Building cross-disciplinary bridges in leadership: Integrating top executive personality and leadership theory and research

The top executive personality literature has grown significantly in recent years. We review this literature, consider its contributions to leadership research and practice, and discuss how future research on top executive personality should draw more heavily on the broader leadership literature. The paper first describes the top executive context and highlights the advantages and challenges of studying top executives. We then review the top executive personality literature in four areas that capture the bulk of the research: leadership of human resources, ethical leadership, strategic leadership and corporate governance, and firm performance. We examine how the top executive personality research in each area compares with other research on leaders' and their personalities that has been conducted on similar topics. The paper concludes with a future research agenda, which identifies other leader, team, and contextual considerations to advance our understanding of top executive personality and its influence. We also address methodological challenges related to measurement and endogeneity, because they are important for theory development and have received much attention in top executive personality research. In short, our paper examines how the literatures on top executives and leadership inform one another, and it helps lay a foundation for integrating these literatures more thoroughly.     

New contributions from old sources: Recovering Barnard’s science and revitalizing the Carnegie School

Scholars have called for the Carnegie School to revisit fundamental ideas such as decision, behavioral plausibility (Gavetti, Levinthal, & Ocasio, 2007, p. 531), and the individual (Cohen, 2007). In essence, these calls urge greater realism, beyond the School’s founding concepts such as satisficing and bounded rationality, which differentiated organization science from economics. This paper argues that revisiting the School’s ties to Chester Barnard advances work along these lines because of Barnard’s experiential method and his findings on the subjective and objective nature of, and on the personal and impersonal forces entailed in, organization. The paper begins by discussing the insufficient recognition of the School’s ties to Barnard and the emphasis on Herbert Simon’s translation of Barnard at the expense of the original Barnard. Then, based on Barnard’s unpublished and lesser known works (O’Connor, 2012, p. 112–170), it shows the scope and depth of Barnard’s contributions: a new “organic applied social science” (Barnard’s phrase, Wolf, 1995a) founded on a subjective relationship to scientific knowledge and ordinary action that Barnard called “personal responsibility.” Likewise, this science emerged from Barnard’s relationship to his own experience, specifically, his pursuit of a science to explain his and others’ experience of organization.     

Meso-modeling of leadership: Following James G. (Jerry) Hunt's lead in integrating micro- and macro-perspectives of leadership

This introduction provides a tribute to James G. (Jerry) Hunt as leader of leadership scholars, along with an overview to The Leadership Quarterly special issue on meso-modeling of leadership. Our tribute traces Jerry's evolution from a right-brain, defrocked engineer to a pioneering leadership scholar. Through early and sustained scholarly contributions regarding the importance of context to leadership, Jerry paved the way for meso-modeling perspectives on leadership, such as those reflected in this special issue. We conclude by highlighting the contribution of nine articles that serve to further Jerry's legacy through the advancement of conceptual and empirical insights into meso-level leadership processes.     

The Development of Entrepreneurial Leadership: The Role of Human,Social and Institutional Capital

This paper contributes to the literature on entrepreneurial leadership development. Leadership studies are characterized by an increasing emphasis given to an individual leader's social and organizational domain. Within the context of human capital and social capital theory, the paper reflects on the emergence of a social capital theory of leadership development. Using a retrospective, interpretivist research method, the authors present the experience of a cohort of business leaders on an executive development programme to uncover the everydayness of leadership development in practice. Specifically, they explore how entrepreneurial leadership develops as a social process and what the role of social capital is in this. The findings suggest that the enhancement of leaders’ human capital only occurred through their development of social capital. There is not, as extant literature suggests, a clear separation between leader development and leadership development. Further, the analysis implies that the social capital theory of leadership is limited in the context of the entrepreneurial small firm, and the authors propose that it should be expanded to incorporate institutional capital, that is, the formal structures and organizations which enhance the role of social capital and go beyond enriching the human capital stock of individual leaders.     

Leadership,information, and risk attitude: A game theoretic approach

This paper experimentally investigates how risk attitudes mitigate leadership effectiveness in a collective setting with projects that exhibit both free riding and coordination problems. We take two novel approaches: 1) the introduction of economic game theory to psychological studies of leadership, and 2) the application of the leadership ontology of Drath et al. (2008) as a cross-disciplinary integrative framework. Leadership here is focused on the presence or absence of direction, alignment, and commitment as well as antecedent beliefs and practices that are held within a collective (for us, our experimental participants). Our leadership context is stripped down to very minimal conditions: three group members, an investment decision, and the introduction of information regarding group members' attitudes toward risk. We find that the mere mention of risk attitude (whether risky or risk averse) undermines leadership effectiveness in mitigating free riding for our 420 experimental participants. Our study's primary implications lie in the application of game theory methodology to the psychological study of leadership, the introduction of relevant individual difference constructs to economic studies of leadership, and the advocation of the Drath et al. (2008) framework as a helpful integrative mechanism for interdisciplinary leadership research.     

