An exploratory study on leadership style with reference to the millennials and gen Xs: for MBA students

An exploratory study on leadership style with reference to the millennials and gen Xs: for MBA students (information from perplexity.ai)

My question 1: "What is leadership style all about with reference to the millennials and generation x?"

The reply: "Leadership Styles: Millennials vs. Generation X

Understanding leadership style means examining the prevailing patterns, values, and communication approaches leaders from distinct generations bring into the workplace. Millennials and Generation X are two influential cohorts now driving organizational culture; their leadership approa

ches reflect their generational values, experiences, and perspectives.

• : Millennial leaders prioritize teamwork, inclusivity, and open exchange of ideas. They tend to crowdsource solutions, encourage group decision-making, and value everyone’s input.

• : Millennials seek meaning at work, emphasizing corporate responsibility, ethical standards, and social impact—often favoring purpose over profit.

• : Rather than relying on annual reviews, millennials use regular feedback, coaching, and frequent check-ins to support growth and improve performance.

• : Flexible hours, remote work, and attention to mental health are strong priorities. Millennials believe work-life balance is crucial for productivity and satisfaction.

• : Millennials are digital natives, comfortable with the latest communication platforms, and prefer transparent processes, open communication, and clarity in organizational policies.

• : This generation embraces diversity and actively creates workplaces that reflect broader social acceptance and a wide array of perspectives.

• : Generation X leaders stress achieving clear, tangible results, focusing on efficiency and practical problem-solving.

• : They value autonomy, minimal supervision, and trust in employees’ abilities to self-manage. Goals and expectations are clearly set, but the means of achieving them are often left up to the individual.

• : Serving as a bridge between Baby Boomers’ hierarchical styles and Millennials’ collaborative approach, Gen X incorporates both structure and flexibility in their leadership.

• : Gen X prefers clear, concise, face-to-face communications or email, valuing privacy and directness but are also capable users of digital channels.

• : Having lived through rapid technological and societal changes, Gen X shows high adaptability, mixing traditional values with modern innovation, and often acts as the “bridge” connecting generations in workplaces.

• : While open to feedback, Gen X leaders tend to motivate employees as individuals, emphasizing personal achievement and responsibility.

• : Positioned between two large generational cohorts, Gen X often blends empathy with pragmatic management, appreciating diverse viewpoints and promoting inclusivity

•  thrives on collaboration, purpose, and continuous feedback, leveraging technology and fostering inclusive, value-driven environments.

•  is marked by pragmatism, autonomy, and results orientation, balancing tradition with adaptability and efficiently bridging generational divides within organizations.

Leaders from both generations bring valuable and complementary styles to today's diverse workplaces, enhancing cultural resilience and performance."

My question 2: "What are the theories to study leadership style?"

The reply: "Theories to study leadership style provide frameworks to understand how and why individuals lead, their behaviors, traits, and how they adapt to situations. Key leadership theories include:

1. Great Man Theory: Leadership traits are innate; leaders are born with qualities like intelligence, courage, and charisma. Leadership abilities can't be developed but are inherent.

2. Trait Theory: Certain natural qualities make good leaders, although possessing traits alone doesn't guarantee strong leadership skills.

3. Behavioral Theory: Leadership is learned through behavior and environment; anyone can become a leader by adopting the behaviors of effective leaders.

4. Transactional Theory: Focuses on leader-follower exchanges through rewards and penalties to motivate performance. It prioritizes structure and order.

5. Transformational Theory: Leaders inspire and motivate followers through vision, passion, and individualized consideration, fostering collaboration and growth beyond self-interest.

6. Situational Theory: Leadership effectiveness depends on adapting style to the context and followers' needs; leaders flexibly switch between directing, coaching, delegating, etc..

7. Contingency Theory: Expanded from situational theory, it considers the interaction of leader traits, behaviors, and situational factors to determine the best leadership style for effectiveness.

8. Servant Leadership: Leaders prioritize serving followers' needs above their own, focusing on personal growth, collaboration, and community.

Additional models include the behavioral leadership styles by Kurt Lewin (autocratic, democratic, laissez-faire) and John Adair's action-centred leadership focusing on task, group, and individual needs.

These theories form the basis for understanding leadership styles like those observed in millennials and Generation X leaders by explaining traits, behaviors, situational adaptability, and relational dynamics.

If you want, I can provide more detailed explanations or focus on theories that relate more closely to generational leadership differences.".

My question 3: "What are the research gaps and research issues to study leadership style?"

