Political leadership styles : a comparative analysis of ministers responsible for Gozo

Abstract

Investigating the styles of political leaders in Malta is not only instrumental in helping to define Maltese political leadership, but it may be useful in shining a light on challenging practical issues, such as a political leader’s image, formation and collaboration throughout different contexts. Individual ministers’ leadership styles matter and make a difference. In this respect, the aim of this research is to examine the leadership styles that were adopted by two former ministers of Gozo and how their leadership styles compared to each other. The research question required a qualitative methodology to grasp the participants’ viewpoints regarding political leadership’s styles. An analysis of archival and official documentation was carried out followed by in-depth interviews with the two Ministers and their permanent secretaries. The understanding of the narrative data using thematic analysis, led to the emergence of eight themes namely vision, ideology, power, communication, image, negotiating, decision making, and gender. These themes were analysed in the light of the two ministers followed by a comparative analysis. The findings of this study revealed that the ministers of Gozo tended to adopt transactional and transformational styles of leadership depending on the context or situation they were in. The research project concluded with some recommendations for political leaders together with senior public officials.