Leader behaviors and career derailment potential: A multi-analytic method examination of rating source and self–other agreement

Based on extensive research that views leadership as a multi-faceted phenomenon, we examined how the relationships between task-oriented and relationship-oriented leader behaviors and career derailment potential vary by observer perspective. We present findings using three different analytical techniques: random coefficient modeling (RCM), relative weight analysis (RWA), and polynomial regression (PR). RCM findings suggest that self-, direct report, peer, and supervisor ratings of leader behaviors differ and are associated with career derailment potential. RWA results indicate that self-ratings matter the least, whereas peer ratings of leader behaviors typically matter the most in predicting career derailment potential. PR analyses indicate that career derailment potential is lowest when self-ratings are lower than other ratings of leader behaviors and/or when self–other ratings converge on higher, rather than lower, ratings of leader behaviors. Implications for leadership and self–other agreement research and professional practice are discussed.     

Empowering leadership and managers' career perceptions: Examining effects at both the individual and the team level

In a multilevel model of leadership behavior, we investigated whether and how empowering leadership affects individuals' career perceptions. We developed a conceptual model that links empowering leadership at the individual level and at the group level (mean as well as dispersion) to individuals' career self-efficacy and career satisfaction. To test our model, we used questionnaire data from a multilevel data set of 2493 employees in leadership positions nested in 704 teams from a large German corporation. Hierarchical linear regression analyses showed that empowering leadership at the individual level was positively related to career self-efficacy, which in turn mediated the relationship between empowering leadership and career satisfaction. Empowering leadership at the group level was positively related to career self-efficacy when it was conceptualized as leadership differentiation (i.e., the standard deviation of empowering leadership ratings), but not when it was conceptualized as leadership climate (i.e., mean empowering leadership ratings). Career self-efficacy in turn mediated the relationship between empowering leadership differentiation and career satisfaction. Finally, we found a negative relationship between empowering leadership differentiation and career satisfaction.     

Empathic emotion and leadership performance: An empirical analysis across 38 countries

The purpose of our research is to examine the relationship between subordinate ratings of a target-leader's empathic emotion and boss ratings of performance of that target-leader. Furthermore, using hierarchical linear modeling, we assess whether the cultural background of the target-leader moderates this relationship. Our results show that leaders who are rated by their subordinates as engaging in behaviors that signal empathic emotion are perceived as better performers by their bosses. In addition, we found that the GLOBE societal culture dimension of power distance was a significant cross-level moderator of the relationship between empathic emotion and performance. Implications for leading in cross-cultural and multicultural contexts are discussed.     

A pilot study of the contribution of empathy to burnout in Salvation Army Officers

Although empathy has been found to distinguish effective counsellors from less effective counsellors, human services professionals who continually experience negative emotional reactions to the feelings that clients express in counselling may be at risk of developing burnout. This study examined the hypothesis that emotional empathy rather than cognitive empathy is associated with burnout. The sample of human services professionals consisted of 71 Salvation Army Officers. Multiple regression was used to investigate whether the dimensions of empathy could predict three aspects of burnout: personal accomplishment, emotional exhaustion and depersonalization. The first regression analysis indicated that personal distress and empathic concern were significant predictor of personal accomplishment. The second analysis indicated that personal distress was a significant predictor of emotional exhaustion. The third indicated that empathic concern was a significant predictor of depersonalization. Although these results support the hypothesis, personal distress was negatively associated with personal accomplishment, whereas empathic concern was positively associated with personal accomplishment. The small size of the sample may have influenced the reliability of the findings. A multidimensional approach to the role of empathy in counselling may help human services professionals to manage their emotional reactions when they engage in counselling with distressed clients.     

