 2010).A scholar argues that leadership has been explained mainly in terms of using male role models (Gedney, 1999).Consequently, this has created a gap in the development of many potential senior female leaders.However, with the advent of women in organizations, research on leadership has thus also included both feminine and masculine leadership behaviours (Deal and Stevenson, 1998).Male and female managers have been found to be possessing different leadership attributes which are the characteristic of their gender (Heilman et al., 1995).The present South African working environment gives men and women similar chances to move into leadership positions (Employment Equity Act 55, 1998).However, the challenge is that these positions are still generally stereotyped and therefore, are not taken seriously by women.Leadership effectiveness is not gender sensitive.It is the behaviour of the leader that is important for a leadership position.There are many characteristics that are found in both males and females that put them in favourable positions to become effective leaders (Gedney, 1999).Many people believed that leadership is commonly a man's territory (Kolb and Judith, 1997).If women in organizations become leaders, it is imperative that they are taken as individuals who can lead others effectively (Kanter, 1977).Both men and women have more similarities than differences in their leadership behaviours, and are equally effective.Although these groups are more similar than different, women are still having less chances of being selected as leaders.And that similar leadership behaviour is often perceived as more positively when shown by a male than a female.There is no gender difference in the group perceptions of leadership effectiveness (Gedney, 1999).Feminine traits do not lend themselves to leading to women viewing themselves as effective leaders.Only the females with strong masculine attributes view themselves as effective leaders most of the times.
Although women are accepted in leadership positions, many men still believe that leadership is their domain.The only reason why women are in the leadership positions at all today is completely because of civilian political pressure.Stereotypes often work to the disadvantage of women.They do not satisfy with the perceivers' characteristics of effective leaders (Gedney, 1999).Consequently, women are not considered for promotion and developmental opportunities in favour of men who are more often viewed as associated with effective leadership.There are still many challenges which women must overcome first in order for them to be considered as effective leaders.The gender role stereotypes suggest that female leadership behaviour is interpersonal-oriented and collaborative while male leadership behaviour is task-oriented and dominating (Cann and Siegfried, 1990).Women are thus viewed as more participative while men are viewed as more directive.The tendency to devalue female leaders is higher when women are behaving autocratically than when they are behaving in accordance with any other style (Eagly and Johnson, 1990).Female leader behaviours may be critically examined because of their role conflict while men are allowed to lead in different masculine or feminine ways without facing negative reactions because their styles of leading are generally viewed as legitimate (Pratch and Jacobowitz, 1996).Therefore, male leaders are not generally limited by the attitudinal bias of their work mates.They also argue that if there is a generally accepted level of competence, many of the behaviours whether they are congruent or divergent from the male gender role, are highly likely to be accepted in male leaders.
Consequently, female leaders are relatively limited in the behaviours that may be seen as effective because of the conflict they face as women and leaders (Pratch and Jacobowitz, 1996).Because females are largely viewed as being more change oriented, they are more accepted as effective leaders when organizations need change leaders in today global business environment where change is relentless and inevitable.These arguments therefore, lead to the following hypothesis: H 1: Gender is associated with leadership effectiveness among local government managers.

