Leadership Actions Research Articles

Organizational purpose and employee motivation: an fsQCA analysis

PurposeOrganizational Purpose (OP) has become increasingly important in the organizational context. This research focuses on how OP can contribute to employee motivation, using personal and institutional OP factors and considering the importance of employee motivation toward organizational success.Design/methodology/approachTo conduct the research, we selected a branch of a leading multinational company in the chemical sector. Based on data collected through a questionnaire sent out to employees and using fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA), we identified combinations of individual and institutional OP factors leading to high (or low) employee motivation.FindingsThe results reveal that individual and institutional OP factors synergistically promote high employee motivation. The employees' contribution to the OP and the integrity of the organization’s leadership are two key motivating factors.Practical implicationsOrganizations struggle to develop sustainable competitive advantages in an ever-competitive environment. Focusing on the “why” instead of the “how” may help organizations differentiate and achieve higher employee motivation. This research clarifies how to turn purpose into an asset to improve employee motivation.Originality/valueThe conclusions highlight the need to share the OP through leadership actions and the importance of helping workers recognize the OP and its values, integrate them into their actions and feel how they contribute to its achievement.

“The Kids can Handle it”: A Culturally Responsive Case Study of Four Detracking School Leadership Teams

Purpose: This comparative case study focused on high schools in California, New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia using the lens of Culturally Responsive School Leadership to investigate the actions of school leaders in implementing detracking and asks How do school leaders’ actions regarding detracking fit into the larger framework of Culturally Responsive School Leadership? Research Methods: This study uses a qualitative comparative case study method involving interviews with leadership team members at detracking high schools. Findings: Leaders in all the schools explicitly demonstrated creating inclusive spaces, embracing community assets, and enacting culturally responsive instructional leaders. Leaders at three of the schools explicitly celebrated students’ identities. Leaders at two of the schools suggested they engage in critical self-reflecting aimed at combating biases against minoritized students but did not explicitly mention this self-reflection. Implications for Researchers and Practitioners: Though emergent in nature, these findings add to our collective knowledge about practices in detracking schools that may be beneficial elsewhere and being to fill in gaps in our knowledge about specific detracking conditions over which school leaders have control. These findings also demonstrate a need for researchers, professors of leadership education, and policy makers to support school leaders in becoming culturally responsive and sustaining the practices at the heart of CRSL. Applying this framework allows for a rigorous discussion of leaders’ specific actions along with avenues of detailed consideration for researchers, educators of future school leaders, and policy makers in a coherent manner to create and sustain schools that can serve all children well.

Promoting leadership for learning in Nigeria: The interplay of leadership mastery experience and leader self-efficacy

Leadership for learning has emerged as a holistic leadership behaviour that combines aspects of instructional leadership, transformational leadership and shared leadership. Little is known about how this type of leadership develops and what antecedents are important. Following the rationales of Social Cognitive (Career) Theory and applying Chan and Drasgow's leader development model, we examine how leadership mastery experience and leader self-efficacy affect leadership for learning in Nigerian schools. We divide leaders’ self-efficacy into the belief that they have the necessary skills and abilities to be successful as leaders (leader self-regulatory self-efficacy) and the belief that the actions they take as leaders will have the desired effect (leader action self-efficacy). Using structural equation modelling, our results show that both leadership mastery experience and leader self-efficacy are relevant antecedents of leadership for learning, with self-efficacy mediating the effects of experience on leadership. Our results suggest efficiency–performance spirals and illustrate how important it is for the enactment of leadership for learning to believe in one's ability to competently perform various critical leadership actions.

Social Justice Leadership: Creating Equity-Driven Advanced Placement Programs

ABSTRACT A rigorous academic education in high school is one of the most important predictors of college success. The College Board’s Advanced Placement (AP) program allows students to earn college credit and/or advanced placement in high school. However, the lack of equitable participation in the AP program has not gone unnoticed by educators, policymakers, or researchers. This qualitative study was designed to fill a gap in the existing research by investigating the implementation of equity-focused AP programs in two urban districts in the Midwest. This qualitative, multiple-case study centered on the voices of 29 participants in two urban school districts who shared descriptions of their beliefs, actions, and reflections about their leadership practices regarding their AP programs. The findings show evidence of community-engaged social justice leadership in the school leaders’ personal beliefs about student access to AP, their situational awareness of their respective school communities, and the equity-focused leadership actions in service of their AP programs. Findings also demonstrated the importance of building the capacity of educators in different roles to engage in leadership activities in service of the equity-focused AP program.

