A 25-year perspective on levels of analysis in leadership research

Dual Leadership in the Matrix: Effects of Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) and Dual-Leader Exchange (DLX) on Role Conflict and Dual Leadership Effectiveness

While strategic management theories have heavily engaged with the reality of matrix organizations, leadership theories that actually focus on the people working within such arrangements are missing. We argue that (a) followers perceive dual leadership effectiveness to be more than the sum of each leader's effectiveness, (b) a core detriment to perceived dual leadership effectiveness is role conflict experienced by the follower, and (c) Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) needs to be theoretically extended to the triadic level to capture the influence of dual leadership. Specifically, followers’ role conflict and leadership effectiveness perceptions are driven not only by how they perceive their LMX relationships with both leaders, but also how they perceive the relationship quality between their leaders (dual leadership exchange, DLX). As such, even though higher LMX is still better than lower LMX, having a similar exchange relationship with both leaders reduces employees’ role conflict and, by extension, heightens dual leadership effectiveness. Additionally, we reason that when employees lack a good relationship with one of the leaders, higher DLX can act as a substitute. We find support for our hypotheses by applying polynomial regression analyses to a dataset of 111 managers from a matrix organization who report to both a regional and business unit leader.

The future of leadership—How is leadership in small and medium-sized enterprises going to change?

This paper in the Journal Gruppe. Interaktion. Organisation. (GIO) addresses changes in leadership through digitalization and their consequences for leaders. For years, digitalization has been heralding changes such as increasing leadership at a distance or use of digital communication media. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) now face the task of coping with these changes and have to contend with major uncertainties: What are major determining trends for leaders in SMEs? Which changes will shape leadership and how will they change leadership tasks and success-critical behavior? In semi-structured interviews with seven experts from SMEs we have explored these questions. Trends expected by the experts describe changes in the organizational structures and in work within the company. Structurally, companies will become more agile and diverse, hierarchies will play a less strong role and companies will cooperate more closely with each other. Work will become more location-independent, more influenced by Big Data and many tasks will be made easier or taken over by technology. In relation to established models of leadership tasks and behavior, the experts see a clear shift in tasks in favor of managing human resources, including the development of employees through coaching and the transfer of responsibility. In addition to previous tasks, the experts see managing change as a new task area. This area consists of accompanying change, acting flexibly and agilely, communicating openly and transparently and allowing failure. With regard to changes in success-critical behavior, leaders have to show more strategy orientation, communicate clearly and be open to new ideas and further development.

Transformational Leadership and Turnover Intentions: The Mediating Role of Employee Performance during the COVID-19 Pandemic

The purpose of this research paper is to explain the impact of transformational leadership on employees’ turnover intentions in light of the mediating role of their individual performance. More precisely, we attempt to explain (a) how TL connects to employees’ turnover intentions, (b) how TL connects to employee performance, (c) how employee performance connects to turnover intentions, and (d) how employee performance mediates the connection between intentions and TL. Four hundred and seventy-eight Turkish healthcare professionals participated in this research. The results revealed that employee performance mediates the connection between turnover intentions and TL. In other words, transformational leaders encourage employee performance, which in turn decreases their turnover intentions. This research has important implications for reducing turnover in workplaces and increasing employee performance by facilitating a setting for high performance, since employees who are supported by their leaders are generally more committed to their organizations and exhibit better performance. This research answers calls to study the mediating function of the TL procedure, since the mediation clarifies the circumstances under which TL relates to the favorable results.

Brain-Adjusted Relational Leadership: A Social-Constructed Consciousness Approach to Leader-Follower Interaction

