Leadership, self, and identity: A review and research agenda

Ethical Leadership and Multidimensional Organizational Citizenship Behaviors

This study examined the relationship between ethical leadership and multidimensional organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs), specifically organization-targeted OCBs (OCBO) and individual-targeted OCBs (OCBI). In addition, the study examined the multiple mediating effects of self-efficacy, respect, and leader–member exchange (LMX) on the relationship between ethical leadership and OCBO, as well as the relationship between ethical leadership and OCBI. Through the application of a hierarchical linear model, an analysis of the results from 656 dyadic supervisor–subordinate data from 145 business units in Taiwan showed that both respect and LMX significantly mediated the ethical leadership–OCBO and leadership–OCBI relationships. The implications of these results for theory and practice and directions for future research are also discussed.

Enhancing our understanding of vision in organizations

We put forth a theoretical model that considers alternative paths toward the formation of vision in collectives. We view vision as being shaped by a combination of hierarchical leader vision and shared leadership processes involving followers. As such, these paths balance leader- and follower-centric approaches to understand the formation of vision. A feature of our approach is that we emphasize some key processes and moderators; specifically, the role of the content of the vision of the leader, leader deontic fairness, and collective identification among members of the collective. We consider research implications including the measurement of shared vision, as well as practical implications pertaining to its relevance for such important outcomes as organizational learning.

Leadership Development: An Outcome-Oriented Review Based on Time and Levels of Analyses

Contemporary organizations face critical challenges associated with possessing and leveraging leadership capabilities. Researchers studying leadership development have responded to this practical imperative, although research on the topic is still in the early stages of scientific development. In assessing the state of the science in leadership development, we review an array of theoretical and research approaches with the goal of stimulating thoughtful intellectual discourse regarding fundamental questions, such as, what is leadership, and what is development. We highlight the breadth of this phenomenon by reviewing theory and research that has considered the development of leadership in individuals, dyads, and teams/organizations. Additionally, we describe a set of proximal and distal signs that indicate leadership may be developing, and we promote experiences, interventions, and interactions as factors that enhance the leadership development process.

How does servant leadership affect employee attitudes, behaviors, and psychological climates in a for-profit organizational context?

This study investigates the effects of servant leadership on employee attitudes, behaviors, and psychological climates. In Study 1, the empirical results are based on data for 284 employees from 12 different organizations, and in Study 2, the results are based on data for 286 employees from 15 different organizations. The results show that servant leadership is positively and significantly related to organizational citizenship behavior, job satisfaction, and psychological climate. The relationship between servant leadership and job satisfaction is also partially mediated by psychological climate. With these results, this study contributes to research showing that leadership has both direct and mediating effects on employee attitudes and behaviors.

What Have We Learned That Is Critical in Understanding Leadership Perceptions and Leader-Performance Relations?

In this article, we provide a brief review of the current and past research on leadership perceptions and performance. We then describe four principles that have emerged from many decades of research, which can provide new directions for future leadership theory and research.

Examining the Unique Mediators That Underlie the Effects of Different Dimensions of Transformational Leadership

Although transformational leadership has been found to relate favorably to various work outcomes, past research has predominantly focused on overall transformational leadership rather than its dimensions. We addressed this shortcoming by examining how two dimensions of transformational leadership—providing support and emphasizing group goals—relate to follower organizational citizenship behavior and turnover intentions via leader–member exchange and employee commitment. Survey data were collected from 107 triads (employees, supervisors, and coworkers) employed in various organizations and industries. We supported our theoretical model in which the relation of providing support with organizational citizenship behavior is mediated by leader–member exchange and supervisor commitment, whereas the relationship of emphasizing group goals with turnover intentions is mediated by organizational commitment. These findings indicate that the dimensions of transformational leadership operate through unique channels. One implication for leadership development is that, depending on what outcome is desired (e.g., strengthening commitment to the leader vs. the organization), training can be tailored to target the most relevant dimension (e.g., providing support is more important for cultivating commitment to the leader vs. the organization). We discuss these and other implications of our findings.

Authentic leadership and psychological ownership: investigation of interrelations

Purpose

– Authentic leadership and psychological ownership appear to be at somewhat similar stage of construct evolution. In the present study, the author asks two research questions: first, how authentic leadership relates to psychological ownership and second, how dyadic duration influences this relationship. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Design/methodology/approach

– Using correlational research design, the author collected cross-sectional data from 182 Indian professionals working in various organizations in India. The author used structural equation modeling to test the study hypotheses.

Findings

– The results showed that authentic leadership positively influenced organization-based promotive psychological ownership; however, it shared no relationship with preventive psychological ownership or territoriality. Relational transparency and self-awareness factorials of authentic leadership influenced belongingness and self-efficacy factorials of psychological ownership beyond what authentic leadership as the second-order factor could account for. Leader self-awareness negatively related to follower self-efficacy. Authentic leadership completely accounted for the effects of moral perspective and balanced processing factorials on psychological ownership. Dyadic duration was not found to have significant moderation effect.

