Kevin B. Lowe

• PhD
• Professor at The University of Sydney

Authentic leadership studies are often criticised for the limited use of causally defined research designs. To advance scholarship is this area, this article presents a scoping review on the use of experimental designs to examine causality in authentic leadership. Eleven publications were identified, which presented 16 experiments that met the incl...

Our field has reached a critical juncture. Authentic leadership, which once promised to illuminate how leaders inspire and influence through genuine actions, has become mired in conceptual ambiguity and ideological bias. Much of the research is based on evaluations of behaviour conflated with antecedents and outcomes, presuming an oversimplified, p...

Amid the challenges posed by COVID-19, this research focuses on the role of ethical leadership in shaping perceptions of crisis leaders’ effectiveness, personal well-being, and business-related outcomes. In this two-sample study, we contrast political leadership at the highest level examining the ethical leadership of a distal executive (President...

Implicit leadership theories (ILTs) are people’s lay theories, definitions, or conceptualizations of leadership. In adults, they determine what actions we perceive as leadership, influence to whom we grant leadership status, and shape our own behaviors when we want to be seen as leader. Naturally, there has been an enduring interest in how these IL...

Purpose This research aims to examine the influence of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) dark triad traits, follower COVID-19 anxiety and self-leadership on follower evaluations of the effectiveness of organizations’ response to the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. Design/methodology/approach In this paper data were collected over two time periods. At time 1...

Studies on the effect of leader humility generally portray leader humility as beneficial, whereas a minority of studies recognize potential negative influences. This is probably most clearly the case in the study of organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) for which both positive and negative relationships with leader humility have been establishe...

Even though there is no leadership without the input and cooperation of followers , there has been very little attention paid to followers and followership in the research literature. We propose that this occurs for several reasons, including an overemphasis on the importance of leaders, the way that followers are viewed, the fact that they are agg...

Even though there is no leadership without the input and cooperation of followers , there has been very little attention paid to followers and followership in the research literature. We propose that this occurs for several reasons, including an overemphasis on the importance of leaders, the way that followers are viewed, the fact that they are agg...

Although research recognizes the influence of charismatic leadership and rhetoric, their practice in differing contexts and the moderating role of narcissism is understudied. Using a mixed-methods approach, we explore the effects of crises on the way a narcissistic leader employs charismatic rhetoric, and the way charismatic leadership is viewed by...

A vast body of knowledge within the field of chronobiology highlights a broad array of important effects that circadian rhythms and chronotypes have on individual performance. Circadian rhythms are predictable fluctuations of energetic activation produced by an internal pacemaker, the circadian clock, that governs the daily functioning of the human...

The 2020 U.S. presidential election provided an opportunity to study follower reactions to an incumbent leader (former President Trump) versus a challenger (Joe Biden) during a crisis. Results suggest that follower perceptions of character and charisma influence the likelihood of rejecting a candidate. Perceptions of the bright character trait hone...

Abstract There is growing evidence that, in organizational settings, mindfulness brings both intra- and inter-individual benefits for employees. Recent years have seen an increase in research on mindfulness specifically within leadership contexts. In this study, we draw on self-determination theory (SDT) to assess the influence of leaders’ mindful...

Prior research on the effects of leader humility implies that the more humility the leader exhibits, the greater the positive effect on recipients (e.g., followers and teams). However, little or no attention has so far been paid to the effects on the actors (e.g., leaders), who espouse humble behavior. In response to recent calls to theorize and ex...

Employee silence, the withholding of work-related ideas, questions, or concerns from someone who could effect change, has been proposed to hamper individual and collective learning as well as the detection of errors and unethical behaviors in many areas of the world. To facilitate cross-cultural research, we validated an instrument measuring four e...

Employee silence, the withholding of work-related ideas, questions, or concerns from someone who could effect change, has been proposed to hamper individual and collective learning as well as the detection of errors and unethical behaviors in many areas of the world. To facilitate cross-cultural research, we validated an instrument measuring four e...