Better know an HRD scholar: a conversation with John Bing

This paper contains a conversation with John Bing, and is part of a series that focuses on different human resource development (HRD) scholars – the aim being to better understand the people behind the names we see in print and at HRD scholarly conferences. John is Chairman of the Board at ITAP International, is a well-known scholar-practitioner, was a recipient of the ASTD International Practitioner of the Year Award, and received the AHRD Service Award in 2010. The conversation explores John's background, how he got into HRD, his time in the Peace Corps, his work with Geert Hofstede, and his wide range of experience in cross-cultural HRD. The conversation also considers how world experiences improve research and practice, the benefits and challenges of applying research in practice, and the importance of practitioners having a sound education in research and statistics.     

Martin K. Starr: A Visionary Proponent for System Integration,Modular Production,and Catastrophe Avoidance

Martin K. Starr facilitated the creation of an identity for production and operations management (POM) as an academic discipline. This paper aims to summarize Starr's substantial contributions to scholarly inquiry on system integration and interfunctional coordination, modular production, and catastrophe avoidance. Even after four decades, we describe how his legacy in these areas continues to define several major drivers of operations and supply chain management research and practice. Starr has influenced several generations of students, professors, and executives with his writings, teaching, and leadership roles in the POM community that include 32 years on the faculty of the Columbia School of Business, 15 years as Editor‐in‐Chief of Management Science, and presidency of the Production and Operations Management Society.     

Women's political leadership participation around the world: An institutional analysis

Understanding institutional systems is critical for the advancement of women's participation in leadership in varying contexts. A unique and global analysis of the contextual factors that affect women in political leadership, this paper extends prior research in the field. This is a cross-country study where we ask, “How are societal-level institutional forces related to women's participation in political leadership?” We collected data from 8 secondary sources on 181 countries and conducted linear regression analyses with six institutional influences: the business environment, societal development, the economic environment, physical and technological infrastructure, political freedom, and culture. Results indicate that to increase the political leadership participation of women, we need to evaluate the following: customs and trade regulations, graft, the gender gap in political empowerment, public spending on education, the economic viability of the country, access to power and the internet, political freedom, and cultural variables like performance orientation, collectivism, and power distance.     

Operations Risk Management: Overview of Paul Kleindorfer's Contributions

This paper reviews Paul Kleindorfer's contributions to Operations Management (OM), with a special focus on his research on risk management. An annotated bibliography of selected other contributions reviews the breadth of topics that have occupied Kleindorfer's research attention over his now 45 + years of research. These include optimal control theory, scheduling theory, decision sciences, investment planning and peak load pricing, plus a number of important applications in network industries and insurance. In the area of operations risk management, we review recent work that Kleindorfer and his colleagues in the Wharton Risk Center have undertaken on environmental management and operations, focusing on process safety and environmental risks in the chemical industry. This work is directly related to Kleindorfer's work in the broader area of “sustainable operations”, which he, Kal Singhal and Luk Van Wassenhove recently surveyed as part of the new initiative at POMS to encompass sustainable management practices within the POMS community. Continuing in the area of supply chain risks, the paper reviews Kleindorfer's contributions to the development of an integrated framework for contracting and risk hedging for supply management. The emphasis on alignment of pricing, performance and risk management in this framework is presaged in the work undertaken by Kleindorfer and his co‐authors in the 1980s on after‐sales support services for high‐technology products. This work on supply chain risk, and its successors, is reviewed here in light of its growing importance in managing the unbundled and global supply chains characteristic of the new economy.     

The possibilities of leadership: revisiting J.C. Rost’s leadership writings

In the 90s, J.C. Rost highlighted the possibilities for leadership to become inclusive, participative, and socially responsible. He explicitly questioned the leadership paradigm of the previous two centuries encouraging a new paradigm for the twenty-first century. His contribution to leadership studies was recognized through the International Leadership Association’s lifetime achievement award in 2008. However, his work has largely been overlooked within management and organization studies and today’s dominant leadership paradigm remains largely unchanged from that of the previous century. In this paper, the major elements of Rost’s approach; influence relationships, real intended change, and mutual purpose and their implications for developing good leadership are revisited and explained. Rost was unable to shift the dominant leadership paradigm which he encountered, but he was able to highlight the possibilities of what leadership could become. Conclusions are drawn with regards to the enduring separation between leaders and followers, the vested interests of stakeholders in leadership and the influence of a mythical leadership narrative.     