Relationship-based approaches to leadership represent one of the fastest-growing leadership fields and help us to understand better organizational leadership. Relation-based approaches emphasize the relationship and interaction between the leader and the follower. The emphasis is placed on the way that they interact and influence each other at attaining mutual goals. It is known that leaders are linked to followers and vice versa in a sense of responding to other's needs toward the achievement of mutual goals. Leaders and followers are an essential part of this social process implying that they are losing their traditional identity rooted in the formal organizational structure (manager-subordinate) and become inseparable actors of a co-constructing process of leadership. What is less known though is the way that leadership actors are linked to each other and in particular how they try to understand how to do that in the workplace. What is even less understood is the importance and role of consciousness in this relationship. Especially since consciousness appears to be both a fundamental and a very elusive element in human relations. Therefore, this paper conceptually explores the concept of consciousness within the context of the social brain theory to argue that leadership actors need to rethink their approach to individuality and focus on mutually dependent relations with each other. This paper contributes to the field of Neuro-management by introducing the concept of Homo Relationalis. In this respect, we suggest that leadership is not just a socially constructed element but also a social brain constructed phenomenon that requires an understanding of the human brain as a social organ. We further recommend a new approach of applying cognitive style analysis to capture the duality of leader/follower in the same person, following the self-illusion theory. Finally, we conclude that we need to further emphasize a social brain-adjusted relational leadership approach and we introduce two new cognitive styles that can help capture the essence of it.

Transformative dynamism in pharmaceutical and biomedical research: Complexity of integration of innovative R & D hubs

Introduction: To be fully functional, pharmaceutical, and biomedical research centers need to be transformed to become innovative research and development (R & D) hubs. Such transformation, however, is a dynamic complex matter.

Methods: To establish an innovative R & D hub, a simple and concise manifesto is conceptualized for the nonlinear dynamic transformation towards an innovative research hub to reinforce the transition of the 2nd generation R & D centers.

Results: Interdisciplinary research is the most demanded field of research to overcome various multi-sided health issues. To become an innovative R & D hub, pharmaceutical centers must function as a small-scale physical infrastructure to support the inter-communication of scientists and provide specific technological needs to promote the related innovation and entrepreneurship with advanced business plans and prototypes. Given that a success paradigm within an unorderly surrounding setting has already been condemned to fail, the orderly integration of nested systems and groups should be carefully implemented towards a shared vision with formal and tacit agreements among all parties, including academia, industry, and finance team.

Conclusion: To achieve a fully functional innovative R & D hub, a "know-how" approach with the systems thinking mindset within all the parties is of paramount necessity. The healthier the order of the whole working system is, the more effective will be the encompassed entitles and players. However, systems should have several checkpoints to enhance clarity and evade discrepancy and divergence. Since the medication is a highly trusted and needed public enterprise, the drug discovery and development paradigm should be practiced at the highest speed with maximum transparency and accountability.

Social effects of engaged leaders on subordinates' experiences in the workplace

We drew on the theory of conservation of resources to examine the social effects of a leader's work engagement on followers' psychological capital, work engagement, and job satisfaction. With a sample of 530 employees nested within 54 teams, we tested our hypotheses using multilevel path analyses in Mplus. As hypothesized, we found that the leader's work engagement was positively related to followers' psychological capital, work engagement, and job satisfaction. Further, followers' psychological capital mediated the relationship between the leader's work engagement and followers' work engagement and job satisfaction. In particular, the leader's work engagement was positively related to followers' psychological capital, which, in turn, was positively associated with both their work engagement and job satisfaction. Implications of our findings are that if leaders openly express their identification with their work and put great effort into their job, followers are more likely to achieve high levels of team effectiveness.

Leadership and Organizational Culture in the Sustainability of Subsistence Small Businesses: an Intellectual Capital Based View

The concept of leadership is complex and has been studied from multiple approaches, especially from the psychological field and from the field of management. Small businesses created as way of subsistence for the entrepreneur and their family present a limited leadership. The cultural traditions of the forestry industry are based on the culture and indigenous know-how of the territory, especially affecting small timber businesses, the small businesses working in timber activities. This paper analyzed the interrelation between culture and leadership in the process of generating performance from sustainable competitive advantages using partial least squares (PLS) techniques. The results show that culture and leaderships are sources of competitive advantage in subsistence small businesses, but culture does not generate competitiveness directly; an organizational culture needs to act through entrepreneurial leadership.

Toward Comprehensive Patient-Centric Care by Integrating Digital Health Technology With Direct Clinical Contact in Australia

Background

There is an escalating crisis in health care, locally and internationally. The current health care model is unable to meet the increasing health care demands.

Objective

The aim of this study was to reconceptualize the provision of health care to produce better outcomes at no greater cost, by placing individuals in the position of authority to direct their own care, in a personalized, integrated health care system.

