Beyond The Divide: Covenantal Authority, Sacred-Secular Permeability, And Leadership Legitimacy in Ghanaian Organizational Contexts (Published)
Leadership scholarship in sub-Saharan Africa has been largely influenced by Western theories that draw a strict line between the sacred and secular spheres. This paper challenges that view, proposing instead that in Ghana, these spheres are interconnected within a united communal cosmos—a concept called the Afrocentric Sacred-Secular Permeability Theory (ASSPT). It also introduces the idea of covenantal authority, which highlights leadership legitimacy stemming from divine, communal, and ancestral accountability, in contrast to Western positional authority models. In the Bono Region of Ghana, the paper suggests these propositions represent a significant shift in leadership understanding, with implications for research and practice in sub-Saharan Africa.
Keywords: Afrocentric organizational theory, Christian leadership, Ubuntu, covenantal authority, leadership legitimacy, sacred-secular permeability