Evaluating leadership coaching: A review and integrated framework

Leadership coaching reflects an evolving dynamic between the client and coach that is qualitatively different from most approaches to leadership development and therefore holds particular challenges for evaluation. Based on reviews of academic and practitioner literatures, this paper presents an integrated framework of coaching evaluation that includes formative evaluations of the client, coach, client–coach relationship, and coaching process, as well as summative evaluations based on coaching outcomes. The paper also includes a quantitative synthesis examining evaluation methodologies in 49 leadership coaching studies. The results revealed that self-reported changes in clients' leadership behaviors are the most frequently assessed coaching outcome, followed by clients' perceptions of the effectiveness of coaching. Recommendations to advance coaching evaluation research include the creation of collaborative partnerships between the evaluation stakeholders (client, coach, client's organization, and coaching organization) to facilitate systematic formative evaluations, the collection of multi-source and multi-level data, and the inclusion of distal outcomes in evaluation plans.     

Leadership of socio-political vanguards: A review and future directions

With the influential rise of the Alt-Right throughout the West in recent years, there has been a renewed interest in the leadership of these forms of fringe political groups. While some work on the leadership of these types of groups was done in the 1960s, 70s, and 80s, less work has been done since then. Given the important role of these groups in today's political environment, a review and theoretical integration of this past leadership work, along with suggestions for future research directions, is overdue.This paper begins by reviewing what literature exists regarding the leadership of socio-political vanguards, as well as what additional literature exists that may also be relevant to better understanding the phenomenon of vanguard leadership. Vanguard leadership is then placed within the historical context and goals of past vanguard groups. This analysis then leads to further defining some of the components of vanguard leadership along with a review of typically associated leadership traits, skills and behaviours.While few theories directly address the way in which vanguard leadership operates, this paper reviews related leadership theories that might offer meaningful contributions to our understanding of socio-political vanguard leadership. Some theories, such as those related to social movements (particularly burgeoning), minor but influential mainstream political groups, and advocacy/activist collectives are particularly relevant here and are reviewed along with more general leadership theories that might also hold applicability, such as those related to leader and follower (and public) information processing and sensemaking under crises. The paper then concludes with some suggestions for future research directions.     

Emerging paradoxes in executive leadership: A theoretical interpretation of the tensions between corruption and virtuous values

The recent mini scandal surrounding questionable on-line postings of John Mackey, the founder and CEO of Whole Foods Market Inc., raises once again ethical challenges related to contemporary business leadership. Given his visible commitment to environmentally sound strategies and other responsible business practices, Mackey’s actions epitomize the irony and paradox that can surround executive leadership ethics. While this essay acknowledges the potential role of stricter legal constraints, punishments for offenders, decentralized governance systems, and rationalized structures that help prohibit power abuse, it views such rationalistic considerations alone to be inadequate. Rather, the authors suggest that the promotion of authentic virtuousness is an often overlooked yet indispensable part of any meaningful long term ethical leadership process.     

Testing a longitudinal model of distributed leadership effects on school improvement

A central premise in the literature on leadership highlights its central role in organizational change. In light of the strength of this conceptual association, it is striking to note the paucity of large-scale empirical studies that have investigated how leadership impacts performance improvement in organizations over time. Indeed evidence-based conclusions concerning the impact of leadership on organizational change are drawn largely from case studies and cross-sectional surveys. Neither approach satisfies the design requirements for studying the contribution of leadership to performance improvement in organizations. This paper tests a longitudinal, multilevel model of change in distributed leadership, school improvement capacity, and student performance over a four-year period. The results suggest that change in distributed leadership and organizational capacity for improvement make significant contributions to growth in student learning in reading and math.     

Leadership coaching,leader role-efficacy,and trust in subordinates. A mixed methods study assessing leadership coaching as a leadership development tool

In this study, we used a two-phase exploratory sequential design consisting of qualitative and quantitative research methods to assess leadership coaching as a leadership development tool. A focus group study combined with a review of theory resulted in hypotheses linking coaching to increased leader role-efficacy (LRE) and leader's trust in subordinates (LTS). Using data from leaders participating in a six month coaching program and a control group, the results showed that LRE and LTS increased in the coaching group, but not in the control group. We also hypothesized that increased trust in subordinates would be related to subordinates' psychological empowerment and turnover intentions. A significant relationship between increased LTS and reduced turnover intentions was found. Finally, we found that the degree of facilitative behavior from the coach positively affected the changes in both leader role-efficacy and trust in subordinates. While the results should be interpreted with caution as the sample is small, our findings support claims that coaching represents a promising leadership development tool. Furthermore, the results regarding trust in subordinates represent contributions to the development of a relational perspective on leadership development.     