Methods

In this study, we used the Australian health care system as a model. We reviewed the current landscape of digital health in Australia and discussed how electronic medical records (EMRs) can be further developed into a personalized, integrated health care system.

Results

Some components of an EMR and digital health system are already being used in Australia, but the systems are not linked. A personalized, integrated health care model that is responsive to consumer needs requires not just a passive repository of medical information; it would require a team approach, including the government, health care funders, industries, consumers and advocacy groups, health care professionals, community groups, and universities.

Conclusions

Implementation of a personalized, integrated health care system can result in reduced pressure on the current health care system, and it can result in the delivery of best-practice health care, regardless of location. Importantly, a personalized, integrated health care system could serve as an education platform, “upskilling” not only clinicians but also, more importantly, patients and carers by providing them with accurate information about their condition, treatment options, medications, and management strategies. By proposing personalized, integrated health care, we offer an intelligent model of health care that is ubiquitous, efficient, and continuously improving.

The making and sustaining of leaders in health care

PURPOSE

Many nations are focussing on health care's Triple Aim (quality, overall community health and reduced cost) with only moderate success. Traditional leadership learning programmes have been based on a taught curriculum, but the purpose of this paper is to demonstrate more modern approaches through procedures and tools.

DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH

This study evolved from grounded and activity theory foundations (using semi-structured interviews with ten senior healthcare executives and qualitative analysis) which describe obstructions to progress. The study began with the premise that quality and affordable health care are dependent upon collaborative innovation. The growth of new leaders goes from skills to procedures and tools, and from training to development.

FINDINGS

This paper makes "frugal innovation" recommendations which while not costly in a financial sense, do have practical and social implications relating to the Triple Aim. The research also revealed largely externally driven health care systems under duress suffering from leadership shortages.

RESEARCH LIMITATIONS/IMPLICATIONS

The study centred primarily on one Canadian community health care services' organisation. Since healthcare provision is place-based (contextual), the findings may not be universally applicable, maybe not even to an adjacent community.

PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS

The paper dismisses outdated views of the synonymity of leadership and management, while encouraging clinicians to assume leadership roles.

ORIGINALITY/VALUE

This paper demonstrates how health care leadership can be developed and sustained.

Clinical leadership and integrated primary care: A systematic literature review

BACKGROUND

Leaders are needed to address healthcare changes essential for implementation of integrated primary care. What kind of leadership this needs, which professionals should fulfil this role and how these leaders can be supported remains unclear.

OBJECTIVES

To review the literature on the effectiveness of programmes to support leadership, the relationship between clinical leadership and integrated primary care, and important leadership skills for integrated primary care practice.

METHODS

We systematically searched PubMed, CINAHL, Embase, PsycINFO until June 2018 for empirical studies situated in an integrated primarycare setting, regarding clinical leadership, leadership skills, support programmes and integrated-care models. Two researchers independently selected relevant studies and critically appraised studies on methodological quality, summarized data and mapped qualitative data on leadership skills.

RESULTS

Of the 3207 articles identified, 56 were selected based on abstract and title, from which 20 met the inclusion criteria. Selected papers were of mediocre quality. Two non-controlled studies suggested that leadership support programmes helped prepare and guide leaders and positively contributed to implementation of integrated primary care. There was little support that leaders positively influence implementation of integrated care. Leaders' relational and organizational skills as well as process-management and change-management skills were considered important to improve care integration. Physicians seemed to be the most adequate leaders.

CONCLUSION

Good quality research on clinical leadership in integrated primary care is scarce. More profound knowledge is needed about leadership skills, required for integrated-care implementation, and leadership support aimed at developing these skills.

A review of leadership theories: identifying a lack of growth in the HRD leadership domain

Purpose

This paper aims to identify the life-cycle of leadership theory from both the human resource development (HRD) and the organizational/leadership literature while providing a contrast between the two bodies of literature. The current research identifies which theories are being represented within the HRD literature, followed by a review of current directions in the leadership fields, primarily from literature in the organizational and leadership fields. By identifying these two bodies of leadership theories, the following research question will be answered: How current are the leadership theories provided in the literature of HRD compared to research that is reported from other external leadership fields?

