Neutralizing environmental uncertainties: the evolution of leadership in the South Korean TV station, KBS

Leadership studies on public TV companies are few and far between due to their peculiar status as a monopoly in the market. TV leadership has been deemed less important than the government that regulates it or the corporate advertisers who buy its air time. Using the theory of environmental threats and leadership evolution, this study analyses the personal data of CEOs at the Korea Broadcasting System (KBS), which is owned and controlled by the state from its conception in 1961. This contribution finds that different types of CEOs were favoured for each evolutionary stage with dissimilar environmental threats. Over the years, CEOs at KBS have become much more professionalized and were selected from inside rather than from the government. However, CEOs continue to pursue their political, rather than professional, roles to neutralize its external threats. It continues to be genuine that the most critical environmental threat for KBS is the state itself. The continuous political nature of KBS leadership makes it very difficult for the organization to be free from internal and external crises, including general strikes by employees and the sweeping layoff of key decision-makers in the firm by the government. It is expected that new CEOs at KBS should play professional roles for their long-term survival.