Age and Leadership effectiveness
The increasing number of young managers in different organisations has heightened more interest in the relationship between age and leadership behaviour among scholars (Zacher and Frese, 2009).Most scholars examined the impact of age on different facets of subordinates' behaviour (Zacher et al., 2010).The studies on the relationship of age and leadership behaviours have been neglected.And only limited leadership researches have been conducted in leadership behaviour that examined age as an independent variable (Zacher et al., 2011).Scholars believe that the combination of age and age-related developmental tasks such as generativity have a significant influence on leadership behaviours and its outcomes (Peterson and Duncan, 2007).Scholars also argue that a leader's age and leadership effectiveness may not be exactly related (Ng and Feldman, 2008).The few available research findings on the leader age and leadership effectiveness have generally confirmed that only insignificant relationships have been found (Vecchio and Anderson, 2009).Vecchio (1993) argues that the leader's age and subordinates' satisfaction with the leader are not significantly associated.Other scholars further argue that there is an insignificant relationship between the leader's age and the subordinates' satisfaction, and with subordinates' work commitment (Barbuto et al., 2007).However, there is a significant relationship between leader's age and overall leader effectiveness.According to the generativity theory (Erikson, 1950), leader generativity is the leaders' behaviours directed at developing and managing subordinates of the younger age, while focusing less on their own needs, career developments and accomplishments.Leader generativity is therefore; more significant for developing leadership effectiveness at older than at younger ages because subordinates normatively believe that older and experienced leaders should behave in generative ways and this cannot be done by younger leaders (Sheldon and Kasser, 2001).The integrated impact of the leader's age and leader generativity on leadership effectiveness is facilitated by the subordinates' own perceptions of the type of leader-member exchange (LMX) relationship, which is an important leadership process factor (Gerstner and Day, 1997).Scholars also argue that generative attitudes and behaviours develop from young leaders to old and experienced leaders (Sheldon and Kasser, 2001;Stewart and Vandewater, 1998).Furthermore, agerelated reductions in the perception of the amount of life time remaining leads to a selection of emotionally important and generative goals (Carstensen, 1995).These empirical imperatives therefore, give way to the following hypothesis: H 2: Age is associated with leadership effectiveness among local government managers.

Education and Leadership effectiveness
Education is one of the most effective measures of good job performance across many different jobs (Gottfredson, 1997;Schmidt and Hunter, 1998).As such, it may be associated with leadership effectiveness.Scholars argue that it is a significant and predictive measure of effective leadership (Judge et al., 2004).Education is critical for effective leadership, and this is theoretically founded on different leadership behaviours that need strong mental abilities such as problem solving, planning, communicating, decision making and creative thinking (Tett et al., 2000).Scholars argue that leadership effectiveness is related to motivation, integrity, self-confidence, intelligence and emotional intelligence (Goleman, 1998).All these attributes can be increased through education.This education helps managers to better understand themselves and others, the emotional traits of others and the meaning of these traits for leadership behaviour.Scholars also believe that the style used by a leader is one of the most critical factors of leadership that increases leadership effectiveness (Sadeghi and Lope, 2012).A leadership style is a behaviour that a leader reveals while guiding subordinates in the right direction (Certo and Certo, 2006).As a consequence, leaders can improve their style through experience, education and training.Intelligence is perceived as a person's all rounded effectiveness in activities controlled by thought (Gedney, 1999).Intelligence is strongly related to educational achievement (Hernstein and Murray, 1994).Leadership and intelligence have been found to be associated (Gedney, 1999).More than 200 studies have been conducted and documented since 1963, and they reveal a great deal of evidence for the notion that leadership effectiveness is significantly related to intelligence (Gedney, 1999).
Many public managers are not educated adequately to meet the needs of leadership positions (Miller, 2004).These managers are given educational support when they are being given leadership responsibilities.Although these public managers are accountable to the government for their behaviours, the government also is accountable to its managers (Miller, 2004).Accordingly, the government must determine the educational support its managers need in order for them to be effective in their roles.Many state education departments and professional organisation (e.g.leadership associations) are now providing leadership mentoring programmes (Miller, 2004).Providing such programmes can help to reduce professional isolation, promote teamwork and encourage reflective thinking.The way managers can develop clear goals and pursue those goals in the organisation could be achieved through aligning their education to job responsibilities.The foregoing arguments therefore, suggest that education is related to leadership effectiveness.Local government managers are supposed to be given regular training programs such as seminars and workshops to better understand the responsibilities and accountabilities given in the local government code.The subject content to be covered during these education seminars and workshops for the managers may include; how to communicate effectively, how to co-ordinate and give support to development projects, how to make quality decisions and how to evaluate performance and give feedback.It is possible that managers can be educated and also learn by their experience to become effective public managers (Gildenhuys, 2004).Scholars further argue that managers are employed mainly because of their formal education and previous merits achieved (Hooijberg, Hunt and Dodge, 1997).These empirical imperatives therefore, give way to the following hypothesis: H 3: Education is associated with leadership effectiveness among local government managers.

