Falling Apart and Coming Together: How Public Perceptions of Leadership Change in Response to Natural Disasters vs. Health Crises

Melissa A Wheeler,Timothy Bednall,Samuel G Wilson,Vlad Demsar

doi:10.3390/su14020837

Melissa A Wheeler, Timothy Bednall + Show 2 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/su14020837

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Journal: Sustainability	Publication Date: Jan 12, 2022
Citations: 4	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: Swinburne University of Technology

Abstract

Responding to disruptions and crises are challenges public leaders face as they strive to lead responsibly for the good of the community. The last two years have been especially challenging for public leaders and institutions. In Australia, the federal government battled natural disasters (bushfires) and COVID-19 within the span of only a few months, beginning in late 2019. These events provided the opportunity for a natural experiment to explore public perceptions of leadership in times of crises, with both a natural disaster and health crisis in quick succession. In this study, we develop, validate, and test a scale of perceptions of leadership for the greater good, the Australian Leadership Index, throughout different crisis contexts. We hypothesize and find support for the drivers of perceptions of public leadership and shifts in these perceptions as a function of the bushfire disaster response, a negative shift, and the initial COVID-19 response, a positive shift. Comparisons of the crisis periods against a period of relative stability are made. We discuss the implications of differential media coverage, how the crises were managed, and the resulting public perceptions of leadership for the greater good.

Highlights

Academic Editor: Virginia BodolicaThroughout history, public leaders, such as public office holders and elected representatives who serve the community, have been confronted with crises of varying severity and scale, the most significant of which are natural disasters and health crises
Using the Australian Leadership Index, we examine how performance on different indicators of leadership, such as the outcomes leaders prioritize, the normative principles observed in the production of these outcomes, and responsiveness impacts public perceptions of leadership for the greater good
We examine how theories of public leadership, responsible leadership, and public value can be combined to develop a novel conceptualization of leadership for the greater good—a complementary concept to public and responsible leadership

Summary

Introduction

Academic Editor: Virginia BodolicaThroughout history, public leaders, such as public office holders and elected representatives who serve the community, have been confronted with crises of varying severity and scale, the most significant of which are natural disasters and health crises. Examples of health crises include the Spanish flu, the HIV/AIDS pandemic, and the COVID-19 pandemic In response to these “exogenous shocks”, public leaders and institutions, including the institutions of government, are often forced to change the types of outcomes they prioritize and the processes through which these outcomes are realized in order to serve and to protect public interest. This raises the question: to be seen by citizens as demonstrating leadership for the public good, what outcomes should public leaders and institutions seek to create and how should these outcomes be realized? Growing public pressure to lead in a socially responsible manner further increases and complicates those challenges, especially in pluralistic societies, as it means being accountable to an expanding set of stakeholders who hold different values, interests, and expectations [1,2,3]

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