The impact of teacher's pedagogical leadership on student achievement: the mediating role of teaching methods

PurposeEducational accountability and student achievement polarization, which result in high dropout rates, pose significant challenges and pressures on teachers' pedagogical leadership. Whether pedagogical leadership, which originates in the Western educational environment, can significantly improve student achievement in Chinese high schools remains unclear. This concept has not yet been fully explored in the Chinese educational environment, and its direct impact on student achievement and the mediating role of English teaching methods remain to be investigated. However, existing research has concentrated on the effectiveness of principals' pedagogical leadership, with variations in teachers' pedagogical leadership practices. Many reform measures have been implemented in China to improve student achievement, but past educational practices have analyzed the impact on student achievement from a single instructional leadership, school capital or teaching method perspective. Furthermore, there is a lack of multidimensional and systematic assessments of the direct effects of teacher pedagogical leadership on student achievement and the mediating effects of English teaching methods.Design/methodology/approachTo address this gap, this study analyzed the impact of teachers' pedagogical leadership on student achievement and the mediating effect of English teaching methods with the support of the theory of action for teacher leadership, specifically using pedagogical leadership and English teaching methods models.This study conducted a questionnaire survey of 968 participants in Taian City, China, and quantitatively analyzed the data using SmartPLS structural equation modeling (SEM).FindingsThis study revealed that pedagogical leadership has a positive direct effect on student achievement. Meanwhile, among the four mediating factors, the Direct Method, Audio-Lingual Method and Communicative Language Teaching had significant mediating effects.Originality/valueThis study shows that the effective use of academic and professional capital allocation in pedagogical leadership, combined with effective measures of using multiple effective English teaching methods, helps achieve high-quality student achievement.

Drivers of universal health coverage in Makueni county, Kenya: Lessons for the Global South

All UN member States committed to realizing universal health coverage (UHC) when they included UHC as Target 3.8 in the Sustainable Development Goals in 2015. However, the global commitment to UHC has not been matched with action on the ground. According to the World Health Organization, about half of the world population lacks full coverage for essential health services. To accelerate progress toward UHC, a close understanding of factors that drive adoption of UHC policies at the national and local levels is essential. The purpose of this study was to investigate the impetus for establishing a sub-national health insurance program in Kenya—the Makueni county government health insurance program (MakueniCare)—which led to increasing the percentage of the county population with health insurance, the majority of whom live in poverty, from 8.8% in 2013 to 91% in 2018. This qualitative case study drew on Kenyan law and policy documents as well as semi-structured interviews with 30 key informants in government and NGOs to understand the drivers that led to the establishment of MakueniCare. Findings revealed that several drivers—namely, global norms, decentralization, democratic competition, and the strategic action of social change-minded leaders—coalesced to influence the adoption of MakueniCare. The study offers timely insights into the factors driving UHC in Makueni, Kenya and lessons for other low- and middle-income countries working toward UHC.

All Talk, Not Enough Action: Civic Engagement in U.S. Entertainment TV at a Time of Crisis

ABSTRACT This study examines what young adults (aged 18–34) observe and learn about U.S. government leaders and civic engagement through 141 of the country’s most-watched entertainment television programs for their age group. Based on a content analysis of 658 episodes of entertainment television, it interrogates the demographics and actions of politicians and government leaders portrayed on the show, along with any civic action and conversation undertaken by everyday characters not in civic leadership positions. With important implications for both scholars of civic and political communication and entertainment media, as well as media practitioners who wish to understand the cultural importance of their work, this study reveals how the portrait of civic leadership and life offered to young people by the most-watched television programs provides a potentially harmful and uninspiring portrait of democracy in action.

Public leadership meta-skills in the 2020s

IMPACT Looking at public leadership from a meta-skills point of view is a new way to make visible what matters in public leadership in the 2020s. The significance of this topic lies in the contribution it makes to understanding and improving public leadership in the age of prevailing public policy complexities and austerity. This article explains why investing in leadership meta-skills is not only crucial for employees and organizations but also directly impacts the public sector's capacity for renewal, the quality of public policy and the ability of the public sector to deliver good services to citizens. The article provides directly applicable results for public leaders regardless of administrative branch; the findings can be applied anywhere where public value is created. The four categories of leadership actions and practices presented in this article help the public sector to succeed in the transition towards people-centred, cross-sectoral and future-driven policy outcomes.

