Journal of Advanced Research in Leadership

Justice-Centered Leadership Through Ubuntu and Radical Hospitality: A Conceptual Model for Higher Education

Camellia Moses Okpodu — 2026-07-16

Deans are academic leaders who have academic, programmatic, managerial, and fiscal responsibilities. Deans verify the adequacy of instruction, monitor academic integrity, confer degrees, and are responsible for student recruitment, admission, and academic progress. As Universities re-imagine and reshape their offering for the future, Deans play a critical role in talent acquisition of faculty, students, and staff. In this paper, we examine how we applied an African principle of leadership that is foundational to our humanity and central to our mission at both a private institution and a public land-grant institution. In the College of Arts and Sciences at both Xavier University of Louisiana (an HBCU) and the University of Wyoming (an R1 Carnegie designated university) we implemented Radical Hospitality and Ubuntu, which pays honor and influences how we see ourselves, scholarship, and service. We used this approach to attract and retain the College workforce. This study contributes to the scholarship on higher education leadership by demonstrating how Ubuntu and Radical Hospitality function as transformative frameworks for cultivating institutional culture, inclusive leadership, and organizational resilience.

The Mediating Role of Strength-Based Leadership in the Relationship between Emotional Intelligence and Employee Performance in Kuwait’s Oil and Gas Sector

Pupjana Kole — 2026-07-16

This study examines the potential mediating role of strength-based leadership (SBL) in the relationship between emotional intelligence (EI) and employee performance (EP) within Kuwait’s oil and gas sector. The research evaluates whether emotionally intelligent leadership directly enhances employee performance or does so indirectly through strength-based leadership behaviors. A quantitative research design was utilized, drawing on survey data from 75 employees and managers across major oil and gas organizations in Kuwait. Emotional intelligence was measured using the dimensions of self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skills, while employee performance was assessed through indicators of productivity, engagement, commitment, and innovativeness. The results indicate a significant positive relationship between strength-based leadership and employee performance. The findings support an indirect mediating role of strength-based leadership. However, the direct relationship between emotional intelligence and employee performance was negative and statistically nonsignificant, indicating that emotional intelligence alone may not directly improve performance outcomes unless expressed through strength-based leadership behaviors. This study advances leadership literature by proposing an integrated framework that clarifies how emotional competencies are operationalized through leadership practices in high-pressure organizational environments. The practical implications underscore the necessity of incorporating emotional intelligence and strength-based leadership into leadership development initiatives within Kuwait’s oil and gas sector.

Special Operations Veterans: An Untapped Resource for Global Business Leadership

Felix Gonzales — 2026-07-16

Organizations operating in increasingly volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous global environments require leaders capable of making high-quality decisions under conditions of uncertainty while effectively leading culturally diverse teams. Despite these organizational demands, Special Operations Forces (SOF) veterans remain an underexamined talent population within international business research. This study investigates how competencies developed through Special Operations service align with leadership capabilities valued in global business environments. Guided by strategic human capital and cultural intelligence perspectives, the study employed a convergent mixed-methods design integrating quantitative survey responses with qualitative interviews from 11 Special Operations veterans affiliated with Veterans of Foreign Wars posts in San Antonio, Texas. Quantitative findings indicated consistently high levels of perceived preparedness across leadership, adaptability, ethical decision-making, teamwork, cross-cultural communication, and mission execution. Qualitative thematic analysis reinforced these findings by identifying four recurring themes: adaptive leadership under uncertainty, cross-cultural effectiveness, disciplined team performance, and mission-focused strategic execution. Joint display analysis demonstrated substantial convergence between numerical trends and participant narratives while also highlighting contextual factors influencing the transferability of military-acquired competencies to civilian organizations. Although the exploratory sample limits statistical generalizability, the integrated findings suggest that SOF veterans possess leadership capabilities that closely align with competencies required for multinational organizations navigating dynamic business environments. The study contributes to strategic human capital literature by proposing mechanisms through which military-developed competencies may create organizational value and offers practical recommendations for recruitment, onboarding, leadership development, and veteran talent integration within globally operating firms.