Design/methodology/approach

This paper examines how leadership theories are represented in the HRD literature. Data for the current article provide a preview of leadership theories that are used to inform HRD scholars and scholar–practitioners for a period of 15 years (2000-2015) in the four Academy of Human Resource Development (AHRD) publications (Advances in Developing Human Resources; Human Resource Development International; Human Resource Development Quarterly; and Human Resource Development Review). The four journals within the AHRD were reviewed to identify which leadership theories were being researched and used to inform members of HRD. The search terms for the current study included “leadership AND theory,” “team AND leadership,” “leadership AND development” and “team AND development.” Studies that presented a leadership theory and either described or defined the theory were coded for the current study. Within this body of literature, there were a total of 74 leadership theories identified (some repeating), among those there were a total of 20 unique leadership theories. The literature external of HRD was identified using the ScienceDirect database for 10 years (2007-2017) with the topics limited to “topics–leadership.” Once the HRD and organizational/leadership literature are presented, a comparison between the two literature streams will be provided, highlighting any deficiencies within either body of literature and recommendations for future research efforts for the field of HRD.

Findings

This examination of leadership theory study within HRD and other fields highlights the deficiencies within either body of literature and offers recommendations for future research efforts for the field of HRD. In line with the trend in leadership research, HRD should call for more longitudinal and multi-level research efforts to be conducted as opposed to cross-sectional studies.

Research limitations/implications

The current study is limited in the literature that was used to collect/code data. Also, the time frame for the HRD literature ended in 2015 due to the long duration required to review articles and to code the data. Secondary data were obtained from organizational/leadership literature and are more current because they are more recent. Overall, even with an end date of 2015 for the HRD literature, the HRD field has not changed too much during this time and the authors recognize some minor changes, but the research findings are still relevant and the leadership deficits presented are still realized.

Practical implications

The field of HRD is behind when it comes to leadership theories. This paper identifies this in an effort to aid researchers, students and practitioners to look beyond the leadership theories presented in the HRD literature for more relevant and current leadership theories. This paper highlighted a number of newer and current leadership theories and trends for scholars and scholar-practitioners to begin to focus on; however, this list is only a snapshot and is bounded by the data collected for the current paper.

Originality/value

This paper is original in that it is both critical of leadership research within the HRD literature while also providing new directions for the field. The snapshot of where the field of HRD is compared to the leadership and organizational fields becomes apparent with multiple future directions for research.

Self-other agreement on transformational leadership and subordinates’ assessment of supervisor’s performance

Purpose

Given the importance of the extent to which supervisors and their subordinates agree in their assessment of supervisors’ leadership, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the possible relationship between self-other agreement on supervisors’ transformational leadership and subordinates’ perceptions of supervisors’ in-role and extra-role performance, through the mediating role of leader-member exchange.

Design/methodology/approach

Self-other agreement was conceptualized as the degree of congruence between supervisors’ self-assessment and subordinates’ assessment of supervisors’ transformational leadership. Data were collected from 36 supervisors and 189 of their subordinates. Cross-level polynomial regressions and surface response analysis were used to analyze the hypothesized relationships.

Findings

Statistical analyses revealed that self-other agreement on idealized influence and individual support are positively associated with subordinates’ perception of leader-member exchange, and in turn leader member fully mediates the relationship between self-other agreement and subordinates’ perceptions regarding their supervisors’ performance. Results from polynomial analyses indicate that subordinates’ ratings of leader-member exchange would be highest for underestimator, second for in-agreement/good supervisors, third for in-agreement/poor and lowest for overestimator supervisors both for the idealized influence and individual support.

Originality/value

This is one of the pioneer studies investigating the potential relationship between self-other agreement on supervisors’ transformational leadership and the subordinates’ perceptions on their supervisors’ performance through social exchange. Since researchers have paid scant attention to intervening mechanisms, this study aims to extend previous research in the literature by investigating those associations through the mediating effect of leader-member exchange.

