Walking Our Evidence-Based Talk: The Case of Leadership Development in Business Schools

Academics have lamented that practitioners do not always adopt scientific evidence in practice, yet while academics preach evidence-based management (EBM), they do not always practice it. This paper extends prior literature on difficulties to engage in EBM with insights from behavioral integrity (i.e., the study of what makes individuals and collectives walk their talk). We focus on leader development, widely used but often critiqued for lacking evidence. Analyzing 60 interviews with academic directors of leadership centers at top business schools, we find that the selection of programs does not always align with scientific recommendations nor do schools always engage in high-quality program evaluation. Respondents further indicated a wide variety of challenges that help explain the disconnect between business schools claiming A but practicing B. Behavioral Integrity theory would argue these difficulties are rooted in the lack of an individually owned and collectively endorsed identity, an identity of an evidence-based leader developer (EBLD). A closer inspection of our data confirmed that the lack of a clear and salient EBLD identity makes it difficult for academics to walk their evidence-based leader development talk. We discuss how these findings can help facilitate more evidence-based leader development in an academic context.

Do authoritarian leaders also have “fans”? The relationship between authoritarian leadership and employee followership behavior in the Chinese context

PurposeThe existing research rarely explains the value of authoritarian leadership in small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The purpose of this study is to explore how authoritarian leadership facilitates employee followership behaviors of the SMEs in China by considering the moderating effects of cooperative goal interdependence and leader behavioral integrity.Design/methodology/approachThis research tested hypotheses with a two-wave survey from a sample of 258 respondents from SMEs in China. Hypotheses are tested using hierarchical regression analyses.FindingsFindings of the study have indicated the instrumental function of authoritarian leadership in facilitating employee followership behavior in SMEs. In particular, this study shows that the influence of authoritarian leadership on followership behavior was positively related when employees have high cooperative goal interdependence with authoritarian leaders, and when employees perceive a leader's high behavioral integrity.Practical implicationsThe study will help SMEs to understand that authoritarian leadership should seek optimal levels of cooperative goals with employees and integrate achievement goals into their career development strategy to enhance their followership behavior. In addition, authoritarian leadership should strive to take actions consistent with their words to guarantee the relationship between achieving goals and sharing mutual goals with employees.Originality/valueThe study contributes to the literature by addressing an important yet under-researched area, i.e. the effectiveness of authoritarian leadership in SMEs. Authoritarian leadership, a demanding and controlling leadership style, is often criticized by scholars. This study elaborates on a three-way interaction implied by self-determination theory in predicting followership behavior. It specifies the different roles of two situational factors (cooperative goal interdependence and leader behavior integrity) in affecting employees' followership behavior.

Revisiting Behavioral Integrity: Progress and New Directions After 20 Years

Behavioral integrity (BI) describes the extent to which an observer believes that an actor's words tend to align with their actions. It considers whether the actor is seen as keeping promises and enacting the same values they espouse. Although the construct of BI was introduced in 1999 and developed more fully in 2002, it builds on the work of earlier scholars that discussed related notions of hypocrisy, credibility, and gaps between espousal and enactment. Since the 2002 paper, a growing literature has established the BI construct, largely but not exclusively in the leadership realm, as a critical antecedent to positive attitudes such as trust and commitment, positive behaviors such as turnover and performance, and as a moderator of the effectiveness of leadership initiatives. BI is by definition subjectively assessed, and perceptions of BI are susceptible to various forms of perceptual biases. A variety of factors appear to affect whether observers interpret a particular word-action alignment or gap as an indication of the actor's high or low BI. In this article, we examine and synthesize this literature and suggest directions for future research. We discuss the early history of BI research and then examine contemporary research at the individual, group, and organizational levels of analysis. We assess what we have learned and what methodological challenges and theoretical questions remain to be addressed. We hope in this way to stimulate further research on this consequential construct. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, Volume 9 is January 2022. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