Pandemic-Driven Leadership Perceptions: Attribution Theory in the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted critical aspects of leadership and public trust amidst a health crisis of unprecedented scale in the United States, especially within a context of significant political polarization. This research paper explores the nuances of leadership effectiveness during the pandemic, focusing on the role of attribution theory in understanding public perceptions of leadership actions. The theory elucidates how the public interprets leaders’ responses to the pandemic, influenced by factors such as political affiliations, societal norms, and racial considerations. The paper investigates the interplay between incumbent advantage theory and the rally ’round the flag effect, alongside the impact of President Trump’s handling of the pandemic on public opinion. It delves into the complexities introduced by the pandemic’s racial dimensions and its effects on minority communities, examining the broader implications for leadership responsiveness and public trust. Using a comprehensive analysis of demographic and psychographic variables, the study reveals a significant negative outlook on Trump’s crisis management across various groups. The findings underscore a complex interplay of media influence, racial identity, health status, financial conditions, and political affiliations in shaping perceptions of leadership accountability. Through the lens of attribution theory, the paper offers a nuanced understanding of the psychological and political dynamics that affect public attitudes toward leadership and accountability during crises.

Understanding involvement in environmental activism: relationships to pathological narcissistic grandiosity, virtue signaling, dominance, and sensation seeking

In a pre-registered study, we sought initial evidence for the relationship between pathological narcissistic grandiosity and involvement in environmental activism. This relationship was predicted based on the dark-ego-vehicle principle (DEVP) for which research is currently still rare. Using a socio-demographically diverse US sample (N = 1,145), we not only aimed at conceptually replicating previous findings on the DEVP but also at examining differential patterns of narcissistic engagement in environmental activism. In particular, we expected higher pathological narcissistic grandiosity to be more strongly related to greater engagement in environmental leadership actions than to greater engagement in environmental participatory actions. Results support the validity of the DEVP by showing that higher pathological narcissistic grandiosity was related to greater involvement in environmental activism, even above and beyond relevant covariates (i.e., pathological narcissistic vulnerability, age, and gender). Also, we found positive relationships between involvement in environmental activism and typical correlates of pathological narcissistic grandiosity (i.e., virtue signaling, dominance, and sensation seeking). Contrary to our predictions, we did not find the relationship between pathological narcissistic grandiosity and environmental activism to be more intense for environmental leadership actions compared to environmental participatory actions. These results are discussed considering the DEVP.

The influence of toxic leadership on emotional exhaust and reactive work behavior

Companies are impacted by toxic leadership phenomena, resulting in many dissatisfied employees, low morale, and reduced progress. The fundamental mismatch between good leadership and harmful actions of toxic leaders is the primary cause of the problem. Toxic leadership can also be developed from narcissistic behavior of considering personal interests or using humiliation to maintain power. In this context, employees are negatively affected, resulting in higher stress levels, poorer job satisfaction, and a significant decrease in trust. Therefore, this research aims to explore the impact of toxic leadership and other factors on companies. The sample consists of 187 senior employees in the accounting department who worked in manufacturing companies. The results showed that toxic leadership influences role stress, while role stress affects emotional exhaustion and reactive work behavior. Moreover, future research should be conducted using other samples such as hospital employees or pay attention to other aspects related to role stress.

The influence of follower reactions on political leaders’ environmental policy communication: toward a social-mediated dynamic influence framework

ABSTRACT This study proposes that social-mediated leadership communication is a dynamic influence process, involving visible leader communications, follower emotional responses, and subsequent leader actions. These interactions form a feedback loop, where follower reactions influence leaders' strategic communication. We tested this framework by analyzing U.S. political leaders' engagement with the Green New Deal during the 2020 Presidential campaign. Using Facebook posts from congressional politicians and data on follower reactions, we applied longitudinal network models, natural language processing, and multilevel event history models to examine factors behind leaders' decisions to co-share content and discuss specific policy topics. Our findings support the dynamic influence framework, showing that follower reactions, especially those indicating support and boosting message virality, are most likely to prompt shifts in leaders’ communication strategies.