The reply: "Research Gaps and Issues in the Study of Leadership Style

Leadership style research has developed significantly, yet several critical gaps and unresolved issues remain that limit a comprehensive understanding and practical application of leadership theories. These gaps provide directions for future inquiry to deepen insights and enhance leadership practice across contexts.

Major Research Gaps

1. Lack of Focus on Negative Leadership

• Most leadership studies focus on positive leadership traits and behaviors.

• "Bad leadership" or destructive leadership is underexplored, including how poor leadership arises, its contextual enablers, and its consequences.

• There is a need for more scholarly attention to failures and constraints around harmful leadership practices.

2. Measurement and Methodological Challenges

• Existing research relies heavily on survey methods, limiting exploration of leadership's dynamic and contextual nature.

• There is a call for more innovative approaches including:

  • Field experiments

  • Simulations

  • Longitudinal and qualitative studies

  • Multi-method research designs to capture complex causal relationships

• Accurate operationalization and measurement of constructs remain problematic, leading to interpretive errors in causal links.

3. Overlapping and Redundant Leadership Styles

• New leadership styles continue to emerge in literature (e.g., ideological, pragmatic, spiritual, distributed leadership).

• These styles often overlap substantially with established concepts like transformational or servant leadership.

• This overlap causes conceptual redundancy and confounds clarity in defining distinct leadership styles.

• Scholars urge development of integrative "full-range" theories that cohesively map leadership style variations.

4. Valence-Based Conflation

• Leadership behaviors are often categorized simplistically as positive or negative.

• This binary perspective causes blendings of behavioral descriptions with evaluations and outcomes.

• It undermines understanding of nuanced intentions, quality of execution, and actual effects of leadership.

• Future research should disentangle intended vs. displayed styles and their realized impacts.

5. Contextual and Cultural Dynamics

• The role of context, including organizational, societal, and cultural factors in shaping leadership style effectiveness, is insufficiently studied.

• Implicit leadership theories (ILT) vary by context and lack consensus on their dimensions.

• More research is needed on how leadership styles interact with diverse environments and followership perceptions.

Key Research Issues and Challenges

1. Leadership Gaps in Practice

• Organizations face gaps between current leadership capacities and future needs.

• Deficits in competencies like managing change, inspiring commitment, strategic thinking, and employee development remain problematic.

• There is a need to better align leadership development programs with emergent organizational and societal demands.

2. Leadership in Digital and Crisis Contexts

• Rapid digitalization and crises (e.g., pandemic) have transformed leadership needs.

• Research gaps exist in understanding how leadership styles adapt to digitally mediated work and crisis-driven environments.

• Studies should focus on leadership skills, behaviors, and styles that enable agility, resilience, and innovation during ongoing disruptions.

3. Integration of Multiple Leadership Perspectives

• Leadership research requires interdisciplinary integration spanning ethics, spirituality, sustainability, and public-sector challenges.

• The complexity of leadership in hybrid, team-based, and flattened organizational structures demands broader conceptualization beyond traditional models.

4. Addressing Bias and Improve Validity

• Research biases limit a complete understanding of leadership effectiveness.

• Efforts are needed to clarify theoretical constructs, improve study designs, and ensure representative samples for generalizability."

By addressing these gaps and issues, leadership research can progress toward holistic, context-sensitive, and dynamically nuanced frameworks that better guide leadership practice in today's complex and evolving environments."

My question 4: "What have been the Hong Kong public media-reported issues on "the leadership style of the millennials vs generation x" in 2025?"

The reply: "Hong Kong Public Media-Reported Issues on Leadership Style: Millennials vs. Generation X (2025)

Overview

Recent media coverage in Hong Kong highlights an evolving discourse about workplace leadership, emphasizing notable differences and ongoing tensions between millennial and Generation X leaders. In 2025, public media and research reports bring attention to changing expectations, workplace satisfaction, and adaptation challenges linked to generational leadership styles.

Key Issues Reported

1. Trust in Leadership and Workplace Satisfaction

• Millennials in Hong Kong report higher levels of distrust in leadership teams compared to their Gen X counterparts, with 41% having resigned due to lack of trust—significantly outpacing Gen X.

• Job dissatisfaction among millennials manifests in greater rates of “quiet quitting” (45%), and a notable portion actively refuse on-site work when dissatisfied, contrasted with 18% for Gen X. This points to a distinct generational gap in expressing dissatisfaction and expectations of leadership responsiveness.

2. Generational Values and Workplace Culture

• Millennials increasingly reject traditional hierarchical leadership in favor of autonomy and purposeful work, driven in part by external factors such as Hong Kong’s rising cost of living and shifting societal trends.

