Signature framework

The Frazer Future Leadership Framework

The leadership pedagogy for advanced retail curricula developed in Dr Frazer's doctoral research — four core capabilities, surrounded by curriculum knowledge, innovative pedagogies and the learning theories that ground them.

This framework is presented as a scholarly contribution from the doctoral study A Leadership Pedagogy for Advanced Retail Curriculum Offerings at Public Higher Education Institutions (University of Johannesburg, 2025). Its claims are bounded by the evidence of that study; the proposed implementation roadmap is a conceptual guide inviting further empirical testing.

The Retail Curriculum Framework and Leadership Pedagogy. A circular model: at the centre, Retail Leadership Pedagogy surrounded by four capabilities — self-leadership, adaptability, practical skills and interpersonal skills. The second ring holds four curriculum knowledge areas: research methodology, strategic retailing, financial management and contemporary retailing. The third ring holds twelve innovative pedagogies. The outer ring names three learning theories: constructivism, connectivism and humanism. An arrow leads to the retail-ready graduate — self-leader, effective communicator, adaptable, understanding retail, interpersonal skills, critical thinker, innovative, team player — and then to an improved leadership development process maturity index running from Level 0 Immature to Level 5 Mature.
The Retail Curriculum Framework and Leadership Pedagogy. Source: Frazer, 2025 — doctoral study, University of Johannesburg. Click the diagram to view it full size.

Explore the framework layer by layer

Select a layer to read what it contains and the evidence behind it.

From curriculum to maturity

What the framework produces

The framework is a chain: a redesigned curriculum develops a retail-ready graduate, who in turn lifts an organisation's leadership development maturity.

Step 2 · The output

The retail-ready graduate

The eight attributes the study identifies as defining a graduate ready for retail leadership:

Self-leader Effective communication Adaptable Understanding retail Interpersonal skills Critical thinker Innovative Team player

Step 3 · The measure

Leadership Development Process Maturity Index

The LDPMI scores how mature an organisation's leadership development process is, on a six-level scale:

Application

What the framework means in practice

For universities

Embed the four core capabilities as explicit curriculum outcomes; select pedagogies matched to each capability and to institutional resources; pilot in selected modules, document, evaluate and scale — the phased roadmap proposed in the thesis.

For industry

Use the retail-ready graduate persona in recruitment and early-career development; assess leadership development maturity with the LDPMI; partner with universities on sector engagement, simulations and mentorship.

The findings also apply beyond retail-specific qualifications: the study found employers recruit from business management, human resource management and accounting programmes, which face the same capability gaps.
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