Investigating executive leadership succession planning and implementation in commercial public enterprises in Namibia
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Date
2023
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Publisher
University of Namibia
Abstract
A succession plan for executive leadership is critical to an organisation's growth and sustainability. Human resource managers in Namibia are challenged by harsh realities and current conditions for maintaining executive leadership. Commercial Public Enterprises (CPEs) in Namibia must be innovative and create effective executive leadership succession planning and implementation. The study investigated executive leadership succession planning in Namibia’s CPEs. The research adopted a convergent mixed method design in which both qualitative and quantitative data were collected in a single phase, analysed separately, and compared the results if they confirm or disconfirm each other. The primary research objective of the study was to investigate succession planning in executive leadership of CPEs in Namibia. The secondary research objectives of the study were to investigate the factors that influence executive leadership succession planning in CPEs, to determine the effects of the factors that influence executive leadership succession planning in CPEs in Namibia, and to develop an executive leadership succession planning framework for CPEs in Namibia. The study comprised a total population of 210 participants, drawn from 22 CPEs in Namibia. Respondents to the online questionnaire survey were selected through a random sampling technique and a purposive sampling technique was used to select participants for in-depth interviews. Primary data were collected through closed-ended research questionnaires, and an interview guide was used to conduct the interviews. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse quantitative data in which correlation was performed to determine the relationship between and amongst variables of the study. To analyse the qualitative data, a combination of sentiment and content analysis was employed to facilitate the organisation of the unstructured text. This process entailed reading verbatim transcriptions of all interview sessions multiple times to gain a thorough understanding of the meaning and context. The major contribution of this study was the development of the novel Muadinohamba Succession Development Progression Framework, a tool for planning leadership succession in Namibian companies. The secondary outcome of the study showed that executive leadership succession planning and implementation in CPEs is influenced by education, mentoring, training and development. The research indicated that having charismatic executive leadership and utilising a transactional leadership style were deemed significant factors in maintaining the long-term success of an organisation, particularly in relation to fostering a culture of proper succession development. The study recommends further validation in future research of the Muadinohamba Succession Development Progression Framework that emerged from the study as an instrument that can guide the planning and implementation of executive leadership succession planning in CPEs in Namibia. Further research should also be conducted on the effect of executive leadership succession planning and implementation focusing on all levels of the organisation in CPEs in Namibia.
Description
A dissertation submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy Degree in Management Science
Keywords
Public enterprises, Leadership succession, Executive