• Gen X, meanwhile, is often characterized by pragmatism, direct communication, and valuing efficiency, sometimes struggling to adapt to millennial priorities of flexibility, feedback, and shared decision-making.

3. Work-Life Balance Perceptions

• More than 80% of Gen X believe Hong Kong workplaces offer a healthy work-life balance, but only 66% of millennials agree. This gap highlights differing perceptions of leadership effectiveness in creating supportive environments.

4. Digital and Social Dynamics

• Millennials engage actively across digital platforms, seeking transparent leadership and open communication, while Gen X maintains a significant but slightly lower rate of engagement. The distinction affects how both groups influence and are perceived within digitally-driven workplaces.

• Leadership adaptation to digital norms, collaborative practices, and real-time feedback is becoming a high-profile media topic as organizations seek to balance efficiency with flexibility and autonomy.

5. Shifting Demography and Leadership Representation

• Public reports note the swelling influence of millennials within management tracks, signaling a generational shift and intensifying leadership style debates, especially as Gen X still holds a majority in formal leadership roles.

Summary Insights

• Hong Kong’s media spotlight the growing assertiveness of millennial leaders—especially around flexibility, autonomy, feedback culture, and digital communication—contrasting with Gen X’s result-oriented, pragmatic approach.

• The dissonance in values and expectations has caused tension, visible in workplace satisfaction scores, leadership trust, and new workplace negotiation patterns.

• As millennials rise in managerial authority, public conversation increasingly focuses on how organizations and Gen X leaders can adapt leadership models to maintain trust and engagement across generations."

My question 5: "Suggest 4 related research objectives and 2 related issues on this topic in the context of the Hong Kong financial service sector in 2025 for a Hong Kong part-time MBA dissertation project lasting for 4 months."

The reply: "For a part-time MBA dissertation project lasting 4 months on the topic of "Leadership Style of Millennials vs Generation X" in the context of the Hong Kong financial service sector in 2025, here are 4 related research objectives and 2 related research issues that fit the current environment and challenges:

Suggested Research Objectives

1. To examine the impact of millennial and Generation X leadership styles on employee trust and retention within Hong Kong’s financial services sector in 2025.
   This aligns with reported generational differences in trust and resignation rates, especially millennial dissatisfaction leading to turnover in Hong Kong workplaces.

2. To explore how digital communication and technology adoption influence leadership effectiveness among millennials and Gen X leaders in Hong Kong’s financial organizations.
   Given the strong role of digital engagement and transparency expected by millennials compared to Gen X’s somewhat different styles, this objective would investigate tech-driven leadership adaptation.

3. To investigate the role of leadership style in shaping perceptions of work-life balance and its effects on employee performance and satisfaction across generations in Hong Kong’s financial institutions.
   This links to reported contrasting views on work-life balance, where Gen X tends to perceive it more positively than millennials, impacting workplace satisfaction.

4. To assess the readiness and adaptability of millennial and Gen X leaders in responding to regulatory, fintech innovation, and ESG challenges within Hong Kong’s evolving financial sector in 2025.
   Financial services in Hong Kong are rapidly changing with regulation, fintech, and ESG demands, making leadership adaptability a vital area of inquiry.

Related Research Issues

1. Generational Value Gaps Leading to Leadership and Communication Misalignment
   This issue reflects the tension between millennials seeking autonomy, continuous feedback, and purpose-driven work versus Generation X’s pragmatic, results-oriented, and direct communication style—creating challenges in leadership cohesion in financial firms.

2. Challenges in Developing and Retaining Leadership Talent Amidst Rapid Digital and Regulatory Changes
   The financial service industry’s need for leaders capable of navigating disruptive technologies, regulatory complexity, and workforce expectations points to strategic gaps in leadership development tailored for diverse generational cohorts.

These objectives and issues are grounded in current Hong Kong financial sector trends and media-reported challenges in 2025, emphasizing generational leadership style impacts on key organizational outcomes such as trust, satisfaction, communication, and adaptability to industry disruption. They also align well with a focused 4-month dissertation scope in a practical business environment."

My question 6: "Suggest 2 primary research methods and 1 secondary research method for this dissertation project based on pragmatism. Also briefly comment on the originality, academic and practical values of this study."

The reply: "Research Methods for a Pragmatism-Based Dissertation

1. Primary Research Methods

a. Semi-Structured Interviews

• Conduct in-depth, semi-structured interviews with millennial and Generation X leaders, as well as their direct reports, within Hong Kong financial services organizations.

