Leadership in Border Security: A Leadership Competency Framework



Author Information

SokYee Leong, Immigration & Checkpoints Authority, Singapore
Wei Chen Heng, Home Team Science and Technology Agency, Singapore
Celeste Tan Yan Ru, Immigration & Checkpoints Authority, Singapore
Li Li Poh, Immigration & Checkpoints Authority, Singapore
Pei Xuan Paige Lim, Immigration & Checkpoints Authority, Singapore

Abstract

Effective leadership is vital in any modern organisation, particularly for agencies entrusted with safeguarding national security. As the country’s first line of defence, the border security agency in Singapore is responsible for maintaining the nation’s borders. Given the dynamic and evolving security climate, it is crucial for border security officers to be rigorously selected, assessed, trained, and developed into effective border security leaders, based on a common definition. Hence, a clear Leadership Competency Framework (LCF) defining the competencies for effective border security leadership is essential. This paper explored and defined the leadership competencies in the context of Singapore border security. A multi-step approach was adopted during the development process to integrate the information objectively, utilising contextualised data from border security officers to inform the LCF. The results illustrated the completed LCF which defined five core competency domains. The application of the results is discussed in the areas of organizational selection, assessment, training, and development, with a focus on ensuring that these applications are contextualized within the unique operating environment of border security. For instance, given that Singapore’s border security leaders are expected to lead large teams, initiatives derived from the LCF are tailored to empower leaders with the necessary team management capabilities. Further applications and future directions are also explored in the paper.


Paper Information

Conference: ACP2026
Stream: Industrial Organization and Organization Theory

This paper is part of the ACP2026 Conference Proceedings (View)
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To cite this article:
Leong S., Heng W., Ru C., Poh L., & Lim P. (2026) Leadership in Border Security: A Leadership Competency Framework ISSN: 2187-4743 – The Asian Conference on Psychology & the Behavioral Sciences 2026 Official Conference Proceedings (pp. 255-277) https://doi.org/10.22492/issn.2187-4743.2026.24
To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.22492/issn.2187-4743.2026.24


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Posted by James Alexander Gordon