Do “protean” employees make better leaders? The answer is in the eye of the beholder

While the protean career (Hall, 1976, 2002) has been lauded for its advantages in helping individuals adapt to changing career contexts, it is not clear how this career orientation may impact how others perceive a person's leadership ability. In this study, we hypothesized that those with a protean career orientation would receive higher leadership ratings from subordinates and superiors, but lower leadership ratings from peers, in part based upon social comparison theory. Using structural equation modeling, our hypotheses regarding subordinates and peers were supported, but not with respect to superiors, who, along with peers, rated those with a protean career orientation lower in terms of transformational leadership as measured by the MLQ. We discuss potential reasons for these findings and the consequences for research and theory. Also, we examine the implications of this research for leadership development, workforce recruitment and retention, and possible generational significance.     

Self–other agreement in empowering leadership: Relationships with leader effectiveness and subordinates' job satisfaction and turnover intention

We investigated the effect of self–other agreement in empowering leadership on leader effectiveness, job satisfaction, and turnover intention using a sample of 50 Norwegian municipal leaders (46 for leader effectiveness) and 168 (158) of their subordinates. The findings indicated that considering both self and subordinate ratings of empowering leadership was useful in predicting the outcome variables. In particular, subordinates of over-estimators reported lower job satisfaction and higher turnover intention. Moreover, leaders who underestimated their leadership were perceived as more effective by their superiors. For agreement (i.e., leader's self-ratings were in agreement with subordinates' ratings) the relationship between empowering leadership and leader effectiveness was curvilinear with an inverted U shape. Agreement in ratings of empowering leadership was not found to be related to subordinates' job satisfaction and turnover intention. The implications of these findings are discussed.     

When do host country nationals help expatriates? The roles of identification with the multinational enterprise and career development support by the subsidiary

In this study, we examine the roles of the host country nationals (HCNs)' identification with the MNE and perceptions of subsidiary's career development support as key factors in explaining the HCNs' decisions to provide help to expatriates. Using data collected in four countries (Australia, China, India, and Singapore), we show that HCNs' identification with the MNE and subsidiary's career development support are positively related to their extra-role helping behavior toward the expatriates. Further, the positive relationship between MNE identification and extra-role helping behavior becomes stronger when HCNs perceive that their career development is well supported by the subsidiary. We also provide post-hoc analyses to explore the potential differences of the four host countries in these relations.     

Testing the Vitamin Model of job stress in Dutch health care workers

Three central hypotheses of Warr's Vitamin Model concerning the relationship between job characteristics and well-being and health outcomes were tested: (1) differential effects of job characteristics on the various well-being and health outcomes; (2) predominance of curvilinear associations; and (3) moderate influence of negative and positive affectivity on these relationships. The study participants were 162 employees from a health care organization (aged 19–54 years, 95% women) who completed questionnaires on job demands and job autonomy, as well as on the outcome variables depression, anxiety, job satisfaction, and health complaints. In addition, data on short-term sickness absence were collected. A higher level of job demands was significantly associated with a lower level of well-being and self-reported health. Job autonomy showed weaker relationships with the outcome variables. The effects of job demands were still large after controlling for negative and positive affectivity, while the effects of job autonomy in most cases became non-significant. The predicted curvilinear relationship between job characteristics and outcome variables did not have an additional value over a linear model in predicting the data. It is concluded that the present data from a homogeneous sample of mostly female nurses support Warr's Vitamin Model to a limited extent.     

