Empowering leadership: Construct clarification,conceptualization, and validation of a new scale

In this paper we discuss key aspects of empowering leadership as a basis for conceptualizing and operationalizing the construct. The conceptualization resulted in eight behavioral manifestations arranged within three influence processes, which were investigated in a sample of 317 subordinates in Study 1. The results supported the validity and reliability of a two-dimensional, 18-item instrument, labeled the Empowering Leadership Scale (ELS). In Study 2 (N = 215) and Study 3 (N = 831) the factor structure of ELS was cross-validated in two independent samples from different work settings. Preliminary concurrent validation in Studies 1 and 2 found that ELS had a positive relationship to several subordinate variables, among others self-leadership and psychological empowerment. In Study 3 ELS was compared with scales measuring leader–member exchange (LMX) and transformational leadership. Discriminant validity was supported, and moreover, ELS showed incremental validity beyond LMX and transformational leadership when predicting psychological empowerment.     

Leader corruption depends on power and testosterone

We used incentivized experimental games to manipulate leader power — the number of followers and the discretion leaders had to enforce their will. Leaders had complete autonomy in deciding payouts to themselves and their followers. Although leaders could make prosocial decisions to benefit the public good they could also abuse their power by invoking antisocial decisions, which reduced the total payouts to the group but increased the leaders' earnings. In Study 1 (N = 478), we found that both amount of followers and discretionary choices independently predicted leader corruption. In Study 2 (N = 240), we examined how power and individual differences (e.g., personality, hormones) affected leader corruption over time; power interacted with endogenous testosterone in predicting corruption, which was highest when leader power and baseline testosterone were both high. Honesty predicted initial level of leader antisocial decisions; however, honesty did not shield leaders from the corruptive effect of power.     

A follower-centric approach to the vision integration process

Leaders increasingly understand the importance of involving followers in the vision implementation process. Viewing vision as a guiding framework that may or may not be adopted by followers throughout the organization, we test a model of the leader–follower communication processes involved in linking vision with follower work behaviors and decisions. Using a cross-sectional research design, we examine the basic relationships in a hypothesized model of the vision integration process. Employees from a health maintenance organization (HMO) (N = 340) completed surveys concerning leader–follower communication, perceptions of the company's vision, and its integration into their work behaviors. Not surprisingly, leader–follower communication regarding vision is crucial. More importantly, how the vision is understood and integrated by followers into work behaviors and decisions significantly predicts commitment, job satisfaction, and supervisory ratings of performance. Based on these findings, a more follower-centered conceptualization of vision is offered.     

“To thine own self be true”: The effects of enactment and life storytelling on perceived leader authenticity

Although researchers have emphasized the importance of antecedents to the construct of authentic leadership, very little empirical research exists to confirm this notion. Combining theoretical approaches from dramaturgy and narrative research, we were able to identify possible antecedents that help followers perceive a leader's authenticity. Using two online experimental designs, we analyzed the concept of perceived leader authenticity. Specifically, we examined how a leader's enactment—that is, a leader's physical actions—(Study 1, n = 105) and a combination of leader enactment and life storytelling (Study 2, n = 334) influenced followers' perceptions of the leader's authenticity, and how this may impact leadership outcomes. The results of these studies, in which leader enactment in the context of authentic leadership was operationalized for the first time, indicate that leader enactment predicts perceived leader authenticity. Life storytelling, however, only partially predicted followers' perceptions of the leader's authenticity. Findings further revealed that followers' trust in the leader and positive emotions are outcomes of perceived leader authenticity. Implications for research and practice are discussed.     

How being rooted in the past can shape the future: The role of social identity continuity in the wish for a strong leader

Why do people support strong leaders? We examined the link between social identity continuity – the sense that a nation’s past, present, and future are interconnected – and the wish for a strong national leader. Drawing on a multi-country data set (Study 1: N = 6112) and a sample from Australia (Study 2: N = 621), Studies 1 and 2 showed that identity continuity was related to increased desire for a strong leader. Studies 3a (UK sample; N = 293) and 3b (US sample; N = 294) further showed that desired (not perceived) identity continuity was related to wish for a strong leader, suggesting that the key ingredient is the desire for continuity regardless of the perceived current levels of continuity. These findings suggest that people may want to preserve their national identity as a link to the past to face present and future challenges, even if it means forgoing democratic leadership.     