Research limitations/implications

– Overall, the findings imply that authentic leadership may make followers dependent and allow less relational substitutability. Moral perspective may be more central to authentic leadership construct than self-awareness. Moreover, it may not be appropriate to consider territoriality as a part of psychological ownership construct.

Originality/value

– The author believes that it is the first study to investigate the factorial-level interrelations between authentic leadership and psychological ownership. It can help in advancing authentic leadership theory and refining psychological ownership construct.

Transformational leadership and depressive symptoms among employees: mediating factors

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to examine whether the link between transformational leadership and depressive symptoms among employees is mediated by such personal resources as occupational self-efficacy, perceived meaningfulness of the work, and work-related rumination.

Design/methodology/approach

– The study was conducted using questionnaires among 557 Finnish municipal employees in various occupations. The statistical analysis was based on structural equation modeling. A multiple mediation model enabled us to investigate the specific indirect effects of each mediator. Model comparison was applied to ascertain whether the mediation should be considered as full or partial.

Findings

– Results based on model comparison showed that the proposed factors fully mediated the negative relationship between transformational leadership and depressive symptoms. Thus high level of transformational leadership was associated with high levels of occupational self-efficacy and perceived meaningfulness of the work, and low level of work-related rumination during off-job time, which, in turn, were associated with low level of depressive symptoms. The fully mediated model explained 36 percent of the variance in depressive symptoms. All of the three mediators made a unique contribution to this relationship.

Research limitations/implications

– The results imply that transformational leadership behaviors may decrease depressiveness among employees through strengthening the personal resources of employees. However, as the study is cross-sectional, causal relationships can only be hypothesized.

Originality/value

– The study sheds new light on the possible processes through which transformational leaders may exert their health-promoting effects on employees even in terms of depressive symptoms.

What do leaders have to live up to? Contrasting the effects of central tendency versus ideal-based leader prototypes in leader categorization processes

Leader categorization theory proposes that subordinates perceive leaders against the backdrop of a cognitively represented leader prototype. The match between the two ultimately determines how favourably subordinates respond towards leaders. The respective research, however, yields some confusion as to what kind of prototype is exactly used in this process. Are leaders matched against a central tendency leader prototype, i.e. to an average image of leaders in general, or is it subordinates' goal-directed leader prototype, i.e. their image of an ideal leader, that leaders have to live up to? We reanalysed a field study ( N = 266) and conducted a second one likewise with employees ( N = 271) to contrast the relevance of both prototypes. The analyses reveal that only the match with the ideal leader prototype was predictive of subordinates’ responses towards their leaders. Previous central tendency leader categorization research thus might have pertained to the ideal aspects in the existing leader population.

Identities and ideals: Psychoanalytic dialogues of self and leadership

The author contextualizes recent developments in sociocognitive approaches to leadership by drawing on psychoanalytic conceptions of self-identity. It is argued that psychoanalytic views of the self are complementary to contemporary social-cognitive approaches, although historical divergences in these literatures have impeded mutual dialogue. This initiative at dialogue examines charismatic, schema, and self-identity theories of leadership within a psychoanalytic framework, arguing that when self-identity is viewed broadly, convergences between these approaches become apparent. A broad view of the self makes notions of authority central to the construction of personal identities, underscores the ambivalence and relationality of self-processes, and highlights the normative assumptions underlying followership that may be difficult to theorize with contemporary sociocognitive approaches.

Considering the orphan: Personal identification and its relations with transformational leadership, trust, and performance in a three-path mediation model

Transformational leadership research investigating the identification processes of followers has mostly focused on social identification. In contrast, empirical evidence on the role of followers’ personal identification with their leader is still scarce. Furthermore, there has been no attempt to test the links between personal identification and other proposed mediators of transformational leadership. This study examined how a group’s identification with and trust in its leader sequentially combine to mediate the relationship between transformational leadership and supervisor-rated group performance. Using a sample of 343 employees and their supervisors ( N = 80), we tested a model in which trust functions as a proximal mediator and personal identification as a distal mediator in the leadership–performance relationship. Results support the hypothesized three-path mediation model. Our findings indicate the importance of trust for the development of personal identification in the leadership process and provide evidence that the group’s identification with the leader results in positive outcomes for organizations.

The Measurement of Servant Leadership

A new research stream in the field of leadership that has been linked to managerial ethics is servant leadership. The present study investigated the psychometric properties of a German version of the multidimensional Servant Leadership Survey (SLS) developed by Van Dierendonck and Nuijten (2011) . Based on ratings by 533 participants from various branches of business, results from a confirmatory analysis demonstrated that the translated instrument had adequate factorial validity. In terms of content validity, results showed that servant leadership was related to other relevant leadership measures such as transformational leadership and ethical leadership. Evidence for criterion-related validity was based on findings relating servant leadership to leader-member exchange as well as positive work-related attitudes and behavioral orientations such as job satisfaction, affective commitment, and organizational citizenship behaviors. Moreover, servant leadership was found to be related to important self-constructs of the followers including occupational self-efficacy and organization-based self-esteem. Overall, the results suggest that the translated servant leadership instrument represents a valid and reliable measure that can be used in the area of leadership research with German-speaking samples.

