ILTiPA - Implicit Leadership Theories in Public Administration
In times of political upheavals, scarce resources and increasing pressure on state organizations as a result of globalization, digitalization and demographic change, it seems more important than ever to understand the role and potential of leadership in the public sector. To date, public leadership research has not advanced yet from applying rather outdated static and one-sided leadership concepts. A number of scholars therefore call for a more procedural perspective on public leadership and encourage researchers to focus on the distinctiveness and particularities of “publicness” in leadership.
Our research project seeks to address the above demands by investigating whether a phenomenon that has considerably enriched psychology-driven leadership research also exists in the public context. We explore whether and how implicit leadership theories (ILTs) manifest themselves in the public sector. Implicit leadership theories answer the spontaneous question: “What does a leader look like (to you)?” ILTs are subjective cognitive schemas people (subconsciously) draw on when processing information related to leadership. As such, ILTs influence every aspect of sense-making in a leadership situation and have been shown to substantially shape a number of organizational outcomes.
Our research questions are :
- Do genuine and distinct public sector ILTs exist?
We examine whether people hold subjective, implicit expectations of public sector executives and whether those systematically differ from their expectations of private sector members. - What are the implications of ILTs in the public sector?
We explore whether associations between ILTs and specific outcomes established in private sector organizations can be replicated for the public context. - Which factors determine the development of leadership prototypes?
We analyze how an individual’s sectoral affiliation and other factors determine which ILTs they hold in order to understand how ILTs evolve and develop over time.
In our exploratory study, we will first assess leadership prototypes of more than 1000 public and private sector professionals. Subsequent studies will apply experimental and implicit methods to build on these results.
- Duration: 10/2018-10/2021
- Project lead: Prof. Dr. Rick Vogel, Project member: Dr. Laura Hesmert, née Werkmeister
- Sponsor: University funds