Motivation to lead in trainee clinical psychologists: service evaluation of a UK doctorate programme

Purpose This paper aims to explore whether a United Kingdom (UK) clinical psychology training programme (the programme) was effective in producing graduates who are confident in leadership, within the context of the National Health Service and reflecting the British Psychological Society’s views of leadership. Design/methodology/approach Mixed methods design surveys were administered to prospective-, current- and alumni trainee clinical psychologists on the programme, enquiring about their view of leadership, motivation to lead (MtL) and aspects of the course that are helpful and which need further development. Data collected from 92 individuals were analysed using content and thematic analysis (TA). Findings From the TA, three themes were identified concerning the meaning of leadership as follows: professional identity, Improving the quality of services (team; organisations and wider context), professional skills. Overall, participants thought leadership was important to the role of a clinical psychologist, with prospective trainees reporting that the desire to develop as leaders influenced their decision to apply to the programme. Moreover, participants felt confident in leadership skills and that the training programme helped develop their leadership skills, with the alumni participants demonstrating a greater MtL. Placements, group study and specific modules were identified as contributing to the development of their leadership skills, but participants felt more teaching on leadership is needed. Recommendations have been suggested to improve the development of leadership skills on the programme. Research limitations/implications The research was undertaken on a small cohort of trainees based in the UK. Practical implications Participants were motivated to become clinical leaders but this motivation needed to be nurtured and developed particularly through structured placement and teaching experience. Originality/value This service evaluation is the only audit of the leadership of the programme and the findings will contribute to the existing body of reviews in this area.

Motivation to Lead as Mediator of Relations Between the Dark Triad, Big Five, and Leadership Intention

This study seeks to enhance the distal-proximal modeling of personality trait–leader emergence relationships by (1) distinguishing between the motivation to lead (i.e., the reasons why a person seeks leadership roles) and leadership intention (i.e., one’s expressed desire to claim a leadership role) and by (2) examining how the Dark Triad traits add to the Big Five personality factors in predicting three motivation to lead factors and leadership intentions. Using personality and careers aspiration data collected from 750 university students, we found that affective-identity and social-normative motivation to lead mediate the effects of distal traits on intentions. In contrast, non-calculative motivation to lead does not contribute to leadership intentions, which has important implications for organizations seeking selfless leaders. Narcissism explains variance in leadership intentions over and above that explained by extraversion; this contrasts with the studies of leader emergence, where the effect of narcissism disappears once extraversion is controlled. Overall, our findings validate the three-factor conceptualization of motivation to lead and illuminate the roles of both bright and dark personality factors in understanding individual desire to attain leadership roles.

Social Motivation at Work: The Organizational Psychology of Effort for, Against, and with Others

Although a great deal of effort in tasks, projects, and jobs is fueled by our interactions and relationships, psychologists have often overlooked the social forces that shape work motivation. In this review, we examine new developments in research on the interpersonal dynamics that enable and constrain proactivity, persistence, performance, and productivity. The first section examines the impact of competition on work motivation, including the roles of rivalries, favorite versus underdog expectations, and status strivings. The second section focuses on when and how prosocial motivation can drive people to work harder, smarter, safer, and more collaboratively, as well as the antecedents and collective consequences of this desire to benefit others. The third section centers on motivation in collaborations, emphasizing contagion, social proximity, friendship, and the motivation to lead. Together, these literatures suggest that although rivalries and friendships are double-edged swords, the twin goals to compete and contribute can be harnessed constructively. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Psychology, Volume 73 is January 2022. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

Now You See Me, Now You Don’t: A Conceptual Model of the Antecedents and Consequences of Leader Impostorism