The evolutionary psychology of leadership

Evolutionary leadership theory (ELT) argues that humans possess specialized psychological mechanisms for solving coordination problems through leadership and followership. We discuss the evolutionary functions and psychological processes underlying leadership, and how to study leadership and followership from an integrated evolutionary perspective. An evolutionary perspective offers novel insights into major barriers to leadership effectiveness in organizations. These obstacles include (a) mismatches between modern and ancestral environments, (b) evolved cognitive biases affecting leader selection and decision-making and (c) innate psychological mechanisms designed to dominate and exploit other individuals. Understanding the evolved psychological mechanisms underlying leadership, in terms of adaptive functions, mismatches, and psychological processes, is critical for the development and integration of leadership theory, research, and practice.

Leadership of education psychological services: fit for purpose?

At a time of great change for educational psychology services in England, this paper reviews current theories of leadership and proposes how an integration of key aspects of these can be applied to support a self review of leadership practice, both by individual leaders and by services. The message from current theory is that in the midst of complexity and rapid change, a primary focus on the head of service is outdated; there should instead be a focus to develop the leadership capacity of the service as a whole. Key constructs considered are systems thinking, social identity, authenticity, and leadership as social construction.

I See Me the Way You See Me

This research investigated two key questions central to research on leadership and race: (a) How are leadership perceptions influenced by target’s race? (b) What are the consequences of race-based leadership perceptions on the target? These questions were specifically focused on Asian Americans (AAs), who are disproportionately underrepresented in leadership positions. Study 1 clarified previous research to demonstrate that Caucasian Americans (CAs) were perceived as more prototypic leaders compared with AAs. Study 2 supported the prediction that interpersonal leadership perceptions were affected by race via the activation of two leadership prototypes: competent and agentic leadership prototypes of AAs and CAs, respectively. Going beyond the contribution of clarifying previous research, Study 3 revealed that AAs had lower intrapersonal (self-directed) leadership perceptions and leadership aspirations than CAs and that the relationship between race and leadership aspiration was mediated by intrapersonal leadership perceptions. Implications of these findings are discussed with regard to leadership advancement opportunities for AAs and other racial minorities.

Unraveling the Relationship Between Family-Supportive Supervisor and Employee Performance

This study examined the role of job satisfaction, relational identification with supervisor, and work-family conflict in explaining the influence of family-friendly supervision (FFS) on supervisor-rated citizenship behavior and task performance using data from a Chinese pharmaceutical company. Hierarchical regression analysis results revealed that job satisfaction mediated the relationship between FFS and supervisor-rated citizenship behavior, whereas relational identification with supervisor mediated the relationship between FFS and supervisor-rated task performance. We also found that work-family conflict moderates the relationship between FFS and job satisfaction. We discuss implications of these findings for theory and practice.

Leading groups: Leadership as a group process

Although leadership is fundamentally a social psychological (and group) phenomenon, interest in the social psychology of leadership has waxed and waned over the years. The present article briefly reviews this chequered history and then discusses recent theoretical and empirical developments that extend the study of social cognition and social identity to the domain of leadership. In addition, we consider how the eight empirical articles that constitute this Special Issue relate to, and further, the study of leadership as a group process, and conclude by identifying fertile areas for future research.

The effects of transformational leadership on the distinct aspects development of social identity

Although transformational leadership (TFL) has been extensively investigated, the mechanism and process by which perceived TFL exerts its influence on followers’ social identification development behaviors is relatively unexplored. Accordingly, this study proposes a latent growth model based on social identity theory to address these influences. To test the proposed model, data were collected by surveying 1,501 employees of R&D departments at Taiwanese IT firms at multiple points in time over a 10-month period. Therein, we found that as employees perceived more TFL at Time 1, they were more likely to show increases in social identification development behaviors over time. Further, increases in social identification development behaviors demonstrate their positive relationship with task performance and organizational citizenship development behaviors over time. My empirical model confirms all of my proposed hypotheses, and these findings highlight that the potential dynamic consequences of organization behaviors can lead to employee career development.

Why follow? The interplay of leader categorization, identification, and feeling respected

Guided by both social cognitive and identity-based perspectives of leadership, the present study investigated how and when the process of leader categorization results in greater leader effectiveness. Specifically, we propose that the relationship between leader categorization and subordinates’ openness toward leadership should be partially mediated by subordinates’ identification with their leaders. Furthermore, seeking to corroborate that the issue of self-esteem is the central ingredient in the identification process, we argue that the mediation should become weaker the more subordinates feel that they are being treated disrespectfully by their leaders, and thus are explicitly undermined in their efforts toward self-enhancement. The proposed mediating effect was tested and supported in two field studies ( N1 = 244, N2 = 645). In the second study, we also tested and found support for the proposed moderated mediation model. The theoretical and managerial consequences are discussed.