Culture and Preferred Leadership Behaviors: A Cross-Cultural Exploration of Slavic Nations.

This study investigates the relationships between societal cultural dimensions and preferred leadership behaviors across seven Slavic countries—Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the Czech Republic, North Macedonia, Poland, Russia (European and Siberian regions), and Serbia—using a follower-centric and culturally contingent leadership theory framework. It identifies both consistent and country-specific correlations between cultural values (such as Power Distance, Individualism, Masculinity, Uncertainty Avoidance, Long-Term Orientation, Indulgence, and Monumentalism) and leadership preferences, highlighting the cultural diversity within Slavic nations. The findings emphasize the importance of considering multiple cultural dimensions beyond Individualism in cross-cultural leadership research and suggest that leadership effectiveness is influenced by the congruence between followers’ cultural values and leader behaviors. The study contributes updated insights relevant for organizations operating in Central and Eastern Europe and calls for further research incorporating diverse cultural models and contextual factors.