Examining diversity beliefs and leader performance across cultures

Purpose

The global nature of today’s business environment, coupled with technological advances, has resulted in leaders working with an increasingly diverse workforce worldwide. An emerging stream of research examines the beliefs that individuals, groups, and organizations have regarding diversity. The purpose of this paper is to add to this work by looking at subordinate perceptions of a leader’s beliefs about diversity and how that relates to a leader’s performance.

Design/methodology/approach

Using archival data, the authors examine 33,976 leaders (from 36 different countries and more than 4,000 companies). This study includes performance ratings from each leader’s supervisor as well as perceptual measures of diversity beliefs from their direct reports and a measure of national culture as a moderator.

Findings

The research finds that employee perceptions of a leader’s diversity beliefs are related to supervisor ratings of the target leader’s performance. In addition, the relationship between a leader’s diversity beliefs and the target leader’s performance rating is stronger in cultures high in performance orientation (PO) than in cultures low in PO.

Research limitations/implications

The limitations include the use of an archival data set as well as an assigned country score for our measure of culture.

Originality/value

While existing research has examined the impact of self-rated measures of diversity beliefs, there is little empirical research that examines how employee perceptions of a leader’s diversity beliefs will impact performance. The authors address this need by examining whether employee-rated perceptions of the leader’s diversity beliefs are related to a supervisor-rated measure of leader performance. In addition, the authors examine the moderating influence of societal culture on this relationship.

Transformational leadership and corporate entrepreneurship

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine how transformational leadership may relate to corporate entrepreneurship by adopting a multilevel approach. The authors also theorized and tested the top-down and bottom-up intermediate process linking transformational leadership and corporate entrepreneurship.

Design/methodology/approach

Multisource data across different timeframes were collected from 129 managers and 244 employees from 55 units of 27 firms.

Findings

The results showed that transformational leadership and corporate entrepreneurship were positively related at the unit level. Furthermore, unit-level collective efficacy mediated the relationship between unit-level transformational leadership and unit-level corporate entrepreneurship. The authors also found that the firm-level empowerment climate moderated the indirect effect of unit-level collective efficacy on the relationship between unit transformational leadership and unit-level corporate entrepreneurship.

Originality/value

First, the goal of this study is to extend the single focus of transformational leadership on corporate entrepreneurship (e.g. Ling et al., 2008) and develop a more thoughtful approach on determining how transformational leaders influence corporate entrepreneurship across levels. This study responds to calls for research to look at the impact of unit-level transformational leaders, such as middle managers, across levels (Ren and Guo, 2011) and creates a multilevel framework in which transformational leaders at the unit level influence the appearance of corporate entrepreneurship at the unit level.

How to Lead the Way Through Complexity, Constraint, and Uncertainty in Academic Health Science Centers

Academic medicine is in an era of unprecedented and constant change due to fluctuating economies, globalization, emerging technologies, research, and professional and educational mandates. Consequently, academic health science centers (AHSCs) are facing new levels of complexity, constraint, and uncertainty. Currently, AHSC leaders work with competing academic and health service demands and are required to work with and are accountable to a diversity of stakeholders. Given the new challenges and emerging needs, the authors believe the leadership methods and approaches AHSCs have used in the past that led to successes will be insufficient. In this Article, the authors propose that AHSCs will require a unique combination of old and new leadership approaches specifically oriented to the unique complexity of the AHSC context. They initially describe the designer (or hierarchical) and heroic (military and transformational) approaches to leadership and how they have been applied in AHSCs. While these well-researched and traditional approaches have their strengths in certain contexts, the leadership field has recognized that they can also limit leaders' abilities to enable their organizations to be engaged, adaptable, and responsive. Consequently, some new approaches have emerged that are taking hold in academic work and professional practice. The authors highlight and explore some of these new approaches-the authentic, self, shared, and network approaches to leadership-with attention to their application in and utility for the AHSC context.

Effectiveness of managerial capabilities at different hierarchical levels

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to provide insight into the relative importance of task, relations, and change capabilities of managers at low, middle, and top hierarchical levels.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were gathered from performance reviews and evaluations from human resources personnel for 2,307 managers in one large company in a high-tech industry. Separate regressions for each management level were performed with standardized regression coefficients allowing comparisons across the different regressions.