The value of virtue in the upper echelons: A multisource examination of executive character strengths and performance

Previous research on upper echelon (i.e., top-level) executives has focused on how character flaws or lapses in ethical judgment lead to detrimental outcomes. Research is lacking that specifically examines whether character strengths that are reflected in the behaviors of top-level executives are related to positive outcomes. Therefore, this study examined behavioral manifestations of the character strengths of integrity, bravery, perspective, and social intelligence as influences on executive performance in the context of top-level executive leadership of for-profit and not-for profit organizations. Using matched-report data from 191 top-level, U.S. executives' direct reports and bosses and board members, this study found positive relationships between direct reports' ratings of executive integrity, bravery, and social intelligence and bosses' and board members' ratings of executive performance. These character strengths each accounted for variance in executive performance above and beyond direct reports' ratings of executives' developing and empowering behaviors and other control variables. Among the character strengths examined, integrity was found to have the most contribution in explaining variance in executive performance via relative weight analysis. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.     

Community-Based Service-Learning: Does It Have a Role in Management Education?

Community based service-learning is a form of experiential education in which students engage in activities that address human and community needs, together with structured opportunities designed to promote student learning and development. Can it be effectively applied to address the current struggles of management education? Management education is facing a gap between traditional curricular content and society's needs for new competencies. The Academy is also faced with the challenge of more effectively relating to society's social, economic and civic problems. The results of this analysis indicate that service-learning offers a means of closing the gap by helping to prepare students who are lifelong learners and active, caring participants in their communities. Service-learning appears to be a promising means of developing such managerial skills as leadership, critical thinking, teamwork, and cooperation. The limitations of service-learning for management education are addressed as well.     

Clarifying the Dominant Logic Construct by Disentangling and Reassembling its Dimensions

Since its introduction, Prahalad and Bettis's concept of dominant logic has informed a variety of scholarly conversations in management and strategy research. However, scholars have interpreted dominant logic in different ways, emphasizing different aspects, such as managerial mindsets, administrative tools and management functions, as defining elements. Similarly, empirical studies have captured various aspects, such as meanings of entrepreneurs, observable strategic decisions and business model similarity, as indicators of dominant logic. Consequently, the concept lacks analytical clarity, and it is difficult to compare or generalize findings from this diverse set of studies. The aim of this review is to improve conceptual clarity by analysing, comparing and evaluating the existing interpretations and assessments of dominant logic in 94 studies. In the first part of the review, by disentangling the interpretations of the concept, we show that dominant logic consists of four defining dimensions: (i) shared mental models; (ii) values and premises; (iii) organizational practices; and (iv) organizing structures. In the second part, we reassemble dominant logic into an integrative model and theorize about how these dimensions operate in concert to produce a firm's dominant logic. Thus, our main contribution is a clarification and synthesis of the literature, which comes with implications on how future research can conceptualize and operationalize dominant logic more consistently.     

The impact of ethical leadership within the recruitment context: The roles of organizational reputation,applicant personality,and value congruence

The present research examined the effects of corporate executive officer (CEO) ethical leadership on the job pursuit attitudes and behaviors of prospective job applicants. Furthermore, this paper tested two potential mediatory mechanisms for explaining why CEO ethicality matters to prospective applicants: perceived organizational reputation (Study 1) and perceived value congruence with the CEO or person–CEO fit (Study 2). The results of Study 1 showed that job seekers at a career fair were more likely to apply for a job with an ethical CEO's company, compared to that of a morally-questionable CEO or one whose ethicality was unknown. The results also showed that perceived organizational reputation mediated the relationship between CEO ethicality and job pursuit. These findings were replicated in Study 2. In addition, Study 2 showed that perceived value congruence with the CEO also mediated the link between CEO ethicality and job pursuit, although this effect was conditional on the Honesty–Humility personality of the prospective job applicant. These findings highlight the potential relevance of executive ethical leadership within the recruitment context.     

From solidarity to division: An analysis of Lech Wałęsa's transition to constituted leadership

This essay analyzes the capacity and constraints of authority in the contexts of constituted vs. non-constituted leadership. Using the experience of Lech Wa??sa's transition from the leader of the Solidarity social movement to the president of Poland as a case study, this article evaluates the portability of leadership skills and informal authority to the changing operational context of constituted leadership. It argues that the constraints of formal authority are significantly higher than those imposed on non-constituted leaders. As a result, while constituted leaders may have greater resources available to broadcast power, the allocation of these resources entails higher expectation for their custodians. This analysis concludes that a successful transition from non-constituted to constituted leadership is possible only when the leader manages to build new bases of informal authority. Wa??sa failed to expand his informal authority and was unsuccessful at transferring his leadership skills to the presidency.