Leader evaluations after performance feedback: The role of follower mood

Team and organizational failures can negatively impact leadership perceptions, as followers tend to attribute performance outcomes to leadership. The current study explores how follower mood moderates this effect. In two experiments, the first with students (N = 132) and the second with a sample of the working population (N = 229), we show that performance information has a weaker effect on leadership evaluations when the follower is in a positive mood as compared with a negative mood. In addition, we show that this moderation effect holds for performance information about the team as well as the leader. We discuss how these findings extend the cognitive follower-centric perspective on leadership by acknowledging affective influences and explore several counter-intuitive implications of these findings.     

Gender differences in the impact of leadership styles on subordinate embeddedness and job satisfaction

It is not surprising that subordinates generally prefer high-quality relationships with their supervisors. However, gender may influence the specific characteristics subordinates use to make this judgment, thereby impacting important downstream workplace processes and outcomes. Drawing from Social Role Theory, we use moderated mediation analyses across two independent samples to show that communally oriented leader–member exchange (LMX) dimensions (i.e., Affect and Loyalty) positively influence the job embeddedness of female (but not male) subordinates, whereas agentically oriented LMX dimensions (i.e., Professional Respect and Contribution) influence both genders equally. We found these effects despite strong LMX facet intercorrelations (ranging from r = .68 to .81), thereby highlighting the utility of testing theoretically driven dimensional effects, even when facets overlap significantly.     

The mediating effects of leader integrity with transparency in communication and work engagement/performance

We examined in a 3-month longitudinal study how leader behavioral integrity relates to individual follower work engagement, and how that relationship, in turn, connects to performance. We hypothesized that ratings of leader behavioral integrity would mediate the relationship between leader transparent communication and follower work engagement, which would also have a positive relationship with performance. We tested our hypotheses using data collected from military cadets (n = 451), who each rated their respective leader. Our findings show that followers who rated their leaders as exhibiting more transparent communication at Time 1, also rated themselves as more engaged in their work role at Time 2 (3 weeks later), and that their perceptions of leader behavioral integrity mediated that relationship. Follower engagement also positively related to third-party ratings of follower performance at Time 3 lagged 3 months. We discuss the implications of these findings for research on leader integrity, authenticity, follower engagement, and performance.     

The relative impact of complementary leader behaviors: Which matter most?

Despite conceptual overlap between the transformational–transactional model of leadership and the Ohio State two-factor model (i.e., Consideration and Initiating Structure), no systematic research examines correspondence among these behaviors or estimates their relative validities across a common set of outcomes. The current studies a) examine the factor structure of five key dimensions of these two models (transformational, contingent reward, laissez faire, Initiating Structure, and Consideration) and b) estimate relative validities with respect to two organizational outcomes: employee job satisfaction and perceptions of leadership effectiveness. Although results of a meta-analysis show that transformational leadership is significantly related to both Consideration (ρ = .74) and Initiating Structure (ρ = .50), results of two primary studies provide support for the independence of these leadership dimensions. Moreover, dominance analyses (Budescu, 1993) reveal that Consideration and transformational leadership are the most important predictors of employee job satisfaction and ratings of leadership effectiveness, and each had incremental validity when controlling for the effects of the other. Overall, results suggest that dimensions from both models are important predictors of employee outcomes.     

Transformational leadership sub-dimensions and their link to leaders' personality and performance

The multi-dimensionality of the transformational leadership construct has been under debate in the last decades. To shed more light on this issue, we conducted a meta-analysis (k = 58 studies), examining the transformational leadership sub-dimensions and their links to leader personality and performance in order to gather empirical evidence of the multi-dimensionality of transformational leadership. First, the results showed that the Big 5 personality traits are directly linked to transformational leadership sub-dimensions and to the overall measure, and are indirectly linked to leader performance. Interestingly, however, different combinations of the personality traits are differentially related to the transformational leadership behaviors. For instance, whereas inspirational motivation is related to all personality traits, only openness to experience and agreeableness affect individualized consideration. These findings emphasize the importance of examining the transformational leadership sub-dimensions separately to gain a deeper understanding of the nature and the antecedents of these leadership behaviors.     

