Assessment of Kazakhstani manager’s competencies through the flow-promoting leadership model

The significance of contemporary managers’ leadership competencies is steadily growing. After over thirty years of economic and social transition, Kazakhstani managers’ leadership skills and styles remain a fragmentarily examined topic by local and international scholars. Despite the first leadership competencies models appearing 50 years ago, researchers still actively debate their pros and cons and strive to design the frameworks for managers’ and companies’ prosperity. This article explores Kazakhstani women and men managers’ competencies in flowpromoting leadership initially proposed by M. Csikszentmihalyi. The quantitative research method was grounded on a comprehensive competencies assessment through the involvement of local managers in a virtual business simulation (N=508; 51% women, 49% men). The findings demonstrated that Kazakhstani women and men almost equally practiced flow-promoting leadership: among 29 competencies, gender specificity has been detected only in 8. In compliance with the research results, women were slightly better in communication, delegating, giving feedback, stakeholder management, and strategic thinking. In contrast, men were assessed somewhat higher for active listening, prioritizing, and time management. The theoretical significance of the present study is two-fold: first, it implies the initial massive investigation on leadership and gender in Kazakhstan; second, the findings contribute to the existing flow-promoting leadership concept with the new gender-related knowledge. The practical contribution of the gained results lies in the opportunity for managers to analyze and ameliorate their potential of leading people and processes in organizations.

1. Global gender gap report 2024: insight report. Geneva: World Economic Forum, 2024. 385 p. (In English).

2. Poslanie Prezidenta Respubliki Kazahstan N. Nazarbaeva narodu Kazahstana Strategija «Kazahstan–2050». Novyj politicheskij kurs sostojavshegosja gosudarstva. URL: http://www.akorda.kz (data obrashhenija: 27.12.2024). (In Russian).

3. UN-Women and DESA. Progress on the sustainable development goals: The gender snapshot. New York: UN-Women and DESA, 2024. 36 p. (In English).

4. Orazalin N., Baydauletov M. (2020) Corporate social responsibility strategy and corporate environmental and social performance: The moderating role of board gender diversity // Corporate social responsibility and environmental management, no. 27(4), pp. 1664–1676. (In English).

5. Women and men of Kazakhstan 2019–2023. Statistical collection in English. Shaimardanova Zh.N. (ed.). Astana, 2024. 88 p. (In English).

6. Mahmood M., Uddin M.A., Ostrovskiy A., Orazalin N. (2020) Effectiveness of business leadership in the Eurasian context: empirical evidence from Kazakhstan // Journal of Management Development, no. 39(6), pp. 793–809. (In English).

7. Frolova Y., Mahmood M. (2019) Variations in employee duty orientation: impact of personality, leadership styles and corporate culture // Eurasian Business Review, no. 9, pp. 423–444. (In English).

8. Mazhitov M., Uddin M.A., Mahmood M., Ostrovskiy A. (2024) Competitive Advantages Through Strategy Implementation: the Role of People, Plan, and Process // Public Organization Review, no. 24(3), pp. 861–883. (In English).

9. Darvishmotevali M., Altinay L. (2022) Green HRM, environmental awareness and green behaviors: The moderating role of servant leadership // Tourism Management, no. 88, pp. 104–401. (In English).

10. Hollenbeck G.P., McCall Jr.M.W., Silzer R.F. (2006) Theoretical and practitioner letters: Leadership competency models // Leadership Quarterly, no. 17, pp. 398–413. (In English).

11. Gigliotti R.A. (2019) An Introduction to Competencies and Competency-Based Leadership. Gigliotti, R.A. (Ed.) Competencies for Effective Leadership, Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 1–16. URL: https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-78973-255-920191012. (In English).

12. McClelland D.C. (1973) Testing for competence rather than for intelligence // American Psychologist, no. 28(1), pp. 1–14. (In English).

13. McCall Jr.M.W., Hollenbeck G.P. (2002) Developing global executives: the lessons of international experience. Harvard Business School Press, 259 p. (In English).

14. Manfred F.R., de Vries K., Vrignaud P., Florent-Treacy E. (2004) The Global Leadership. Life Inventory: development and psychometric properties of a 360-degree feedback instrument // The International Journal of Human Resource Management, no. 15(3), pp. 475–492. URL: https://doi.org/10.1080/0958519042000181214. (In English).

15. Alban‐Metcalfe J., Alimo‐Metcalfe B. (2009) Engaging leadership part one: competencies are like Brighton Pier // International Journal of Leadership in Public Services, no. 5(1), pp. 10–18. URL: https://doi.org/10.1108/17479886200900004. (In English).

16. Ruben B.D. (2019) An Overview of the Leadership Competency Framework. Gigliotti R.A. (Ed.) Competencies for Effective Leadership. Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 19–28. URL: https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-78973-255-920191001. (In English).

17. Kozminski A.K. (2015) Bounded leadership: empirical study of the Polish elite // Polish Sociological Review, no. 4(192), pp. 425–453. (In English).

18. Kozminski A.K., Baczyńska A.K., Skoczeń I., Korzynski P. (2022) Towards leadership effectiveness: the role of leadership individual competencies and constraints. Introduction of the Bounded Leadership Model // Leadership & Organization Development Journal, no. 44(3), pp. 596–611. URL: https://doi.org/10.1108/LODJ04-2020-0157. (In English).

19. Figueiredo P.C.N., Sousa M.J., Tomé E. (2023) Integrative model of the leader competences // European Journal of Training and Development, no. 5/6 (47), pp. 533–564. URL: https://doi.org/10.1108/EJTD-08-20210121. (In English).

20. Ruwanika E.Q.F., Massyn L. (2024) A leadership competence framework for sustainable development in the manufacturing industry in a developing country context: the bicycle metaphor // Cogent Business & Management, no. 11(1). URL: https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2024.2364849. (In English).

21. Müller S.D., Konzag H., Nielsen J.A. Sandholt H.B. (2024) Digital transformation leadership competencies: A contingency approach // International Journal of Information Management, no. 75, p. 102734. URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2023.102734. (In English).

22. Csikszentmihalyi M. (2004) Good Business: Leadership, Flow, and the Making of Meaning. Penguin Publishing Group. Reprint edition. (In English).

23. Csikszentmihalyi M., Abuhamdeh S., Nakamura J. Flow. In Csikszentmihalyi, M. (Ed.). (2014) Flow and the foundations of positive psychology, the collected works of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. Springer, pp. 227– 238. (In English).

24. Fligby. Gameplay data research. URL: https://www.fligby.com/ (accessed: 21.12.2024). (In English).