Sample and procedure
The research population constituted 261 managers from local government departments that were covered for the present study which included Buffalo City Municipalities and Local Government and Traditional Affairs Departments in Bisho and East London Town, in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa.The population of managers constituted top-level, middle-level and lower-level managers.The whole population participated in the present study because it was small enough to be used as whole.As such, no sampling method was employed to select the respondents of the present study.To collect research data, permission was obtained by the researchers from the top managers of local government departments used in present study.All the managers were asked by the researchers to participate in the present study voluntarily.As such, all the managers were given enough time to complete the questionnaires.Of the 261 managers that were available for the present study, only 222 managers responded to this study.Amongst them who responded, 53.2 percent were female managers and 46.8 percent were male managers.With regards to age, 17.1 percent of the managers were between the age groups (20-29); 29.7 percent of the managers were between the age groups (30-39) and 32.0 percent of the managers were between the age groups (40-49).Also, 18.0 percent were of the managers were between the age groups (50-59) and 3.2 percent of the managers were above the age group of 60 years.With regards to their education level, 6.8 percent of the managers had completed high school; 5.4 percent had a certificate and 36.0 percent had a diploma.Also, 27.3 percent had a degree and 24.3 percent had a post-graduate degree.For reasons of confidentiality and anonymity, the names of the managers were not assessed so that their responses could not be assigned to specific individuals.

Instruments
Demographic variables.To assess some demographic variables displayed by a manager, a self-designed biographical and occupational data questionnaire was used.The questionnaire was used to collect data on gender, age and education.
Leadership effectiveness.To measure a managers' leadership effectiveness, the researchers adopted Fleenor and Bryant (2002)'s leadership effectiveness scales.This instrument has six items that measure possible weaknesses (derailers) that can cause a manager to be demoted, fired or "plateaued" below the level of standard performance.Leadership effectiveness was measured as a low score on the derailment scales; indicating that a manager was performing effectively in those areas in which poor performance can lead to derailment.Sample items are, "a manager has problems with interpersonal relationships and a manager has difficulty in making strategic transitions" (reverse coded).The reliability level of alpha was 0.83 which is within the acceptable level of reliability.
The respondents used a 5-point Likert-type scale ranging from strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (5).

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
This section will discuss the key findings of the present study.As such, the main findings and the relationships between the relevant variables will be presented.A Chisquare test was employed to analyse the relationships between the present study variables and the results are presented in Table 1.
The first hypothesis assessed the relationship between gender and leadership effectiveness among the local government managers.The results shown in Table 1, therefore found that gender and leadership effectiveness are positively and significantly related (X 2 =30.90; df=14; p=0.006).As such, both local government male and female managers possess different effective leadership attributes which are the characteristic of their gender (Heilman et al., 1995).Both of them have more similarities than differences in their leadership behaviours, and are equally effective.The gender role stereotypes suggest that female leadership behaviour is interpersonal-oriented and collaborative while the male leadership behaviour is task-oriented and dominating (Cann and Siegfried, 1990).Local government women are therefore, viewed as more participative while local government men are viewed as more directive.As such, they are both effective in leadership responsibilities.The present South African working environment therefore, gives both men and women in local government departments similar chances to move into leadership positions (Employment Equity Act 55, 1998).According to the social identity theory, gender diversity of local government managers has influence on their work attitude and behaviour (Jackson et al., 2003).
The second hypothesis assessed the relationship between age and leadership effectiveness among the local government managers.The results shown in Table 1, therefore found that age and leadership effectiveness Bell et al. 55 are positively and significantly related (X 2 =155.56;df=56; p=0.000).As such, scholars argue that there is a significant relationship between local government managers' age and leader effectiveness (Barbuto et al., 2007).According to the generativity theory, older local government leaders' behaviour are directed at developing and managing subordinates of the younger age and they focus less on their own needs, career developments and accomplishments (Erikson, 1950).Local government leaders generativity is therefore critical for developing leadership effectiveness at older than at younger ages because subordinates normatively believe that older and experienced leaders should behave in generative ways, and this cannot be done by younger leaders (Sheldon and Kasser, 2001).Furthermore, the integrated relationship of the local government leaders' age and leader generativity, and leadership effectiveness is facilitated by the subordinates' own perceptions of the type of leader-member exchange relationship, which is an important leadership process factor (Gerstner and Day, 1997).On the other side, young local government leaders are also effective in local government departments depending on the prevailing situations (Hersey and Blanchard, 1988).
The third hypothesis proposed that there is a relationship between education and leadership effectiveness among the local government managers.The results shown in Table 1, therefore found that education and leadership effectiveness are positively and significantly related (X 2 =130.41;df=56; p=0.000).As such, education is one of the most effective measures of good job performance across local government managers' jobs (Gottfredson, 1997;Schmidt and Hunter, 1998).Scholars suggest that it is a significant and predictive measure of effective leadership (Judge et al., 2004).This is theoretically supported by different local government leadership behaviours that need strong cognitive abilities such as problem solving, planning, communicating, decision making and creative thinking (Tett et al., 2000).
Scholars also suggest that leadership effectiveness is related to motivation, integrity, self-confidence, intelligence and emotional intelligence, and all these attributes can be increased through education.This education helps local government managers to better understand themselves and others, the emotional traits of others and the meaning of these traits for leadership behaviour (Goleman, 1998).Furthermore, many state education departments and professional organisation such as leadership associations are now providing local government leadership mentoring programmes (Miller, 2004).Providing such programmes can help to reduce professional isolation, promote teamwork and encourage reflective thinking among local government managers.