Transformational leadership and leader moral orientation: Contrasting an ethic of justice and an ethic of care

Previous research on the moral foundations of transformational leadership has focused on a Kohlbergian (1969, 1976) ethic of justice. However, proposed associations between level of justice reasoning and transformational leadership have received only partial support. We reasoned that an ethic of care would be more consistent with the nature of transformational leadership than would be an ethic of justice. Multilevel regression analyses on data obtained from a sample of leaders (N = 55) and followers (N = 391) at a Canadian university supported our predictions. Specifically, leader propensity toward using an ethic of care was significantly, positively related to follower perceptions of transformational (but not transactional) leadership. Leader propensity toward an ethic of justice was significantly, positively related to follower perceptions of transactional (but not transformational) leadership. Conceptual, research, and practical implications are discussed.     

The impact of positivity and transparency on trust in leaders and their perceived effectiveness

A critical challenge facing today's organizational leaders is gaining their followers' trust and having them view leaders as effective in addressing turmoil and change. Using a downsizing scenario as the context, this field experiment examined how a leader's positivity and transparency impacted followers' perceived trust, defined in terms of willingness to be vulnerable, and effectiveness of their leader. To test the hypotheses, 304 participants were randomly assigned to one of the four conditions of high (low) leader positivity × high (low) leader transparency. Results of our mixed methods study indicated both the leader's level of positivity and transparency impacted followers' perceived trust and evaluations of leader effectiveness. Besides limitations and suggestions for future research, we conclude with the practical implications that positive, transparent leaders may have on building trust and perceived effectiveness among their followers.     

Group leadership and shared task representations in decision making groups

The development of adequate shared understanding of the task is of critical importance to group functioning. Group leaders play an important role in this respect, as a key function of leadership is to shape group members' understanding of their job. In the present study we focus on decision making groups with distributed information and examine how group leaders shape members' mental representations of the group decision task through leadership behavior rooted in their own representations of the task. We propose that the extent to which the group leader has task representations that emphasize information exchange and integration affects group members' task representations, group information elaboration, and decision quality. We tested these hypotheses in an experiment (N = 94 three-person groups) in which we manipulated whether a group leader was present and whether this leader held representations emphasizing information elaboration. Results supported the hypotheses, and suggest that team leaders may play an important role in creating a socially shared understanding of team tasks.     

Leader–member exchange (LMX), job autonomy,and creative work involvement

Researchers have claimed that high quality of supervisor–employee relationships (i.e., leader–member exchange; LMX) fosters creativity at work. Moreover, researchers have acknowledged that this relationship is not clear-cut but rather complex. The present study focused on the moderating role of job autonomy in the LMX-creative work involvement relationship. Longitudinal field survey data (N = 144) collected in a high-technology firm revealed a positive association between LMX and creative work involvement and confirmed our assumptions on the moderating role of job autonomy. The positive relationship between LMX and creative work involvement was stronger when employees experienced greater job autonomy. Our findings point to the importance of considering the interplay of both, the leader–member relationship and job design issues for increasing employees' creative work involvement.     

Seeing is not believing: Leader humility,hypocrisy, and their impact on followers' behaviors

Challenging the prevailing consensus that leader humility is uniformly beneficial we investigate circumstances where leader humility behaviors are positively perceived and yet negatively received due to attributions of impression management. Arising from potential inconsistencies in perceptions and attributions, we argue that followers may evaluate leader humility behavioral displays as either genuine or hypocritical. We conducted two studies, in different contexts, to test followers' reactions to leader humility displays. In Study 1 (Confucian Asian cluster), we used a survey methodology to test our theoretical model. Due to the validity problems with our instrumental variables, we were unable to draw conclusions from the results of study 1. In Study 2 (Anglo cluster), we used a scenario-based experimental design. While the hypothesized mediating effect via perceptions of leader hypocrisy was not supported by the results, we found support for the hypothesis that the interaction of leader humility and impression management positively influenced hypocrisy.     