• This method allows for exploring nuanced perspectives, adapting questions based on participant responses, and uncovering context-specific insights about leadership style, generational values, and workplace experience.

b. Mixed-Mode Surveys

• Deploy structured online surveys complemented by open-ended questions to employees across generational cohorts.

• Quantitative questions measure perceptions of leadership effectiveness, trust, and work-life balance, while open responses provide richer, contextual detail. Statistical analysis and thematic coding can be integrated for a pragmatic blend of breadth and depth.

2. Secondary Research Method

Document and Media Analysis

• Review internal company documents (e.g., HR policy manuals, leadership training materials), industry reports, and recent Hong Kong public media coverage related to generational leadership dynamics in financial services.

• This provides background context, benchmark data, and supports triangulation of findings with primary research.

Comments on Originality, Academic, and Practical Value

Originality

• The study offers a novel perspective by focusing explicitly on how millennial and Generation X leadership styles interact within the 2025 Hong Kong financial sector context—a setting characterized by rapid regulatory change, fintech innovation, and evolving workforce demographics.

• By integrating digital, regulatory, and ESG factors, and examining real-time leadership adaptation, the research advances generational leadership scholarship in an underexplored, high-impact Asian business environment.

Academic Value

• Bridges research gaps by combining qualitative and quantitative methods, addressing calls for more context-sensitive, pragmatic leadership investigations.

• Offers a nuanced view of intergenerational leadership tensions and convergence, enhancing the theoretical understanding of leadership style adaptation in response to sector-specific pressures.

Practical Value

• Provides actionable insights for HR, talent development, and executive teams in Hong Kong’s financial services industry, informing strategies for leader selection, development, and retention.

• Delivers evidence-based recommendations for fostering trust, communication, and work-life balance in multigenerational teams, supporting organizational resilience amid digital and market disruptions."

My question 7: "If the researcher's positionality is that the researcher is a female MBA student in her 50s with many friends working in the financial service sector and a few friends working as university lecturers on subjects related to financial service, would it affect the preference on her research method design?"

The reply: "Influence of Researcher Positionality on Research Method Design

A researcher's positionality—their professional background, social network, experience, and identity—can meaningfully influence their research method preferences, both consciously and unconsciously. For a female MBA student in her 50s with extensive contacts in the financial services sector and connections with university lecturers, several implications arise:

1. Access to Participants and Data Sources

• Network Leverage: With many friends in the financial sector, the researcher may find it easier to arrange semi-structured interviews or surveys within relevant organizations. This privileged access can facilitate richer, more candid primary data collection, especially for qualitative or mixed-method approaches.

• Academic Contacts: Friends who are university lecturers can offer methodological advice, help access research studies or data, or even facilitate introductions to additional potential participants or experts.

2. Comfort Level and Rapport

• Peer-to-Peer Interactions: Being of a similar age and professional status as many potential participants can make interviews or in-depth discussions more productive, as rapport and trust are easier to establish. This lends itself well to qualitative methods like interviews or focus groups.

• Generational Perspective: The researcher’s own generational standpoint may help in sensitively exploring issues between millennials and Generation X, asking nuanced questions relevant to both cohorts.

3. Choice of Research Methods

Given these factors, the researcher may show preference for:

• Qualitative Methods: Semi-structured interviews and focus groups, given her access and rapport, may provide deeper insight into leadership dynamics. Her ability to interpret context and read between the lines is strengthened by industry experience and personal connections.

• Mixed-Methods: Combining surveys (quantitative) with open-ended questions (qualitative) can capitalize on broad access while allowing deeper exploration of key themes.

• Pragmatic Triangulation: The researcher may be more inclined to triangulate findings using secondary data from academic colleagues or industry reports shared by contacts.

4. Ethical Considerations

• Bias and Reflexivity: Close connections may create risks of selection bias or partiality. The researcher should maintain reflexivity, transparently documenting how her position influences data collection, interpretation, and representation.

• Confidentiality: Special care is needed to protect participants’ identities, especially if they are known personally to the researcher.

5. Academic and Practical Value

• Strength: Networked researchers can generate both robust academic insight and actionable recommendations, informed by close awareness of industry realities.

• Limitation: The positionality may somewhat limit objectivity or scope of generalization, so transparency in study design and critical reflection are vital to maintain academic rigor.

Conclusion

The researcher’s unique position as a mature MBA student with embedded networks in financial services and academia naturally favors qualitative or mixed-method designs, leveraging trust, access, and in-depth understanding. With strong attention to ethical reflexivity and methodological rigor, this positionality enriches the study’s relevance, depth, and potential impact."

A collection of blog notes on using chatgpt for research purpose.