MANAGERIAL IMPLICATIONS
In general, the present study highlights the contributions of some demographic variables in determining leadership effectiveness among Local Government managers.Gender has a significant relationship with leadership effectiveness.Both Local Government male and female managers possess different effective leadership attributes which are the characteristic of their gender (Heilman et al., 1995).And both of them have more similarities than differences in their leadership behaviours, and are therefore, equally effective.The gender role stereotypes suggest that female leadership behaviour is interpersonaloriented and collaborative while male leadership behaviour is task-oriented and dominating (Cann and Siegfried, 1990).Local Government women are therefore, viewed as more participative while Local Government men are viewed as more directive.The present study therefore, recommends that organisations should consider both men and woman for leadership responsibilities.Also, age has been found to have a positive and significant relationship with leadership effectiveness.This therefore, means that the Local Government leaders generativity is therefore critical for developing leadership effectiveness at older than at younger ages because subordinates normatively believe that older and experienced leaders should behave in generative ways and this cannot be done by younger leaders (Sheldon and Kasser, 2001).On the other side, young Local Government leaders are also effective in Local Government departments depending on the prevailing situations (Hersey and Blanchard, 1988).The present study therefore, also recommends that Local Government organisations should consider the age differences dynamics of their managers when assigning certain task responsibilities.Finally, education has been found to have a positive and significant relationship with leadership effectiveness.Education is one of the most effective measures of good job performance across Local Government managers' jobs (Gottfredson, 1997;Schmidt and Hunter, 1998).Scholars suggest that it is a significant and predictive measure of effective leadership in Local Government (Judge et al., 2004).This education helps Local Government managers to better understand themselves and others, the emotional traits of others and the meaning of these traits for leadership behaviour (Goleman, 1998).The present study therefore, recommends that education should also be considered when selecting Local Government managers for leadership roles.

Limitations and future research directions
The present study used the Local Government managers from all the management levels as the respondents.However, scholars argue that, it is not all the managers in the Local Government organisations that have leadership responsibilities (Kotter, 1990).Some managers are regarded as leaders whereas others are not regarded as such (Suar et al., 2006).As such, this may have negatively affected the reliability of the results achieved in the present study.Leadership effectiveness is perceived as the low score on the derailment scales; in other words, a demonstration of effective behaviours on these scales.However, this definition covers a limited range of the behaviours and attributes that make up the construct of leadership effectiveness.This therefore, limits the findings of the present study to factors used in the derailment scales.The present study focused mainly on the leadership effectiveness variable as a unitary concept and as a dependent variable instead of using the individual dimensions.Thus, it is also very important that future studies use those dimensions that make up leadership effectiveness construct as dependent variables on their own.This will produce a more thorough study as compared to the present one in respect of those dimensions of leadership effectiveness construct.Furthermore, the present study used self-rating measure of leader effectiveness which may have led to normative responses.Future studies should therefore, use a measure of leader effectiveness in terms of results or of perceptions of those around the leader because this may give more reliable results.

Table 1 .
Descriptive statistics and Chi-square test results of study variables (individual level) (N = 222).