Ethical leadership and follower organizational deviance: The moderating role of follower moral attentiveness

The literature on ethical leadership has focused primarily on the way ethical leaders influence follower moral judgment and behavior. It has overlooked that follower responses to ethical leaders may differ depending on the attention they pay to the moral aspects of leadership. In the present research, we introduce moral attentiveness as an important moderator for the relationship between ethical leadership and unethical employee behavior. In a multisource field study (N = 90), we confirm our hypothesis that morally attentive followers respond with more deviance to unethical leaders. An experimental study (N = 96) replicates the finding. Our paper extends the current leader-focused literature by examining how follower moral attentiveness determines the response of followers to ethical or unethical leadership.     

The enactment of plural leadership in a health and social care network: The influence of institutional context

In this article we employ developments in social network analysis (SNA), specifically the p* model, to examine the enactment of plural leadership within, and across, hierarchical levels and organizational boundaries (Denis et al., 2012). Drawing on an empirical study of an inter-professional, inter-organizational network (number of nodes = 23) that delivers health and social care, we address two research gaps: (i) the effect of power relations, derived from professional hierarchy, upon spread of plural leadership; and (ii) the effect of formal leadership, derived from managerial accountability, in channeling the spread of plural leadership for coherent strategic effect. We show that, in a routine situation, the network is characterized by generalized leadership exchanges. In this situation, professional hierarchy and managerial accountability are not visible, nor is channeling of plural leadership by the formal leader. In a non-routine situation, when a disruptive event occurs, the network is characterized by restricted exchange. In this situation, professional hierarchy and managerial accountability are evident, and a formal leader channels plural leadership.     

Childhood general cognitive ability predicts leadership role occupancy across life: Evidence from 17,000 cohort study participants

Research in the leadership literature has not yet identified links between childhood general cognitive ability and leadership potential in adulthood. We tested whether early cognitive ability contributed to leadership role occupancy across four decades in a sample of 17,000 working individuals from two representative British cohorts. On average a 1 standard deviation increase in cognitive ability predicted a 6.2 percentage point higher probability of leadership role occupancy. In Study 1, adjusted models showed that 37.3% of high cognitive ability children (+ 1 SD) occupied leadership positions compared to 25.4% of low cognitive ability (− 1 SD) children and this gap was even more pronounced in Study 2 (27.8% vs. 15.1%). Cognitive ability showed a graded association with the number of employees supervised in both studies and educational attainment partially explained the cognitive ability–leadership association. The results suggest that early individual differences in childhood general cognitive ability may profoundly shape trajectories of leadership across working life.     

Am I a leader? Examining leader identity development over time

The extent to which someone thinks of him- or herself as a leader (i.e., leader identity) is subject to change in a dynamic manner because of experience and structured intervention, but is rarely studied as such. In this study, we map the trajectories of leader identity development over a course of a seven-week leader development program. Drawing upon identity theory (Kegan, 1983) and self-perception theory (Bem, 1972), we propose that changes in self-perceived leadership skills are associated with changes in leader identity. Using latent growth curve modeling and latent change score analyses as our primary analytical approaches, we analyzed longitudinal data across seven measurement points (N = 98). We find leader identity to develop in a J-shaped pattern. As hypothesized, we find that these changes in leader identity are associated with, and potentially shaped by, changes in leadership skills across time.     

Perceptions of and reactions to leader toxicity: Do leader–follower relationships and identification with victim matter?

This experimental study examined the influence of leader–follower relationships (i.e., LMX) and target salience on perceptions of leader toxicity and intentions to challenge the leader. There are no studies that evaluate the effect of leader–follower relationships on these two variables. Participants (n = 298) with work experience viewed a video of a leader acting in a destructive manner toward a target. As predicted, LMX out-group participants perceived the leader to be toxic to a greater extent than participants with favored status, and indicated greater intent to challenge the leader. With regard to target salience, the results also showed that observers perceived the leader to be toxic to a greater extent when the leader was targeting someone in their LMX grouping, but there were no significant differences in challenging intentions based on the target's LMX status. Implications for leaders, followers, and organizations are discussed.