Gender and Race in Beliefs about Outdoor Air Pollution

Universal need for, or reactions to, risk communications should not be assumed; potential differences across demographic groups in environmental risk beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors could affect risk levels or opportunities for risk reduction. This article reports relevant findings from a survey experiment involving 1,100 potential jurors in Philadelphia concerning public responses to outdoor air pollution and air quality information. Flynn et al. (1994) and Finucane et al. (2000) found significant differences in risk ratings for multiple hazards, and in generic risk beliefs, between white men (or a subset) and all others (white women, nonwhite men, and nonwhite women). This study examined whether white men had significantly different responses to air pollution and air pollution information. An opportunity sample of volunteers from those awaiting potential jury duty in city courts (matching census estimates for white versus nonwhite proportions, but more female than the city's adult population and more likely to have children) filled out questionnaires distributed quasi-randomly. On most measures there were no statistically significant differences among white men (N = 192), white women (N = 269), nonwhite men (N = 165), and nonwhite women (N = 272). Nonwhites overall (particularly women) reported more concern about and sensitivity to air pollution than whites, and were more concerned by (even overly sensitive to) air pollution information provided as part of the experiment. Nonwhites also were more likely (within-gender comparisons) to report being active outdoors for at least four hours a day, a measure of potential exposure to air pollution, and to report intentions to reduce such outdoor activity after reading air pollution information. Differences between men and women were less frequent than between whites and nonwhites; the most distinctive group was nonwhite women, followed by white men. Flynn et al. (1994) and Finucane et al. (2000) found a far larger proportion of significant differences, with white men as most distinctive, probably due to use of different measures, study design, and population samples. However, all three studies broadly confirm the existence of gender and race interactions in risk beliefs and attitudes (particularly for white men and nonwhite women) that deserve more attention from researchers.     

Generation Y graduates and career transition: Perspectives by gender

The aim of this paper is to explore, by gender, UK Generation Y graduates’ views on their career transition after graduation from under-graduate business programmes. Following a literature review, the empirical work takes the form of an on-line questionnaire with business school graduates from a post-1992 Scottish University in five recent academic sessions. Gendered nuances are found in several aspects of the respondents’ views on their career transition, including statistically significant differences in: more women continuing their student job after graduation; women being more accepting of starting after graduation in a non-graduate level job; and more women than men encountering gender discrimination in the workplace. The identified nuances and differences appear to be setting the genders on diverging career tracks as early as the transition from university, in that they seem to signal more career progress, even advantage, among the men than the women.     

Those Glass Chains that Bind You: How British Muslim Women Professionals Experience Career,Faith and Family

This paper contributes to gender and diversity research through proposing a new theoretical construct: glass chains. We develop ‘glass chains’ as a metaphor to illuminate how highly educated British Pakistani Muslim women professionals in the UK negotiate a fine balance between faith, family and personal ambition. Using a qualitative approach, we highlight tensions between religious and familial guidance within Islam, and workplace practices. Drawing upon the construct of ‘glass chains’, we articulate how 37 British Pakistani Muslim career women felt bound, by invisible glass chains, to the tenets of their faith. We show how the pull of glass chains obliged these women to resist certain career‐advancing opportunities. In so doing, we borrow from French philosopher Michel Foucault ideas about self‐oriented moral codes, engaging with his arguments that individuals may prioritize, over other obligations, the ties (or glass chains) which bind them to personal value sets in order that they may become ‘ethical selves’. While previous glass metaphors highlight barriers to female progression from external and structural angles, ‘glass chains’ are, by contrast, concerned with the potential for internal and personal constraints on women's ambitions. The metaphor ‘glass chains’ may be extended to enhance understanding of career constraints among other workers.     

Internale und externale Entgleisungen: ein Derailmentmodell

A derailment is the apparently sudden and grave failure of a formerly successful manager. In this article we outline known risk factors and present results from interviews with derailed leaders. With these results a model of the derailment process was developed, which differentiates between two possible progressive forms. An internal derailment means, that the leader “implodes” and falls ill with depression or burnout; with an external derailment, managers “explode” and do much harm in their environment. Finally preventive possibilities and measurements are described, how companies can encounter the derailment phenomenon successfully, by using the operationalized psychodynamic diagnostics (OPD).     