Findings

Significant differences were observed in the effectiveness of managers using task, relations, and change capabilities. At top management, change-oriented capabilities become 2 to 3 times more important than at the lowest level. Task-oriented capabilities become significantly less important at the top level. Relations-oriented capabilities are important at all levels.

Research limitations/implications

Studies with participants from multiple industries and longitudinal studies could benefit research by further validating the findings and offering new insights on other situational factors, which change over time.

Practical implications

Managers, who have been successful in lower and middle positions, may not necessarily be effective top managers.

Originality/value

Few studies have explored differences in managerial capabilities at different hierarchical levels in organizations. The study offers a clear rationale to consider when conducting any analysis of different levels of management by practitioners or researchers.

Atuação do Líder na Gestão Estratégica de Pessoas: Reflexões, Lacunas e Oportunidades

Resumo A gestão estratégica de pessoas é um tema bastante estudado, enfatizando a relação entre políticas e práticas de gestão e outras variáveis organizacionais. A atuação dos atores organizacionais na gestão é pouco trabalhada, tornando o processo de implementação da gestão de pessoas pouco explorado. O estudo sobre a área de recursos humanos contribui para evidenciar uma lacuna na implementação, pois enfatiza o papel consultivo dos profissionais. Este trabalho objetiva analisar a atuação dos líderes como elo na gestão estratégica de pessoas por meio de reflexões sugeridas e pautadas em referencial teórico (gestão estratégica de pessoas, liderança e relações entre essas temáticas) e sugerir uma integração de modelos (liderança e gestão de pessoas) para suportar a evolução dos estudos. As quatro orientações do líder propostas por Yukl (2012), as definições de espaço organizacional de O'Reilly, Caldwell, Chatman, Lapiz e Self (2010), bem como o modelo tridimensional de Gratton e Truss (2003) e a proposta de papéis na gestão de pessoas de Ulrich (1997) podem ser base para a integração dos temas. Por meio deste artigo, pretende-se contribuir fornecendo sustentação para o desenvolvimento e o aprofundamento de estudos empíricos, além de endereçar uma lacuna sobre a temática da implementação na gestão estratégica de pessoas.

Why does leader attention scope matter for innovation ambidexterity? The mediating role of transformational leadership

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the role leader attention plays in the nurture of transformational leadership (TL) behavior, as well as the mechanism by which TL affects innovation ambidexterity, this research empirically studied the relationship between leader attention scope (LAS) and innovation ambidexterity (exploratory innovation and exploitative innovation) through the mediating role of TL. Further, the moderating effect of environmental dynamism (ED) on the relationship between TL and innovation ambidexterity was examined.

Design/methodology/approach

Empirical study was adopted by distributing questionnaires to high echelon leaders in mainland China to assess related variables. Structural equation modeling was used to examine the relationships of the variables based on the 188 returned questionnaires.

Findings

The results show that LAS had a positive effect on innovation ambidexterity, and the relationship was partially mediated by TL. ED negatively moderated the relationship between TL and innovation ambidexterity.

Practical implications

The results suggest that upper echelon leaders receive more unfamiliar, outward-oriented, and source-diverse information to broaden their attention scope. The broad outlook they get obliges them to engage in TL behavior which is beneficial for innovation ambidexterity.

Originality/value

Based on upper echelons theory, this research reveals the realization mechanism of innovation ambidexterity from the perspectives of leader attention and leadership behavior. This paper avoids the previous research limitation of prevalently employing demographic measurements to substitute for leaders’ psychological processes. The study of LAS also explains the formation mechanism of TL. ED is considered to examine the effectiveness of TL.

A scoping review to understand "leadership" in interprofessional education and practice

This scoping study examined how "leadership" is referred to and used in interprofessional education and practice. A total of 114 refereed articles were reviewed to determine how leadership is defined, conceptualised, and theorised. The review also examined what capabilities were identified for effective interprofessional leadership. The majority of papers were empirical studies undertaken by researchers based in North America. The majority of articles did not refer to a specific leadership approach, nor did they define, describe, or theorise leadership. Moreover, "leadership" capabilities were rarely identified. Articles generally focused on health practitioners and educators or students as leaders with little exploration of leadership at higher levels (e.g. executive, accrediting bodies, government). This review indicates the need for a more critical examination of interprofessional leadership and the capabilities required to lead the changes required in both education and practice settings. The goal of this article is to stimulate discussion and more sophisticated, shared understandings of interprofessional leadership for the professions. Recommendations for future research are required in both education and practice settings.

