William L. Gardner

Texas Tech University | TTU · Management

Leader exemplification involves implicit and explicit claims of high moral values made by a leader. We employed a 2 × 3 experimental design with samples of 265 students in Study 1 and 142 working adults in Study 2 to examine the effects of leader exemplification (exemplification versus no exemplification) and ethical conduct (self-serving, self-sac...

Scholarly and practitioner interest in authentic leadership has grown at an accelerating rate over the last decade, resulting in a proliferation of publications across diverse social science disciplines. Accompanying this interest has been criticism of authentic leadership theory and the methods used to explore it. We conducted a systematic review...

Leadership emergence is an inherently dynamic process whereby certain individuals come to be seen as leaders by others, some of whom will choose to follow them. The circumstances under which leadership emergence occurs depend on the persons involved, their interactions, and the context. Yet leadership research has too often viewed leadership emerge...

The impostor phenomenon (IP) was originally identified over 40 years ago, and there has been a recent surge in its examination across domains of management research. However, a lack of a comprehensive review that synthesizes organizationally‐relevant IP research has left IP research dispersed across time and disciplines with diminished conceptual c...

The COVID-19 pandemic dramatically accelerated ongoing trends in virtual work as a massive shift from face-to-face to remote work was necessitated to combat the spread of the virus. When combined with ongoing societal forces such as globalization, rapid technological advancements, work-life boundary challenges, economic disparities, the “Gig Econom...

To address the question of why a narcissistic individual thinks and behaves the way he or she does, it is important to take an intrapersonal approach to dissect the psychological motives. The aim of this study is to further develop the concept of the narcissistic self. To specify the content and structure of the narcissistic self-concept, which we...

Thought experiments are defined by Aguinis and colleagues (2022, p. x) as “judgments about what would happen if an imagined scenario were real.” They demonstrated through a multidisciplinary literature review that thought experiments have been used productively to generate and test theory in a wide variety of fields, including psychology, economics...

Authentic leadership theory (ALT) has become the target for considerable criticism of its conceptual grounding and the methods used for its empirical investigation. Mats Alvesson and Katja Einola (2019) have led the charge in advancing skepticism about ALT by warning of the pitfalls of excessive positivity in leadership research, using ALT as an il...

In a recent critique of authentic leadership theory, Einola and Alvesson (2021) assert that the theory “is not only wrong in a harmless way, but it may be outright perilous to leadership scholars, scholarship, and those who believe in it” (p. 483). They describe four “perils” of authentic leadership theory to support their arguments; in this respon...

In this study, we draw from 22 years of research in leadership to investigate the ambiguous relationship between the personality trait agreeableness and leadership. First, we conduct a comprehensive review of the leadership literature to build a foundational understanding of leader agreeableness that includes providing a broad definition for agreea...

Scholarly and practitioner interest in the topic of authentic leadership has grown dramatically over the past two decades. Running parallel to this interest, however, have been a number of concerns regarding the conceptual and methodological underpinnings for research on the construct. In this exchange of letters, the cases for and against the curr...

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...

Richard Daft’s (1995) now classic chapter from Cummings and Frost’s edited volume, Publishing in the Organizational Sciences, titled “Why I Recommended That Your Manuscript Be Rejected and What You Can Do About It?” highlights the many reasons initial manuscripts are rejected. Daft presented the results of a content analysis he conducted on 111 man...

Attributions are causal explanations made by individuals in response to important, novel, and/or unexpected events. Numerous attribution theories have examined how people use information to make attributions and how attributions impact an individual's subsequent emotions and outcomes. However, this research has only recently considered the implicat...

We examine the relationships between employee friendship and advice network centrality and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). Using social exchange theory as a basis, we argue that centrality within the workplace friendship network will be positively and linearly related to employee OCB. Further, we draw on conservation of resources theory...

Purpose The purpose of this research is to broaden the current understanding of the relationship between top leadership characteristics and Six Sigma success. Design/methodology/approach The research used a cross-sectional survey methodology where 212 companies from six different industries were analyzed to investigate the research question. Find...

This article reexamines the original research and results pertaining to the construct validation of the Authentic Leadership Questionnaire. Our reexamination involved analyzing the four factor and higher order model of authentic leadership using more recent recommendations for model tests that have appeared in the literature since the original arti...

Research teams face complex leadership and coordination challenges. We propose shared authentic leadership (SAL) as a timely approach to addressing these challenges. Drawing from authentic and functional leadership theories, we posit a multiple mediation model that suggests three mechanisms whereby SAL influences team effectiveness: shared mental m...

This study explores authentic leadership at the strategic level of the organization by examining its relationship with strategy execution, given the orientation of the firm’s strategy, and its relationship to organizational performance. It also explores the potential moderating role of practical intelligence with regard to the relationship between...

Academic and practitioner attention to the constructs of authentic leadership and work engagement and their implications for organizations has grown dramatically over the past decade. Consideration of the implications of these constructs for high-performance human resource practices (HPHRP) is limited, however. In this monograph, we present a conce...