For most leaders, their first exposure to formal leader development training occurs in adolescence, through school, extra-curricular activities, or youth leader development programs. As with many adolescent experiences, the processes and challenges of leader development are different for girls than they are for boys. With increasing calls to addres...

Challenging the prevailing consensus that leader humility is uniformly beneficial we investigate circumstances where leader humility behaviors are positively perceived and yet negatively received due to attributions of impression management. Arising from potential inconsistencies in perceptions and attributions, we argue that followers may evaluate...

The present research reviews the most recent ten years, 2010–2019, of the work published in The Leadership Quarterly (LQ). We follow on prior decade-focused reviews published in LQ, including the period 1990–1999 (Lowe & Gardner, 2000) and 2000–2009 (Gardner, Lowe, Cogliser, Moss & Mahoney, 2010). The present work complements and expands the first...

The current study examines the effects of perceptions of leader adaptive and maladaptive narcissism on ratings of charisma and presidential leadership performance for Donald Trump by registered voters. We present a model examining differing dimensions of narcissism, and their effects on attributed charisma and perceptions of leadership performance...

As studies continue to accumulate on leader humility, it has become clear that humility (one of the moral virtues) in a leader is largely beneficial to his or her followers. While the majority of the empirical research on this topic has demonstrated the positive effects of leader humility, this study challenges that consensus by arguing that a lead...

Collective leadership involves the participation of multiple entities in the leadership process. This body of research is informed by a variety of theoretical perspectives, including person-centered, social network, social-relational, sociomaterial, and institutional views. Despite multiple calls for leadership development to move beyond individual...

A panel of eight leadership scholars was convened to participate in a panel at the 20th International Leadership Association Conference to discuss the benefits and the pitfalls of applying authentic leadership theory to the classroom setting. Inspired by Ken Parry's masterful teaching and the authenticity that he displayed in the classroom, this pa...

Leadership is a complex and multifaceted phenomenon which defies comprehensive definition in a sentence or two. As the legendary Ralph Stogdill, the author of the Handbook of Leadership: A Survey of the Theory and Research (1974), famously commented, there are almost as many different definitions of leadership as there are people who have attempted...

Grandiose narcissism has been associated with negative outcomes and research suggests its potential to predict positive and negative leadership behaviors. We examined perceived leader narcissism, attributed charisma, and voter choice in the context of the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Narcissism was found to be negatively related to attributions...

As studies continue to accumulate on leader humility, it has become clear that humility (one of the moral virtues) in a leader is largely beneficial to his or her followers. While the majority of the empirical research on this topic has demonstrated the positive effects of leader humility, this study challenges that consensus by arguing that a lead...

El presente trabajo estudia las percepciones con relación al potencial de liderazgo de atletas hombres y mujeres, evaluando particularmente como aquellos que sostienen un sesgo sutil hacia las mujeres influencian estas percepciones. Se evaluaron doscientos treinta y un participantes (n = 231), atletas hombres o mujeres (en un deporte de género neut...

Stakeholder theory has received greater scholarly and practitioner attention as organizations consider the interests of various groups affected by corporate operations, including employees. This study investigates two dimensions of psychological climate, specifically perceived pay equity and diversity climate, for one such stakeholder group: racioe...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine: the direct effect of perceived pay equity, the interaction of perceived pay equity and productivity, and the relative effects of perceived internal and external pay equity on organizational commitment (OC) among US scholars of color. Design/methodology/approach The study surveyed 160 professionals....

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of the socio-demographic diversity characteristic, racioethnicity, vs the deeper-level socially constructed attribute, awareness of racial privilege (which the authors termed “racial awareness”), on perceptions of organizational justice and on trust in management (TM) (trust) in a US...

This study examines the relationship between perceived pay equity and organizational commitment and the interaction of perceived pay equity and professional productivity on organizational commitment among U. S. professionals of color. Participants were scholars of color in U. S. business schools. Results showed that perceived pay equity influenced...

The current study examines leadership in the context of the 2008 presidential election. Longitudinal data were collected across three regions of the United States to yield 414 responses. Perceptions of crisis were positively related to attributed charisma but not perceptions of authentic leadership. Value congruence moderated the relationship betwe...

