Matching Items (3)
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- All Subjects: Leadership
- Genre: Doctoral Dissertation
- Creators: Zhang, Zhen
Description
Accountability has been commonly referred to in the literature as a person’s expectation about others’ evaluations. However, in this study, I develop an alternative perspective of leader accountability by defining it as an individual’s degree of ownership regarding good or poor performance and acceptance of associated rewards or disciplinary actions. Based on attribution theory, leaders can have internal and external ownership regarding good and poor performance. I propose that accountability can be categorized into two correlated but distinct aspects: self-benefitting and other-benefitting. Leader self-benefitting accountability refers to leaders’ attributions towards their own benefits (i.e., internal attribution of good performance and external attribution of poor performance). Leader other-benefitting accountability reflects leaders’ attributions towards others’ interests (i.e., internal attribution of poor performance and external attribution of good performance). Using multiple samples, I develop and validate a leader accountability scale, and then test a theoretical model with a focus on leader accountability and collective accountability (i.e., a group of individuals’ degree of ownership) by collecting data from 57 leaders and 162 followers in three Chinese companies. The findings show that leader humility is positively related to leader other-benefitting accountability. Both leader self-benefitting and other-benefitting accountability are associated with collective self-benefitting and other-benefitting accountability, respectively. Moreover, the relationship between leader self-benefitting and collective self-benefitting accountability is enhanced when the leader has high organization prototypicality. Furthermore, collective self-benefitting accountability decreases leader effectiveness and team effectiveness, while collective other-benefitting accountability increases leader effectiveness.
ContributorsWang, Danni (Author) / Waldman, David (Thesis advisor) / Zhang, Zhen (Thesis advisor) / Balthazard, Pierre (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016
Description
This dissertation addresses two issues in the literature on informal leadership emergence (i.e., the process of an individual without a formal leadership position coming to exert leadership influence over others). First, scholars have focused on situations in which a focal person’s leadership claiming is aligned with a peer’s leadership granting. In doing so, past work has overlooked instances of misalignment, that is, when a focal person claims more leadership than a peer grants (i.e., overclaiming) or when a peer grants more leadership than a focal person claims (i.e., underclaiming). Second, the consensus in the literature suggests that emerging as an informal leader provides more beneficial outcomes to the individual and their team than non-emerging. However, I argue that this assumption may not be warranted in some situations, for example when a focal person’s lack of claiming is aligned with a peer’s lack of granting. Drawing on the leadership identity claiming and granting framework, I postulate four forms of informal leadership (non)emergence, namely (1) dyadic emergent leadership, (2) dyadic leadership absence, (3) overclaiming, and (4) underclaiming. Based on role theory, I then build theory regarding their effects on behavioral consequences through affective and cognitive mechanisms. More precisely, I suggest that forms characterized by congruence in leadership claiming and granting (as opposed to forms characterized by incongruence) result in increased peer backing-up behavior towards the focal person (mediated by enthusiasm and respect) and reduced peer social undermining (mediated by anger and revenge cognitions). I further hypothesize asymmetrical incongruence effects and consider a focal person’s prosocial motivation as a boundary condition. I conducted three studies to examine my theorizing. In Pilot Study 1 (N = 199), I adapted and validated a measure to assess leadership claiming and granting. In Pilot Study 2 (N = 151), I shortened established measures. In the Main Study (N = 279), I tested my theoretical predictions yielding mixed findings. Whereas I find support for the congruence effect on backing-up behavior, all other hypotheses were not supported. I report supplemental analyses to examine these null results and discuss the theoretical, empirical, and practical implications of this research.
ContributorsVaulont, Manuel J (Author) / LePine, Jeffery A (Thesis advisor) / Zhang, Zhen (Committee member) / Craig, Jennifer N (Committee member) / Wellman, Ned (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2021
Description
This study develops a theoretical model that explains how leaders come to adapt their leadership behaviors to achieve follower effectiveness. Mindfulness theory suggests that mindful individuals are better able to engage in self-regulation and I consider empathy, response flexibility, and emotional regulation as three self-regulatory processes in particular which likely impact the leader-follower relationship. I suggest that leaders who have the ability to self-regulate in these three ways will be better able to engage in leadership behavior characterized by adapting or flexing the specific types of leadership they demonstrate according to the needs of the situation and what their followers most require at a given time to perform at their best. When followers receive the type of situationally-appropriate support in the form of leader behavior, they are more effective (e.g. have higher job performance and extra-role performance). I validate a new trait and state measure of workplace mindfulness with multiple samples and utilize this new scale to collect data from leaders and followers from a government organization to test the theoretical relationships proposed in this study. I utilize an experience sampling methodology (ESM) design over 10 days to investigate the within-leader variation among variables in the study given theory suggesting the dynamic nature of the mindfulness, self-regulation, and situational leadership constructs which may not adequately be captured when data are collected at one point in time. Finally, I introduce organizational constraints as a moderator of the relationship between leader mindfulness and leader self- regulation in order to understand how stressors and strains outside the control of a leader may overload a leader’s ability to ultimately self-regulate his/her behavior.
ContributorsReina, Christopher Stephen (Author) / Peterson, Suzanne J (Thesis advisor) / Kinicki, Angelo (Thesis advisor) / Zhang, Zhen (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015