Impostorism, a phenomenon whereby a person perceives that the role they occupy is beyond their capabilities and puts them at risk of exposure as a “fake,” has attracted plentiful attention in the empirical literature and popular media. However, despite evidence that impostorism is frequently experienced by people in leadership positions, there has been little consideration of why this happens. In this theoretical article, we explain why formal leadership roles—roles that are characterized by elevated expectations, high visibility, and high levels of responsibility—are fertile ground for impostorism experiences. We also discuss how the associated self-conscious emotions of shame and fear, can increase leaders’ risk-aversion and enhance leader role performance, yet at the same time drive emotional exhaustion, and reduce their motivation to lead. This can ultimately inhibit leaders from seeking, claiming, and thriving in leadership roles. We offer individual-, dyadic-, and organization-level contextual characteristics that can either enhance or reduce this phenomenon. We also discuss how supportive organizations can mitigate leadership impostorism. Furthermore, we highlight how women and minority-status leaders may be more vulnerable to this experience and conclude by suggesting the practical implications of the leader impostorism phenomenon for individuals and organizations.

Identifying global leadership potential

PurposeThis article investigates which criteria and processes are used to identify global leadership potential (GLP) in multinational corporations.Design/methodology/approachFirst, the literature at the intersection between leadership potential and global leadership is reviewed to identify a set of criteria that can be used for assessing GLP. The findings are then validated in a qualitative study against a sample of nine global corporations.FindingsSeveral traits (integrity and resilience), attitudes (learning orientation, motivation to lead, change orientation, drive for results, customer orientation and a global mindset) and competencies (cognitive complexity and intercultural, interpersonal, leadership, learning, change and business competencies) are associated with GLP. The core steps in the GLP identification process are nomination, assessment and confirmation. These steps can be complemented by a preassessment phase and a subsequent talent dialogue.Practical implicationsThe results of this research can inform human resource (HR) management practitioners in their endeavor to successfully identify and assess potential future global leaders.Originality/valuePrior research has focused either on defining global leadership or on assessing leadership potential in general, without a clear focus on identifying global leaders. In this article, the two concepts of global leadership and leadership potential are combined, thus providing an integrated content and process model that indicates how global corporations select their future global leaders.

Becoming a Leader: Emergence of Leadership Style and Identity

This conceptual paper presents a model for understanding how new leaders’ styles of leadership emerge and self-identity changes. New leaders’ interpersonal orientation, power motivation, and regulatory focus along with organizational expectations are predicted to influence their beliefs about how to exert power and their motivation to lead (MTL). New leaders’ power beliefs, MTL, and perceptions of situational needs affect their engaging in transactional and transformational behaviors. This is the emergence of leadership style and the development of identity as a leader. Over time, new leaders’ behaviors, outcomes, and identity formation alter their power beliefs and MTL. This model suggests directions for human resource development research and practice supporting new leader development and building a culture of leadership consistent with the organization’s expectations.

Adaptive Managers as Emerging Leaders During the COVID-19 Crisis

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has taken the world by surprise and has impacted the lives of many, including the business sector and its stakeholders. Although studies investigating the impact of COVID-19 on the organizational structure, job design, and employee well-being have been on the rise, fewer studies examined the role of leadership and what it takes to be an effective leader during such times. This study integrates social cognitive theory and conservation of resources theory to argue for the importance of adaptive personality in the emergence of effective leaders during crisis times, utilizing the crisis of COVID-19 as the context for the study. We argue that managers with an adaptive personality tend to have increased self-efficacy levels to lead during a crisis, resulting in increased motivation to lead during the COVID-19 crisis. Furthermore, managers with increased motivation to lead during the COVID-19 crisis are argued to have enhanced adaptive performance, thereby suggesting a serial mediation model where crisis leader self-efficacy and motivation to lead during the COVID-19 crisis act as explanatory mechanisms of the relationship between the adaptive personality and performance of the manager. In order to test our hypotheses, we collected data from 116 full-time managers in Saudi Arabia during the COVID-19 crisis and used hierarchical linear regression as the method of analysis. The findings support all of the hypotheses. A discussion of the results, contributions, limitations, and future directions is included.