Falling Apart and Coming Together: How Public Perceptions of Leadership Change in Response to Natural Disasters vs. Health Crises

Responding to disruptions and crises are challenges public leaders face as they strive to lead responsibly for the good of the community. The last two years have been especially challenging for public leaders and institutions. In Australia, the federal government battled natural disasters (bushfires) and COVID-19 within the span of only a few months, beginning in late 2019. These events provided the opportunity for a natural experiment to explore public perceptions of leadership in times of crises, with both a natural disaster and health crisis in quick succession. In this study, we develop, validate, and test a scale of perceptions of leadership for the greater good, the Australian Leadership Index, throughout different crisis contexts. We hypothesize and find support for the drivers of perceptions of public leadership and shifts in these perceptions as a function of the bushfire disaster response, a negative shift, and the initial COVID-19 response, a positive shift. Comparisons of the crisis periods against a period of relative stability are made. We discuss the implications of differential media coverage, how the crises were managed, and the resulting public perceptions of leadership for the greater good.

Beirut port blast: an escapable disaster in more than one way

Complexity academic level The blast at Beirut Port on the 4th of August was the cherry on the cake in a series of disastrous governmental failures manifested in the of lack of trust, an unprecedented economic crisis, hyperinflation, financial fallout, political bottle necks, toxic environmental situation and a vertical cleavage between the government and the people. The blast resulted in billions of dollars in losses both at the port and the surrounding Beirut area, destroyed more than 300,000 housing units, displaced their residents, ruined many artifacts of cultural heritage, injured thousands of people and killed hundreds. Definitely, it was a case of negligence in the storage of the Ammonium Nitrate, corruption, irresponsible leadership or all of these together. However, investigations are still underway to pinpoint the responsible individuals and to bring them to justice. This case looks at potential ways that could have prevented the blast, by questioning the reasons behind the non-voicing out of objections against the nature of the material stored unsafely for several years in Container 12 at the Port. Through the lens of Hadi Karim, a fictional character, the authors lead the readers to consider the disaster’s characterization, as well as applicable disaster management frameworks. The case also emphasizes the role of public leadership and leads the readers to consider measures and processes that could have been abided by to prevent the disaster. Case overview Against the backdrop of the recent Beirut Port explosion, this case examines how events unfolded leading up to the tragedy, highlighting how it could have been avoided, as well as the managerial and ethical dimensions involved. Leaning objectives At the end of the case, students will be able to: 1. Characterize the disaster in terms of type and nature. 2. Analyze the blast by referring to the relevant disaster management frameworks. 3. Analyze the critical role of ethical and transformational leaders pre and post disaster. 4. Reflect on the role of employees in preventing disasters mainly through whistleblowing. Social implications Shedding the light on an avoidable disaster, drawing lessons to avoid the occurrence of such events in the future, and raising awareness on disaster management and on whistleblowing as a tool in the ethical leader’s toolbox. Supplementary materials Teaching notes are available for educators only. Subject code CSS 10: Public Sector Management.

Supporting the Policy Implementation Performance of Public Primary School Leaders in Malaysia: A Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) of Public Leadership

Policy implementation requires the act of translating the goals and objectives of policy into actions. Policy implementation is a difficult process because how policy actors and implementers act on the policy on a large scale may decide whether it succeeds or fails. There is a growing recognition that policies do not succeed or fail on their own, but instead due to a lack of leadership qualities in policy implementation. The study aims to develop and validate the instrument for measuring the public leadership construct of school leaders in Malaysia. The instrument was adapted from the previous study and modified to suit the current study. The study also added ten new items to complement the original instrument of public leadership initiated by Tummers and Knies (2016). The target population is school leaders in the national-type primary schools in Malaysia. A simple random sampling method was utilized to select a random sample of 381 participants from the sampling frame of eligible school leaders in the country. Content validity and exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was conducted on the instrument before the confirmatory factor analysis. The Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) procedure confirmed the existence of four sub-constructs of the public leadership construct that are accountability leadership, rule-following/lawfulness leadership, political loyal leadership, and network governance leadership. The CFA process has deleted four items due to poor factor loading (less than 0.6). The fitness indexes for all fit categories have achieved the required level of a model fit. Meanwhile, the Average Variance Extracted (AVE) and Composite Reliability (CR), which reflect the convergent validity and construct reliability, respectively, have also achieved the required level of a model fit. Hence, the revised instrument for measuring the public leadership construct of school leaders in Malaysia is valid and reliable for use to determine the policy implementation performance of the public primary school leaders in Malaysia.

Exploratory Analysis Affecting Self-Efficacy in the Leadership of Female Village Heads

Leadership is one of the most decisive factors in the development and progress of an organization. With a capable leadership that will have an impact on the progress of the organization. Public leadership by women has less legitimacy by society. Self-leadership has a significant effect on self-efficacy, self-efficacy has a significant effect on performance, self-leadership has a significant effect on performance. In order to optimize the ability of women's public leadership, self-efficacy in leadership by female headman indirectly affects the quality of leadership and service to the community. This study aims to explore the self-efficacy of female headman in the region and identify factors that influence the self-efficacy of female headman when in office as village government. This research was conducted through a self-administered questionnaire. In addition, exploration and confirmation of factor analysis were carried out. The validity and reliability tests were carried out before using exploratory factor analysis (EFA). The results of the factoring will show the communalities table, and after the rotation, a loading factor will be formed which will show the interpretation of the factors that have been formed, in particular giving names to the factors that are considered to represent these indicators. The results showed that 2 factors were formed which influenced the self-efficacy of female headman in leading village officials. These factors are Leadership Self Efficacy and Development of the Leadership Self-efficacy. The factor 1 is namely Leadership Self Efficacy which includes leading change, delegating tasks, influencing members, being flexible. Factor 2, namely Development of the Leadership Self-efficacy which includes self-identification, motivating members, leading the organization, and encouraging the organization.