A New Breed of Socio-Cultural Leaders and How They Use CSR in ICT for Development as a Tool of Sustainability

Abstract

Academic research has been scant with regard to examining the impact of leadership on telecentre sustainability. This chapter evolved from the e-Sri Lanka program funded by the World Bank as a unique South Asian project, which has seen the establishment of a network of 765 Nenasala telecentres, both grass-root non-profit and for-profit enterprises as its main interface with the community. This context provided an interesting avenue in which to examine different leadership models in the digital age. Through comprehensive analysis of archival material, focus group data from Nenasala operators, and interview data from stakeholders in Sri Lanka, the findings reveal that leadership was key to Nenasala telecentre sustainability and success at the telecentre organisation level. The researchers find that one of the models, the special community-based leadership model adopted by Sri Lankan Nenasalas as a Socio-Cultural Leadership (SCL) approach prevalent in Sri Lankan not-for-profit Nenasala telecentres, successfully enhanced sustainability through community focus and demonstrated competitive advantage over their for-profit telecentre counterparts. These findings suggest that a replication of the study in other developing countries could prove to be invaluable.