Unlocking the mask: a look at the process by which authentic leaders impact follower attitudes and behaviors

The conceptual and empirical links between authentic leadership and follower attitudes, behaviors, and performance outcomes have not been fully developed. Although we have a number of articles developing the theory of authentic leadership and testing propositions that will appear in a forthcoming special issue of The Leadership Quarterly (Vol. 16, Issue 3, 2005), the focus of this article is to provide some of the initial foundation work for the broader theoretical framework of how authentic leaders influence follower attitudes, behaviors, and performance. Here, we draw from positive organizational behavior, trust, hope, emotion, identification, and identity theories to describe the processes by which authentic leaders exert their influence on followers' attitudes and behaviors. Research propositions based on the proposed theoretical model and implications for future theory building and research are presented.     

Governing Resilience through Power: Explaining Community Adaptations to Extreme Events in Coastal Louisiana

Scholars of socioecological resilience are calling for approaches that will aid understanding of the articulations of structure, power, and agency in adaptations toward resilience. This article presents a framework designed to guide analyses of structure and agency through three different forms of power: structural, differential, and systemic. It applies the framework to a case study of a fishery‐dependent Louisiana town, which was rebuilt and reimagined following over a decade of natural, technological, and economic shocks and disturbances. Data collection involved policy and document review and field research, consisting of observations and semistructured interviews. Findings demonstrate how the town’s adaptations toward resilience were produced by power operating through the legislated rights and responsibilities of the Twin Parish Port District; differential capacity of stratified groups; and systemic aspects of generalized values, norms, and preferences manifested through politics of place. In the context of successful community adaptations toward resilience, the article raises questions regarding sustainability and discusses the relevance of the power framework for explaining adaptive responses in cooperative, as well as conflictual contexts.     

Defying,producing, and overlooking stereotypes? The complexities of mobilizing “grandmotherhood” as political strategy

ABSTRACT

This article explores the Canadian Grandmothers to Grandmothers Campaign, a mobilization of older women responding to the effects of HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa. Based on interviews, participant observation, and archival work, this article looks at how and to what effect “grandmotherhood,” as discourse, was mobilized and deployed, in fluid and fractured ways, in order to increase members’ credibility as global social justice actors and build their solidarity with African women. These mobilizations functioned to uphold essentialist notions of what being a grandmother means, while also challenging stereotypes of older women as frail and disengaged.     

Interests and Implementation: Fostering Voluntary Regulatory Actions

This research addresses the role of interest groups in the implementationof voluntary forms of regulation to prevent harms to water quality.Voluntary programs engender information uncertainties and competingpressures on decisions to address potential harms. We addresshypotheses about these considerations for data about actionsundertaken by marine facilities, with particular attention todifferences in the influence of governmental actors, environmentalgroups, and trade associations. We find that these influencesare shaped to differing degrees by the trust placed in informationsources, fears of future regulation, a sense of duty to act,and desire to reduce informational and regulatory uncertainties.These findings suggest potential roles for interest groups inovercoming information gaps in the implementation of voluntaryregulatory programs.     

$s for Lives: Ethical Considerations in the Use of Cost/Benefit Analysis by For-Profit Firms

Cost/benefit analysis is often an imprecise tool because of assumptions that must be made about matters that are difficult to quantify. The problems become especially acute when lives or serious bodily injuries are at stake because of the serious nature of that which is being risked. Furthermore, the literature on cost/benefit analysis focuses on public decision-making situations and decisions by individuals. This paper examines the distinctiveness of the use of cost/benefit analysis involving putting dollar values on human life by for-profit firms. The argument developed in the paper is that the lack of participation by the affected party (or government representative) in balancing costs and benefits raises special ethical concerns. A formula that was developed by the Ford Motor Company concerning accidents involving fuel leakage and fire with resultant loss of life and serious burn injuries is used as an example of both the imprecision of the method and the distinctive factors of the decision process that raise special ethical considerations. The paper examines why the for-profit-decision is distinct, what the special ethical considerations are, and concludes with a discussion of several alternative procedures to monitor the use of cost/benefit analysis so that it would be an effective business tool while at the same time the individual is provided maximum protection.     

MEASURING COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT: PERSPECTIVES FROM LOCAL GOVERNMENT IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA

Local government in Australia has become an important site for discussions about community development and community well being, as increasing numbers of community services are being devolved to this level. Pressures towards greater accountability and demonstration of competitiveness, stemming from the implementation of National Competition Policy have led to attempts to better measure community development activities. In this paper we report on research conducted among management, elected members and community workers at five Western Australian Local Government Authorities which explored the nature and appropriateness of community development measurement. We found workers at all levels of employment struggling, not simply with notions of measurement, but also with fundamental understandings of community development.