TITLE:
Empathy and Leadership Effectiveness across Cultures: A Comparative Study of Malaysia and the United States
AUTHORS:
Wan Afezah Wan Abdul Rahman
KEYWORDS:
Empathy, Leadership Effectiveness, Cross-Cultural Leadership, Organization Development, Cross-Cultural Management
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Social Sciences,
Vol.14 No.9,
September
7,
2026
ABSTRACT: Understanding how empathy contributes to leadership effectiveness across different cultural contexts has become increasingly important as organizations operate in globally interconnected and culturally diverse environments. Drawing on leadership and organization development perspectives, this study examines the relationship between empathy and leadership effectiveness in two culturally distinct settings: Malaysia and the United States. Using survey data collected from business leaders in both countries, the study investigates whether the relationship between empathy and self-reported leadership effectiveness varies across cultural contexts. The findings indicate that empathy is positively associated with self-reported leadership effectiveness across the combined sample. While the overall linear relationship between empathy and self-reported leadership effectiveness does not differ significantly between the two countries, additional analyses reveal that cultural differences emerge at higher levels of empathic expression. Specifically, leaders with high levels of empathy in the United States report significantly higher leadership effectiveness scores than their Malaysian counterparts, suggesting that the relationship between empathy and self-reported leadership effectiveness may vary across cultural contexts. This study contributes to the leadership and organization development literature by demonstrating that the relationship between empathy and self-reported leadership effectiveness varies across cultural contexts. The findings also provide practical implications for leadership development and cross-cultural management by suggesting that organizations should adapt leadership development initiatives to culturally grounded expectations rather than relying on universal leadership models.