Recent theory suggests that organizations are selective in the rules they violate. However, theory of selective rule violations is currently bounded to formal, externally governed rules (i.e., laws and directives). This paper expands the boundary conditions of theory of selective rule violations to norms and standards as well as to formal rules by...

The U. S. work force is becomingly increasingly diverse. Management of perceptions of the diversity climate and pay equity are two organizational strategies that may influence employee turnover intentions. This study examines the main effect of professionals' of color pay equity perceptions and the interactive effect of perceptions of pay equity an...

In two studies conducted in the United States and the People's Republic of China, we examined how the effects of organizational justice perceptions on employees' organizational citizenship behaviours (OCB) are influenced by individually held cultural value orientations. In Study 1, we did not find evidence of moderation by cultural value orientatio...

This study examined the relative effect of diversity climate dimensions captured by two measures: Mor Barak et al.’s (Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 34:82–104, 1998) diversity climate scale and Chrobot-Mason’s (Journal of Managerial Psychology 18:22–45, 2003) diversity promise fulfillment scale on professional employee of color outcomes: or...

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 fro...

In a reprise of Lowe and Gardner's (2000) review of The Leadership Quarterly's (LQ) first decade as a premier outlet for scholarly leadership research, we review 353 articles published in LQ during its second decade. Multiple methods were employed to prepare this review, including: interviews with the journal's current Senior Editor and Associate E...

Purpose – The purposes of this paper are three-fold: first, to examine the effect of diversity climate on professional employee of color outcomes, organizational commitment and turnover intentions; second, to investigate the moderating and mediating roles of interactional and procedural justice on the relationships between diversity climate and the...

This paper explores the relationship between psychological contract violations (PCVs) related to diversity climate and professional employee outcomes. We found that for our sample of US professionals of color including US-born African Americans, Hispanics, Asians, and Native Americans, employee perceptions of breach in diversity promise fulfillment...

Using 560 followers and 174 leaders in the People's Republic of China and United States, we found that individual follower's "power distance" orientation and their group's shared perceptions of transformational leadership were positively related to follower's procedural justice perceptions. Power distance orientation also moderated the cross-level...

This study extends Pillai and Williams [1998, Pillai, R., Williams, E.A., Lowe, K.B., & Jung, D.I. (2003). Personality, transformational leadership, trust, and the 2000 U.S. presidential vote. The Leadership Quarterly, 14, 161–192] and examines leadership in the context of the 2004 U.S. presidential election. Data were collected at two time periods...

Census statistics highlight the increasing diversity of the populace in the United States. However, minority-group Americans continue to be under-represented in professional occupations. Six propositions for low minority-group professional presence in US organizations are that under-representation is due to leader racial insensitivity, discriminati...

Autoethnographers research how self interacts with culture. In what ways do a person and culture intersect and at what consequence? Autoethnographers explore these questions using their own experience to reflect on self‐other interactions and the greater cultural meaning. In this autoethnographic story, the first author reflects on dilemmas he expe...

Diversity scholars have emphasized the critical role of corporate leaders for ensuring the success of diversity strategic initiatives in organizations. This study reports on business school leaders’ attributions regarding the causes for and solutions to the low representation of U.S. faculty of color in business schools. Results indicatethat leader...

Taylorism, targets and technology form a potent mix in call centres where groups of individuals are asked to perform as "teams". In this paper we explore how 'task' oriented concepts interact with the 'interpersonal relationship' realm in an environment where group life dominates the notional foundation of a call centre's organisational structure....

The U.S. population is becoming increasingly diverse. By the year 2010, the Census Bureau estimates that minorities will comprise 34% of the U.S. population. Diversity scholars have emphasized the importance of corporate leadership in ensuring the success of diversity strategic initiatives in organizations. This study presents a scale measuring the...

Theoretical explanations argue that minority business faculty under-representation is due to a lack of leader diversity sensitivity, discrimination, the (small) pipeline, unequal opportunity, rational person economic theory, and low strategic priority. Results indicated that leader racial awareness, perceived importance of cultural change, recruitm...

