Recognizing leadership styles through the use of a serious game

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to present a practical approach to recognizing leadership styles by adopting a serious game in the context of an entrepreneurship course in higher education.

Design/methodology/approach

The action-research methodology is adopted to explore how the various leadership styles are perceived and assimilated by students. Furthermore, students are organized into eight groups to explore this phenomenon through a thematic analysis.

Findings

The findings reveal that transformational and transactional leadership can coexist and be applied in organizational management. The results also indicate that students with relevant professional experience have a greater ability to identify the benefits and challenges associated with each leadership style as they recognize these styles throughout their professional careers.

Originality/value

This paper mainly offers practical implications by presenting an alternative and complementary approach to exploring leadership styles. Through this approach, students can recognize the various leadership styles in the game personas and realize their impact on the dynamics of an organization.

Citation

Almeida, F. and Buzady, Z. (2022), "Recognizing leadership styles through the use of a serious game", Journal of Applied Research in Higher Education, Vol. 14 No. 4, pp. 1592-1602. https://doi.org/10.1108/JARHE-05-2021-0178