Since its introduction to the social psychology literature 60 years ago, Festinger’s cognitive dissonance theory (CDT) has been frequently applied to the management literature to explain and predict the motivational nature of dissonance in producing attitude and behavior change in managerial decision making and the broader organizational context. Y...

We investigated the status of leadership theory integration by reviewing 14 years of published research (2000 through 2013) in 10 top journals (864 articles). The authors of these articles examined 49 leadership approaches/theories, and in 293 articles, 3 or more of these leadership approaches were included in their investigations. Focusing on thes...

The purpose of this study is to provide preliminary insights into the relationships between self-monitoring, emotional expressivity, emotional labor, felt leader authenticity, and authentic leadership (AL) within a unique context - West Texas Baptist congregations. Using a sample of 40 Baptist pastors, we employed survey research methods and correl...

While authentic leadership (AL) has seen a dramatic increase in scholarly attention over the last decade, its contribution relative to more established leadership constructs merits investigation. We employ meta-analytic techniques to compare AL and transformational leadership theories using 100 independent samples and 25,452 individuals. The findin...

Authentic leadership is a pattern of leader behavior that includes self-awareness, balanced processing of information, relational transparency with followers, and an internalized moral perspective. Authentic leader–follower relationships arise when both leaders and their followers remain true to their inner thoughts, beliefs, and experiences. Empir...

This paper proposes a conceptual model explaining the differential effects of integrative and differentiating emotional display rules on emotional labor, felt authenticity, acts of dishonesty, and perceptions of others’ dishonesty. Emotional labor involves a continual process by which employees compare their emotional displays to emotional display...

In our investigation of emotion management in organizations, we shift the focus from leadership to followership. To maintain their leadership identity in leader–member relationships, leaders have to elicit emotions that are contingent on the identity of the member. As such, members play a key role in defining leadership. We apply the symbolic inter...

Scholarly research on the topic of leadership has witnessed a dramatic increase over the last decade, resulting in the development of diverse leadership theories. To take stock of established and developing theories since the beginning of the new millennium, we conducted an extensive qualitative review of leadership theory across 10 top-tier academ...

Using a student sample in a lab setting, we examined the relationships between explicit and implicit self-esteem and two measures of leader authenticity: self-reported authentic leadership as measured by the Authentic Leadership Questionnaire (ALQ) and perceived leader authenticity as reflected in leadership speeches. In addition, we explored the i...

Electronic communications collected from 233 undergraduate business students in 50 virtual teams were coded to identify group exchange structures. Results revealed four types of structures: unified generalized (characterized by high-quality exchange relationships among group members and high information sharing and cooperation; n = 10), unified gen...

Scholarly research on the topic of leadership has witnessed a dramatic increase over the last decade, resulting in the development of diverse leadership theories. To take stock of established and developing theories since the beginning of the new millennium, we conducted an extensive qualitative review of leadership theory across 10 top-tier academ...

Using a sample of 243 undergraduate business students assigned to 71 virtual teams, this study explored the relationships between the Big Five personality factors, leader emergence, team trustworthiness, peer rated member performance contributions, and team performance. As predicted, agreeableness and conscientiousness were positively related to th...

If the “people make the place,” what kinds of people (personalities) fit into what kinds of places (organizations), and how might the recruitment messages of the organization facilitate a better fit? The authors explored the extent to which recruitment strategy (realistic vs. traditional) and the Five-Factor model of personality (FFM) were related...

Authentic leadership occurs when individuals enact their true selves in their role as a leader. This article examines the role of authentic followership in the previously established relationship between authentic leadership and follower in-role and extrarole performance behaviors. Consideration of followers who enact their true selves is important...

The past decade has seen a dramatic increase in scholarly interest in the topic of authentic leadership. We review this literature with the goal of clarifying the state of knowledge in the field. We begin with a historical overview of the construct's definition and evolution. Next, we present the results of a content analysis of 91 publications tha...

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...

Using a cross-cultural sample of 17,538 managers from 24 countries, this study explores the interrelationships between McClelland’s motives and specific aggregate-level cultural dimensions and personality factors. The results reveal significant relationships between the Achievement, Affiliation, and Power Motives, and the cultural dimensions of Per...

In this study, the relationship between transparency and trust is hypothesized and investigated. Furthermore, the positive emotions variable was hypothesized to mediate the transparency and trust relationship. Participants’ perceptions of a leader’s transparency were more predictive of trust than experimenter designed manipulations. Study limitatio...

This introduction provides a tribute to James G. (Jerry) Hunt as leader of leadership scholars, along with an overview to The Leadership Quarterly special issue on meso-modeling of leadership. Our tribute traces Jerry's evolution from a right-brain, defrocked engineer to a pioneering leadership scholar. Through early and sustained scholarly contrib...

Using a sample of 285 matched pairs of employees and supervisors, we explore the extent to which congruence in leader and follower ratings of LMX quality is related to follower job performance and work attitudes. An original conceptual model is introduced that identifies four combinations of leader and follower LMX ratings: balanced/low LMX (low le...