Health Care Workers’ Trust in Leadership: Why It Matters and How Leaders Can Build It

Rebuilding patient trust in the US health care system has received considerable attention recently, but there has been little focus on health care workers' (HCWs) trust in the leaders of health care delivery organizations. This study explores (1) the professional impact on HCWs of trusting the leaders of the organizations where they work and (2) the leadership actions that build HCWs' trust. The authors examined these questions using a survey that was crowdsourced to 353 HCWs through social media posts and e-mails from national health organizations. For each open-ended question, qualitative codes were identified, iteratively finalized, and applied to each response. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the closed-ended questions and examine how often each qualitative code was raised. One in five (20.2%) HCWs trusted leadership "very much," more than a third (36.9%) trusted "somewhat," and 42.9% had lower levels of trust. Almost all (97.7%) reported that the degree of trust they had in their organization's leadership affected them professionally. Among HCWs who trusted their organization's leadership, the most common impact was feeling professional satisfaction, followed by providing higher-quality work. HCWs described three main ways health care organization leaders earned their trust: communicating effectively (being transparent and soliciting HCWs' input), treating HCWs well (with respect and kindness and providing good compensation), and prioritizing patient care. The findings suggest health care organizations would benefit from leaders seeking to earn HCWs' trust. With trust in leadership, HCWs report higher work quality and greater professional satisfaction.

Beyond the Narratives on the Traits of Empathetic Leadership-Discovery from 20 Global Business Leaders

In the leadership literature, “empathetic leadership” as the narration of leadership traits is much more recent than that of other theories. Though empathetic leadership is a new behavior-based narrative of leadership, it has been attracting the attention of a lot of researchers around the world. P Progressing through the trajectory, the narrations on empathetic leadership have been focusing on trait-based theoretical explorations. Beyond narrations of traits and characteristics, inquiries on what empathic leaders do, what activities they focus on to create their enterprises as empathic organizations, whether there are any action-based models of empathetic leaders, etc. may enrich the leadership scholars. The present study is conducted based on examples of their activities and focus areas of empathetic action in order for their organization to examine the theoretical narratives of the earlier study. It has not been an attempt to refute all narrative but has been given an effort for narrative for empathetic leaders to prove with examples of global leaders. The study has clarified many traits and actions of empathetic leaders with a simplified, indicative model for explanation.

Organizational Trust, Working Parents in Student Affairs, and the COVID-19 Pandemic

ABSTRACT How do the actions of higher education leadership impact the trust employees feel in their organization? Using a theoretical framework that suggests that trust is shared, learned, and conditional, we investigate the way the actions of senior leaders and direct supervisors both helped and harmed employees’ trust in their organizations during the COVID-19 pandemic. Drawing on interviews with 25 working parents in student affairs, we found that many felt abandoned by their senior leaders as institutions focused their actions on supporting students, often at the expense of employee health and well-being. Although some individual supervisors were noted for being supportive, their actions often were counter to the dominant culture, leading to overall feelings of disillusionment and distrust. This study’s findings extend far beyond the COVID-19 pandemic, illustrating how institutional behavior can influence employee morale.

Leadership and the high reliability transformation: A qualitative study at Truman VA medical center.

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has committed to becoming a High Reliability Organization (HRO). The Truman VA Medical Center (VAMC) successfully implemented and sustained foundational HRO elements over a period with several changes in facility executive leadership. We interviewed current and past leaders at Truman to understand how they retained fidelity to the HRO transformation. We conducted 16 interviews with 14 leaders involved in the HRO transformation and identified three themes related to the Truman HRO transformation: (1) Leadership visibly drove culture change through intentional communication and modeling HRO principles; (2) Leadership deferred to frontline expertise and empowered staff to make changes and to fail; (3) Hiring the right team members for the organizational culture and investing in training can support HRO principles and values. Our findings highlight key actions for leaders in the context of HROs: regularly communicate the significance of HRO, demonstrate behavior consistent with what they hope to see from staff, celebrate failure, allocate time and resources to the creation of hiring frameworks that identify employee skillsets conducive to HRO principles, and substantial and recurring investments in employee development. Importantly, successive executive leaders at Truman VAMC modeled these skills to promote and sustain the HRO transformation.

Pengaruh Etika Kepemimpinan Terhadap Kinerja Guru di MAN 2 Sijunjung

This research aims to examine the influence of ethical leadership on teacher performance at MAN 2 Sijunjung. Leadership ethics includes the application of the principles of honesty, justice, responsibility, and transparency in a leader's actions. In the educational context, leadership can create a positive and supportive work environment, which ultimately influences improving teacher performance. The research method used is a qualitative approach with a descriptive design. Data was collected through in-depth interviews with teachers and madrasa leaders, direct observation in the work environment, and analysis of internal organizational documents. Research results show that teachers who work under ethical leaders report higher levels of motivation, a greater sense of job satisfaction, and better performance. Teachers feel more valued and supported, which encourages them to work harder and achieve better results. Apart from that, ethical leadership also contributes to the formation of a strong organizational culture, which encourages cooperation, openness, and innovation. The conclusion of this research is that ethical leadership has a significant influence on teacher performance at MAN 2 Sijunjung. Therefore, it is important for educational institutions to strengthen ethical leadership as part of a strategy to improve the quality of education

The HepHIV 2023 Madrid conference: A call to action for political leadership in reaching the sustainable development goals on earlier testing and linkage to care for HIV, viral hepatitis, and sexually transmitted infections.