Since Geert Hofstede's Culture's Consequences: International Differences in Work-Related Values (Sage, 1980) was published, researchers have utilized Hofstede's cultural values framework in a wide variety of empirical studies. We review 180 studies published in 40 business and psychology journals and two international annual volumes between 1980 an...

This study of the 2000 U.S. presidential election replicates and extends Pillai and Williams' [Leadersh. Q. 9 (1998) 397] study of the 1996 presidential election. Data were collected at two periods from respondents across three regions of the United States to yield 342 matched sets of preelection variables and postelection measures. Transformationa...

This article presents a comparative study of compensation, by exploring nine items which measure pay and benefits practices in ten locations (nine countries and one region). First, similarities and differences in employee compensation are examined. Second, emerging issues for international compensation are identified. Third, gaps are identified bet...

This study compares training and development practices within and across nine countries and one region, and addresses whether there are universal training and development practices. After a brief review of the literature on training and development for the countries and region examined, the study identifies country-specific and region-specific trai...

This study compares training and development practices within and across nine countries and one region, and addresses whether there are universal training and development practices. After a brief review of the literature on training and development for the countries and region examined, the study identifies country-specific and region -specific tra...

This article reviews the founding of The Leadership Quarterly (LQ) and the 188 articles published in its first decade. Multiple methods were used to prepare this review including interviews with former and current LQ editors; quantitative techniques; and qualitative analysis to examine the themes, methods, and contributions of the journal during it...

Business students in two universities were queried regarding their willingness to accept international postings. In contrast to Adler' s (1984a, 1986) ® ndings, gender was a signi® cant predictor when speci® c referent countries were identi® ed. Country characteristics considered here included cultural distance (or the difference between the cultur...

In spite of years of international management research that recognizes the crucial role played by culture, few researchers have studied how specific cultural characteristics may affect the ideal leadership styles as perceived by managers in different countries. This paper explores potential impacts of culture by examining the prevalent views of lea...

Article: Downsizing fat and sluggish firms to create lean and mean corporate machines has become a recurring theme in business practices. Consistent with the leaner and meaner mantra is the prevailing belief that downsizing will improve financial indicators and ultimately improve stock price performance. The prevailing logic is straightforward. Fir...

This paper examines the relationship between supervisors' and project leaders' perceptions about the smoking behavior of their subordinate employees and their performance appraisals of their employees. Those who were perceived to be smokers were rated lower than those perceived to be nonsmokers on four of nine job performance measures when controll...

The purpose of this paper is to integrate the diverse literatures on High Performance Work Organizations (HIPO) Varied definitions of the HIPO are presented, common components across the definitions are identified, and then each component is examined in more detail. A model integrating the components is presented and separate sets of leadership cha...

Awareness that questionnaire ratings of leaders may be subject to systematic errors has led to increased emphasis on understanding the perceptual/memory processes underlying leadership ratings. Subordinates may judge leadership effectiveness based on their implicit leadership theories. Folk theories of leadership refers to these deeply felt and idi...

This study was designed to examine differences in responses to the six rational/intuitive scales of the Personal Style Inventory in relation to gender, age, ethnic group, birth country, occupation, and industry. Data were collected from 495 participants in training programs in Australia, England, New Zealand, and the United States. Multivariate ana...

A meta-analysis of the transformational leadership literature using the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) was conducted to (a) integrate the diverse findings, (b) compute an average effect for different leadership scales, and (c) probe for certain moderators of the leadership style-effectiveness relationship. Transformational leadership sc...

Cross-cultural international management research is complex, costly, and frequently, nonrigorous. This idiographic study documents the evolution of a multinational, multicultural, interdisciplinary research consortium that sought to remedy this lack of rigor in a project investigating international human resource management practices. We identify k...

Survey data from Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and the U.S. are analyzed with LISREL on the relationship of performance appraisal practices to performance appraisal effectiveness and ultimately to job satisfaction and organizational effectiveness. The results are interpreted in terms of cultural influences.