Authentic leadership and team climate: testing cross-lagged relationships

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationships between authentic leadership and team climate across 22 months. More specifically, three alternative causation models (normal, reversed, reciprocal) were tested.

Design/methodology/approach

– The longitudinal study was conducted among 265 Finnish municipal employees (87.5 per cent women, mean age 48.4 years). The participants completed a questionnaire three times: at baseline (T1), about 14 months after baseline (T2) and about eight months after the second questionnaire (T3).

Findings

– The cross-lagged analyses based on structural equation modelling lent support to the reversed causation model more than the normal causation and reciprocal models. More specifically, team climate at T2 predicted authentic leadership across eight months at T3. Thus the study suggests that positive team climate (i.e. vision, participation safety, task orientation, and support for innovation) may foster authentic leadership in the long term and not vice versa.

Practical/implications

– The findings suggest that − besides improving team climate and authentic leadership themselves – team climate should be improved in order to enable authentic leadership to develop and flourish. It is important to emphasize that in forming the team climate employees are active agents and not passive targets.

Originality/value

– The study is among the first to test different causal models regarding authentic leadership and team climate. From the theoretical viewpoint, the findings suggest that follower-centric theories of leadership merit greater attention in the future.

Using Event-Level Data to Test the Effect of Verbal Leader Behavior on Follower Leadership Perceptions and Job Performance: A Randomized Field Experiment

Given recent calls for enhancing multilevel leadership research, the present study uses event-level data to test the proposition that follower leadership perceptions result from aggregated personal observations of leader behavior. Although this proposition implies causality, it has been mostly tested with between-person retrospective data, coupled with correlational study designs. Our data refer to the perceived nature of leadership messages communicated during the most recent conversation with followers. These event-level data were used in a feedback intervention coupled with goal setting and population norms devised to change leader verbal behavior. The study was designed as a randomized field experiment in a manufacturing company in which supervisors in the experimental group received two feedback sessions regarding the extent to which conversation participants perceived their messages as transformative, transactive (corrective), or passive. Supervisors in the control group received no feedback. The data indicated significant changes in verbal leader behavior for experimental group supervisors, remaining unchanged in the control group. Such changes resulted in matching changes in follower leadership perceptions, measured 8 weeks before and after the intervention. Furthermore, performance outcomes improved in the experimental group, remaining unchanged in the control group. Implications for leadership research are discussed.

Locating and building collective leadership and impact

This paper analyzes how collective leadership develops from more individualistic leadership through ethnographic analysis of the rise of urban environmental stewardship in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Longitudinal analysis of a 30-year period reveals how leadership shifted from being highly individualistic, to become more pluralistic, and ultimately more collective. I demonstrate how specifying the location of leadership action in the case addresses ambiguity regarding the definitions of and distinctions among collective, plural, and integrative leadership. I identify two processes that helped to relocate leadership from more individualistic to increasingly collective, emergent spaces, namely fueling a public imaginary and organizing inclusively. These processes were central to connecting and mutually advancing collective leadership and collective impact.

The Aesthetics of Leadership:Beau Gesteas Critical Behaviour

This paper focuses on the role of beau geste in organizations, showing that it is endowed with a specifically critical dimension as it challenges both the established order and customary practices. We also scrutinize its unique role that consists in critically resisting economic norms. Analysing the beau geste actually offers an opportunity to broaden the scope of our vision of leadership by relying on aesthetics rather than conventionally viewing the leader as an artist. In the first part, we thus concentrate on the way leadership scholars have so far dealt with aesthetics. In the second part, through a series of examples and by adopting a historical perspective, we describe the defining features of the beau geste in organizations: gratuity effect, impact on the common good, size effect and surprise effect. We then analyse how beau geste indeed constitutes a form of provocation against an ‘organized’ world in which economic rationality seems to prevail. In the conclusion, we outline future prospects for research.