Impact of risk-taking leadership on organisational performance and sustainability in SMEs

In South Africa, innovation culture is relatively at a slow pace compared to other countries of the world. Studies showed competent leadership should be able to achieve higher innovativeness through risk-taking. Thus, this study aims to analyse the impact of risk-taking leadership on the innovativeness within Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) in the Western Cape, South Africa. A risk-taking leadership model was proposed to demonstrate the relationship between leadership and innovativeness. A quantitative approach was employed and a self-administered questionnaire for data collection. The sample included 366 employees and 57 leaders from 50 SMEs in the Western Cape. The findings depicted that the leaders did not strongly possess risk-taking qualities. The proposed model proved that leaders who possess risk-taking characteristics are capable to create an innovative environment.