Building on the emotional labor and authentic leadership literatures, we advance a conceptual model of leader emotional displays. Three categories of leader emotional displays are identified: surface acting, deep acting and genuine emotions. The consistency of expressed leader emotions with affective display rules, together with the type of display...

Today's organizations are challenged with attracting, developing, and retaining high-quality employees; thus, many firms seek to improve their recruitment and selection processes. One approach involves using realistic job previews (RJPs) to communicate a balanced view of the organization. The authors explored the effects of organizational culture (...

This study developed and tested a theory-based measure of authentic leadership using five separate samples obtained from China, Kenya, and the United States. Confirmatory factor analyses supported a higher order, multidimensional model of the authentic leadership con-struct (the Authentic Leadership Questionnaire [ALQ]) comprising leader self-aware...

Information technology will be the most pervasive and important influence on individuals and organizations in the next 10 years. Impression management is a growing field of study in the management and organizational sciences, which studies the self-presentational approach of individuals and the organizations. This collection of papers is both explo...

This study explores the effects of task interdependence (high versus low) and helping norms (supportive versus non-supportive) on propensity to seek help. Participants were most likely to seek help when: (1) task interdependence was high, and (2) supportive help-seeking norms were operative. A 2-way interaction also emerged. Under the non-supportiv...

Building on recent theories of authentic leadership, we introduce an attributional framework for understanding authenticity. It is proposed that authenticity implies an accurate and balanced attribution style - a relationship that we argue has been overlooked in past research on authentic leadership. We also suggest that organizations can take an a...

This Special Issue is the result of the inaugural summit hosted by the Gallup Leadership Institute at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 2004 on Authentic Leadership Development (ALD). We describe in this introduction to the special issue current thinking in this emerging field of research as well as questions and concerns. We begin by consideri...

To address present and future leadership needs, a model of authentic leader and follower development is proposed and examined with respect to its relationship to veritable, sustainable follower performance. The developmental processes of leader and follower self-awareness and self-regulation are emphasized. The influence of the leader's and followe...

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,...

As the political perspectives of organizations gain acceptance, leadership is increasingly viewed as a political process. While some researchers have begun to shun the notion that politics should be viewed as necessarily bad and undesirable, it is still commonly seen as a negative attribute of the organizational environment. Moreover, organizationa...

In the face of heightened competitive pressures, elevated quality expectations, and calls for worker empowerment, more and more organizations have turned to self-directed work teams (SDWTs). A review of the literature devoted to SDWTs suggests that managers often struggle with the transition to SDWTs because of the required shift in control to SDWT...

Images are playing an increasingly important role in organizational life. This trend has spawned interest in how organizations can improve and protect their images. Yet, in our eagerness to study image promotion and repair, organizational scholars have overlooked the practice of image spoiling. Image spoiling occurs when an organization uses words...

This study explored the extent to which a leader who claims to be either exemplary or pragmatic and is revealed to have a reputation for either deception or honesty is perceived to be charismatic, effective, and morally worthy. The effects of message delivery and participants’ scores on the Romance of Leadership Scale (RLS) were also examined. The...

Leadership has been an active area of scientific investigation for over half a century, with scholars developing different perspectives on antecedents, processes, and outcomes. Conspicuous in its absence has been a conceptualization of leadership from a political perspective, despite appeals for such a theory and the widely acknowledged view of pol...

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...

This study used a path analysis of longitudinal data collected from 600 undergraduate management information systems students to test a model of the cognitive, motivational, and affective processes impacting computer-related performance. Nearly all of the predicted paths were at least partially supported. Theoretical and practical implications are...

This paper presents a model of the determinants and consequences of computer efficacy with particular attention devoted to the mediating processes through which users form efficacy judgements, including their analysis of task requirements, assessments of situational and personal resources/constraints, and attributional analysis of experience. Of pa...

This study examined the effects of vision content, delivery and organizational performance on perceptions of leader charisma and effectiveness. Subjects included 304 undergraduates who were presented videotaped speeches by a bogus CEO of a software company. A 2 × 2 × 2 design was employed in which message content (visionary/non-visionary), delivery...

This study examined the effects of vision content, delivery and organizational performance on perceptions of leader charisma and effectiveness. Subjects included 304 undergraduates who were presented videotaped speeches by a bogus CEO of a software company. A 2 × 2 × 2 design was employed in which message content (visionary/non-visionary), delivery...

This study used a path analysis of longitudinal data collected from 75 manufacturing employees participating in a computer training course, to test a model of the intrapersonal processes impacting computer-related performance. Gender, computer experience, and attributional style were found to be predictive of computer attitudes, which were in turn...

This study explored the extent to which the five basic impression management strategies of ingratiation, self-promotion, intimidation, exemplification, and supplication were associated with transformational leadership at the world-class level. The subjects were 81 undergraduate business students who read biographical materials about 1 of 27 world-c...

In this article we present a model of the processes whereby social actors use impression management behaviors to create and maintain identities as charismatic leaders. Using a dramaturgical and interactive perspective, we examine the roles that the environment, actor (leader), and audience (followers) play in defining the situation and in jointly c...