Measurement of negative affectivity: A comparison of self-reports and observer ratings

Both self-report and non-self-report measures (co-worker ratings) of negative affectivity (NA) were obtained. Based on previous research, it was hypothesized that these two measures of NA would be moderately correlated. It was also expected that self-report measure of NA would be more strongly correlated with self-reported stressors and strains than would the co-worker measure. Finally, it was predicted that statistically controlling for self-reported NA would attenuate stressor-strain correlations more than would controlling for co-worker ratings of NA. A sample of 121 full-time employees who were pursuing graduate degrees completed self-report measures of stressors, strains, and negative affectivity. These individuals also asked two co-workers to assess their level of negative affectivity. Results supported all three hypotheses. Specifically, there was modest convergence between self-reported and co-worker NA. In addition, self-reported NA was more strongly correlated with self-reported stressors and strains than was the co-worker NA measure. Finally, statistically controlling for self-reported NA attenuated stressor-strain correlations much more than controlling for co-worker NA. These results suggest that observer ratings may be of some use in future NA research. Other implications of these findings are discussed.     

When the Outcome is Employability: Leading Indicators for the Governance of Labour Market Services

The aim of this paper is to explore the relationship between output, leading outcome, and lagging outcome indicators in the governance of labour market services. To support the definition of human capital development policies, the adoption of an intermediate outcome indicator of employability is proposed. By crossing data from a survey on workers’ perception of their own employability with administrative data on individual employment conditions, this work tests the effectiveness of such indicator. Results suggest a positive relationship between subjective career success and outcome, confirming the importance of employability as a predictor of long-term labour market performance.     

Investing with Prejudice: the Relationship Between Women's Presence on Company Boards and Objective and Subjective Measures of Company Performance

This paper presents a comprehensive archival examination of FTSE 100 companies in the period 2001–2005, focusing on the relationship between the presence of women on company boards and both accountancy‐based and stock‐based measures of company performance. Consistent with work by Adams, Gupta and Leeth this analysis reveals that there was no relationship between women's presence on boards and ‘objective’ accountancy‐based measures of performance (return on assets, return on equity). However, consistent with ‘glass cliff’ research there was a negative relationship between women's presence on boards and ‘subjective’ stock‐based measures of performance. Companies with male‐only boards enjoyed a valuation premium of 37% relative to firms with a woman on their board. Results support claims that women are found on the boards of companies that are perceived to be performing poorly and that their presence on boards can lead to the devaluation of companies by investors. Yet the findings also indicate that perceptions and investment are not aligned with the underlying realities of company performance.     

Experiences of Women Elite Leaders Doing Gender: Intra‐gender Micro‐violence between Women

This paper responds to the dearth of research into women's negative intra‐gender relations and lack of understanding as to why and how these relations manifest. Through a qualitative study of women elite leaders' experiences in UK organizations, the research considers how gendered contexts, women doing gender well and differently simultaneously, intra‐gender competition and female misogyny may explain negative intra‐gender social relations between women. We consider micro‐aggression research and women's abjection and offer a unique conceptualization of intra‐gender micro‐violence with themes of disassociating, suppression of opportunity and abject appearance. The themes illustrate how the masculine symbolic order shapes and constrains women elite leaders' social relations with other women. We conclude that raising consciousness to intra‐gender micro‐violence between women is important as a means of disruption; to facilitate women and men's acceptance of intra‐gender differences between women; and to open up opportunities and possibilities for women in organizations.     

Understanding top managers’ careers: How does career variety impact tenure on the board?

Career variety has recently received attention in management literature in general, and top management literature in particular. While existing publications have predominantly linked career variety to individual adaptability, agility or competences, this paper focuses on the relationship between top managers’ career variety and their tenure on the board. We rely on the boundaryless career approach and argue that there is a negative relationship between career variety and board tenure. Drawing on a sample of executive directors in UK FT 100 firms, we provide empirical evidence that increased career variety leads to shorter tenure on the board. We also reveal that this relationship is further strengthened with international educational experience. In addition, we show that in-house work experience mitigates the negative association between career variety and board tenure. We contribute to the literature on top managers’ careers by unravelling the consequences that career variety during early and mid-stages of a career has on tenure on the board – and hence on career stability in later stages of a career.