Decision-Making Styles of Arab Executives: Insights from Tunisia

The main purpose of this research is to identify the decision-making styles of Tunisian managers. The relationships between their value systems and decision style. In this study, a sample of 215 managers in various organizations was surveyed. The findings indicate that 37.7%of Tunisian managers practice consultative means of decision-making, followed by 28.3 % who are proponents of pseudo-consultative style, and 10.7% who are participative. Delegative, autocratic and pseudo-participative decision styles are the least preferred in Tunisia. A comparative cross-cultural analysis of the decision-making styles and the managerial value systems of Tunisian managers with their counterparts in other Middle Eastern countries was also undertaken. The results indicate that Tunisian managers are more existential and egocentric less sociocentric and conformist. Furthermore, Tunisian managers are more consultative, and significantly less autocratic, compared with managers from other Middle Eastern countries.