The interaction between participatory leadership practices and perceived behavioral integrity and their impact on fighting deviant work behavior: An applied study on a sample of administrative leaders in private commercial banks in Sulaimani city in Iraq: التفاعل بين ممارسات القيادة التشاركية والنزاهة السلوكية المدركة وأثرها في محاربة سلوك العمل المنحرف: دراسة تطبيقية على عينة من القيادات الإدارية في المصارف التجارية الأهلية في مدينة السليمانية في العراق

The study aimed to identify the extent to which private banks in the city of Sulaymaniyah adopt participatory leadership practices and perceived behavioral integrity, reveal the nature and direction of the relationship between participatory leadership and perceived behavioral integrity, and combat deviant behavior in these banks, in addition to determining whether the interaction is between participatory leadership and integrity. Perception affects the behavior of deviant work, and to achieve the objectives of the study, the researchers designed a questionnaire as a study tool that was distributed to the study sample of (108) managers, assistants of managers, heads of departments and divisions in private commercial banks in the city of Sulaymaniyah, and the results showed that private banks do not adopt participatory leadership practices and behavioral integrity Significantly, with a significant positive statistically significant effect of adopting participatory leadership practices on deviant work behavior in private banks in the city of Sulaymaniyah, where the value of the correlation coefficient R (-2.159) at the level of significance (.031), and the existence of a positive statistical significance effect. To adopt the perceived behavioral integrity on the deviant work behavior of private banks in the city of Sulaymaniyah, and the results revealed The study on the absence of a positive, statistically significant, positive impact at the level of (0.05) for the interaction between participatory leadership practices and perceived behavioral integrity on deviant work behavior. And their leaders, and emphasize the importance of adopting participatory leadership practices and perceived integrity together, as they have a clear impact on reducing deviant behaviors, which will positively affect banks in terms of creating a positive, effective and ideal work environment.

Does Participative Leadership Matters in Employees’ Outcomes During COVID-19? Role of Leader Behavioral Integrity

The coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) has badly affected the social, physical, and emotional health of workers, especially those working in the healthcare sectors. Drawing on social exchange theory, we investigated the effects of participative leadership on employees’ workplace thriving and helping behaviors among frontline workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, we examined the moderating role of a leader’s behavioral integrity in strengthening the relationship between participative leadership, and employees’ workplace thriving and helping behaviors. By using a two-wave time-lagged design and data collected from 244 healthcare workers, a moderated hierarchal regression was implemented to test the proposed hypotheses. As hypothesized, participative leadership predicted employees’ workplace thriving and helping behaviors. The leader’s behavioral integrity strengthened the relationship between participative leadership and employees’ thriving and moderated the relationship between participative leadership helping behaviors. Implications for research, theory, and practice are discussed.

ETHICAL CLIMATE AND BEHAVIORAL INTEGRITY: A STUDY OF THE DETERMINANTS OF ETHICAL LEADERSHIP UNDER POLITICAL MENTORING

Purpose of the study: Unethical behavior has been a source of incremental cost in corporations worldwide, and its consequences are detrimental to organizational health. In today’s turbulent environment, the role of leadership becomes even more vital under uncertainties. This study investigates the impact of ethical climate and behavioral integrity on ethical leadership through political mentoring. Methodology: The data were collected through a self-administered questionnaire distributed to the employees of various service sectors of health, education, banks, insurance companies, telecommunication, hotels, and transportation. The overall useable response rate was 85% (450 in total). The data were analyzed through SPSS version 22 and ADANCO version 2.2. Main Findings: The findings of the study are evidence of a strong association among behavioral integrity, ethical climate, political mentoring, and ethical leadership. We also found the mediating role of political mentoring between behavioral integrity and ethical leadership and between ethical climate and leadership. Applications of the study: This study is significant for the managers of the service sector in developing the ethical climate. It gives an insight to the leaders that they should guide their subordinates about the environment appropriately. It means that the leader’s role matters in building the organizational employees’ character and success. Novelty/Originality of the study: In this study, the role of political mentoring in ethical climate has been recognized, which contributes to business ethics. Furthermore, it bridges the literature gap related to the mediating role of political mentoring in an organizational climate.