1 Introduction
1.1 Background and context of the research
Long-standing research interests include how companies might thrive in VUCA-type circumstances and what CEOs need to succeed in a world of uncertainty and quickly changing technology. It is suggested that wisdom and wise leadership are essential to obtaining success.
Given its crucial role in achieving organizational, social, and international goals, leadership has been a subject of considerable scholarly attention for decades. Traditional leadership theories, however, frequently fail to address contemporary leadership’s complexity in the face of dynamism and rapid change (Schoemaker, Heaton, & Teece, 2018). As a result, academics are becoming increasingly interested in investigating alternate viewpoints on leadership that consider the problems of the twenty-first century. One such viewpoint is wisdom-based leadership or simply wisdom leadership.
Although wisdom leadership and information/knowledge management are not two fundamentally different ideas, it is crucial to distinguish between them from the beginning. The development of moral character, the ability to use knowledge and experience in challenging real-world circumstances, and personal qualities are the main focuses of wisdom leadership. This strategy necessitates gaining practical wisdom, which includes outstanding insight, judgment, and decision-making that serves the greater good. On the other hand, information and knowledge management focus on gathering, storing, and sharing data inside an organization to aid decision-making.
This study attempts to further the developing field of wisdom leadership by identifying its dimensions and the features of wise leaders using text analysis and text mining of speeches delivered by successful persons.
1.2 Research problem and research questions
By utilizing text-mining techniques on the speeches of great leaders, the current exploratory research intends to examine the possibility of discovering similar characteristics among them to relate these characteristics to aspects of wisdom leadership. Although the topic of wisdom in leadership has been explored in earlier research(Karami, Ghahremani, Parra-Martinez, & Gentry, 2020; Vanharanta, Einolander, Kantola, Markopoulos, & Sivula, 2021; Vanharanta & Markopoulos, 2020), the ever-evolving nature of the leadership role in our society necessitates continuous investigation and re-evaluation of these attributes. In addition, while wisdom scholars emphasize the importance of practical wisdom, very few have tried to understand wisdom from the perspective of those deeply engaged in practical endeavors. Leaders are often seen as eminently practical individuals who must make challenging decisions in real-world contexts, yet there is little research examining their speeches for manifestations of wisdom. This study aims to fill that gap, exploring how practical wisdom manifests in the words and ideas expressed by renowned figures.
The research questions guiding this study are:
RQ1. What are the most frequently occurring ngrams in the speeches across different professions, and how do they provide insights into the concept of wisdom leadership?
RQ2. How can text mining techniques and sentiment analysis be used to uncover the traits of wise leaders from different professions, and how do these traits align with the dimensions of wisdom leadership?
RQ3. What principal themes and topics can be recognized across the speeches of leaders from various professions using topic modeling techniques?
RQ4. How can the common elements in speeches, identified through text-mining techniques and varying by profession, be linked with the aspects of wisdom leadership?
RQ5. Are there noticeable differences in the themes and common elements of speeches delivered by leaders from diverse professions, and what can these variations reveal about wisdom leadership in different professional contexts?
A thorough assessment of the relevant literature on wisdom leadership will be conducted to answer these research questions. A selection of speeches delivered by successful great leaders will be submitted to text analysis techniques. The study’s findings are supported by empirical data thanks to the emphasis on text analysis, which guarantees a methodical and impartial approach to discovering similar traits. The results of this research may provide a more thorough and nuanced knowledge of wisdom leadership and wise leaders. Moreover, it could shed light on how text-mining tools are used to examine leadership literature. Ultimately, this study aims to further knowledge about wisdom leadership and how it may be developed in contemporary businesses by utilizing the experiences and perceptions of seasoned leaders.
1.3 Objectives and scope of the study
The main goal of this exploratory study is to see whether text-mining techniques may be used to identify attributes that well-known leaders have in common and to analyze the relationship between these traits and the dimensions of wise leadership. To achieve this, the study will thoroughly review the literature on wisdom leadership, identify the key themes and dimensions related to this idea, and use text-mining techniques to analyze the transcripts of speeches of people widely regarded as outstanding and highly successful. To be more precise, the analysis will involve locating relevant keywords, unigrams, bigrams, and trigrams, then using statistical and computational methods to assess their frequency, co-occurrence, sentiment analysis, and distribution throughout the texts.
1.4 Significance of the research
While wisdom in leadership has been studied before, this study brings a new methodological perspective by using text-mining techniques. This might improve our theoretical understanding of wisdom leadership and contribute to the existing body of knowledge.
By exploring wisdom from the standpoint of individuals who often engaged in intensely practical endeavors, the research could broaden our understanding of practical wisdom, or provides an opportunity to reassess the importance of previously proposed dimensions of wisdom, but through the lens of influential figures. This might give a more concrete and relevant understanding of wisdom leadership.
1.5 Thesis structure
The thesis is organized into five chapters, each with a specific focus. Chapter 1 introduces the research problem and the purpose of the study. It also highlights the significance of the research, particularly because text analysis is used.
Chapter 2 reviews the relevant literature on definitions of wisdom, wisdom leadership models, and text analysis techniques. The purpose of this chapter is to provide a comprehensive understanding of the research area.
Chapter 3 describes the methodology used in this study, including the data collection process, data pre-processing, and text analysis techniques employed. This chapter aims to provide a clear understanding of the research methodology used in the study.
Chapter 4 presents the study’s findings, including the identified dimensions of wisdom leadership and the characteristics of wise leaders using qualitative and quantitative techniques.
Chapter 5 provides a conclusion to the research, summarizing the essential findings and their implications for the field of leadership. It also identifies the study’s limitations and provides suggestions for future research.