The HepHIV 2023 Conference, held in Madrid in November 2023, highlighted how Europe is not on track to meet the United Nations (UN) sustainable development goals and Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) targets. This article presents the outcomes of the conference, which focus on ways to improve testing and linkage to care for HIV, viral hepatitis, and other sexually transmitted infections. HIV-related stigma and discrimination, a major barrier to progress, was a key concept of the conference and on the agenda of the Spanish Presidency of the European Union. The HepHIV 2023 organizing committee, alongside the Spanish Ministry of Health, oversaw the conference organization and prepared the scientific programme based on abstract rankings. Key outcomes are derived from conference presentations and discussions. Conference presentations covered the obstacles that HIV-related stigma and discrimination continue to pose to access to services, models for data collection to better monitor progress in the future, and examples of legislative action that can be taken at national levels. Diversification of testing approaches was also highlighted, to reach key populations, (e.g. migrant populations), to increase testing offered in healthcare settings (e.g. emergency departments), and to account for different stages of epidemics across the region. With a strong call for intensified action to address the impact of HIV-related stigma and discrimination on testing uptake, the conference concluded that strengthened collaboration is required between governments and implementers around testing and linkage to care. There is also an ongoing need to ensure sustainable political commitment and appropriate resource allocation to address gaps and inequalities in access for key populations and to focus on the implementation of integrated responses to HIV, viral hepatitis, and sexually transmitted infections.

Türkiye’s Military Base in Somalia: A Case Study

At the present stage the Republic of Türkiye is all the more actively claiming the role of a regional leader and at the same time, using the favourable geopolitical position at the junction of two civilizations, seeks to strengthen influence in global politics. The statehood of independent states is impossible without strengthening their own security, and that allows for the development of international military dialogue. Türkiye as a world power is to restore its prosperity from the times of the Ottoman Empire. Best evidence is the creation of Turkish military bases beyond its national borders. Moreover, such actions of the Turkish leadership are considered not only a political ambition but also a pragmatic calculation. First overseas military base of Türkiye in modern times was created in one of the most turbulent countries in the world – Somalia. Currently, Türkiye has a military presence in Somalia. Hence, this study examined the main stages of bilateral relations between Türkiye and Somalia. Relations between the two countries have passed a certain historical path of development and have been characterized by periods of activation revival also stagnation. It was concluded that despite the fact that political, economic and military cooperation between Türkiye and Somalia had huge potential, there were some of constraining factors affecting their further development.

Impact of Transformational and Relational Leadership Theories and Ethics Towards Climate Change Resilience in Fiji

This analytical essay explores the intricate interplay between leadership theories and the ethical dimensions inherent in addressing climate change, natural disasters, and their impacts on Fiji. Transformational and relational leadership theories are identified as crucial frameworks in shaping ethical attributes within organizations, creating ethical climates that address the implications of climate change and disasters. The challenges posed by natural disasters in Fiji, particularly on the economy, vulnerable sectors, and communities, necessitate effective leadership and ethical approach. This essay delves into multiple leadership theories, examining their relevance and efficacy in the context of Pacific Islands. Authentic leadership, transformational leadership, and culturally sustaining leadership emerge as influential paradigms, contributing to disaster risk reduction, resilience, and coping mechanisms. The Ethical and Effective Leadership (EEL) Model introduces propositions that underscore the impact of leader characteristics, people practices, institutional practices, and contextual factors on organizational outcomes. However, ethical dilemmas surface, as leaders navigate vulnerabilities, resilience, and societal expectations. Crosweller and Tschakert highlight the ethical challenges faced by leaders, particularly in balancing the urgency of climate action with the constraints of neoliberal policies. Complexity of leadership is discussed in disaster risk reduction, including the influence of worldviews and power dynamics within community-led initiatives. In summary, this essay synthesizes various leadership theories, and showcasing their applicability in the Pacific Islands, specifically Fiji, in addressing climate change and disasters. The ethical considerations woven into leadership decisions and actions underscore the need for leaders to navigate complexities, fostering compassion, inclusivity, and preparedness in the face of environmental and societal challenges.