Framing Follower Engagement through Ubuntu:

Abstract

Follower engagement in South African Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) is often interpreted through leader-centric, predominantly Western models that prioritise motivation, job design, and individual activation. Such frameworks overlook how followers interpret dignity, trust, cultural belonging, and leadership legitimacy when deciding whether to extend discretionary effort in historically layered and relationally proximate contexts. This research investigates how ubuntu-informed cultural values shape followers' perceptions of leadership legitimacy and engagement in South African SMEs. Integrating Implicit Followership Theory (IFT) and ubuntu, it adopts a qualitative, ethnographically informed design. Data were collected from 133 participants across 21 meso-level SME leaders and 14 micro-level follower focus groups. The data were then analysed using the Gioia methodology to generate inductively grounded constructs. Findings demonstrate that follower engagement operates as a conditional and culturally mediated judgement, shaped by Trust Credibility, Cultural Legitimacy, Recognition Justice, Relational Engagement, and Followership as Agentic Choice. Voice risk, identity labour, and trust compression shape whether engagement is enacted, withheld, or conditionally negotiated. Engagement emerges from followers' assessment of moral congruence, fairness, and relational safety, extending beyond motivational alignment. The research advances the Culturally Attuned Follower Engagement (CAFE) Model, conceptualising engagement as a layered process comprising implicit worldviews, embodied commitment, conditional dynamics, and enacted engagement. Theoretically, it extends IFT by integrating a relational-moral ontology grounded in ubuntu, reframing engagement as legitimacy-mediated rather than purely psychological. Practically, it offers SME leaders and practitioners a structured implementation roadmap for building inclusive, psychologically safe, and culturally attuned organisations.

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