“Different leaders would be successful under certain conditions within certain contexts or phases of organisational growth,” says Prof Caren Scheepers of GIBS about her leadership studies, which have earned her a C2 rating from the National Research Foundation.

Context, as the saying goes, is everything. Professor Caren Scheepers of the University of Pretoria’s (UP) Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) has made it her business to examine how context has an impact on leadership – and her contributions have earned her a National Research Foundation (NRF) C2 rating.

“My research reveals the boundary conditions or contexts under which different leadership styles have an impact on the engagement of employees, innovation practices in organisations and perceptions around social responsibility,” she explains. “My work has taught me that context matters to leadership, and that different leaders would be successful under certain conditions within certain contexts or phases of organisational growth.”

Prof Scheepers has a PhD in Psychology and is an accredited professional coach with the International Coaching Federation. At GIBS, she’s Chairperson of the Leadership and Performance in Africa Research Community. Her research focuses on the influence of context on leadership – these can be digital, gendered, entrepreneurial and corporate contexts.

“I’m passionate about the entrepreneurial leadership of women in male-dominated corporate and small-business workplaces,” she says. “As a Christian, I believe that my calling is to be of service to make the world a better place; therefore, my research outputs are useful and will be my legacy.”

Prof Scheepers says she was drawn to organisational design and leadership because she’s “passionate about the development of contextual leadership and their organisations for the greater good of society”. This passion inspired her to study psychology and register as a counselling psychologist.

She started her career at the then Department of Labour in Pretoria, where she conducted psychometric assessments and therapy for civil servants.

“After a year, I wanted something more challenging so I moved to Sanlam Insurance as a psychometrist, while studying towards a PhD in Psychology,” Prof Scheepers recalls. “After a year as a psychometrist, I was appointed as a psychologist to conduct leadership development at the same company. I loved serving as an executive committee member and conducted several organisational development interventions. I experienced the transformative impact of my work on individual level leaders, the leadership teams and the organisation over the seven years that I remained in that role.”

After gaining international experience while working as a leadership development consultant, Prof Scheepers founded her own consulting company, Irodo Consulting, where she led a team of psychometrists and psychologists.

“I studied part time at the University of Cape Town and qualified as a professional executive coach. I loved teaching part-time at various universities,” she says. “I realised that I enjoyed research and that my part-time teaching roles could be expanded to include an academic role. My first academic article was published in 2011 in a local journal; it dealt with the impact of human resources on the psychological contract with employees at an iron ore mining company. I then conducted research to write a teaching case on contextual leadership in the manufacturing environment, and published my first case in 2012 with Ivey Publishing in Canada.

“Since then, I have published nearly 50 teaching case studies, which are being used at business schools across the globe. My academic research outputs of more than 40 academic peer reviewed articles have been published in local and international journals. I’ve co-authored and co-edited seven business books and 14 chapters in peer-reviewed books, and collaborated with international scholars.

“I’m grateful to the NRF for the C2 rating, which implies that I am an established scholar and have some international recognition,” Prof Scheepers says, adding that she is grateful for the opportunities that she received at GIBS to transition from a practitioner to an academic.