Jacinda Ardern's compassionate leadership: a case of social change leadership in action
International Journal of Public Sector Management
ISSN: 0951-3558
Article publication date: 23 June 2022
Issue publication date: 11 August 2022
Abstract
Purpose
This article investigates the leadership style of Jacinda Ardern, Prime Minister of Aotearoa New Zealand. It uses the model of Social Change Leadership (SCL) to evaluate her approach to leadership as well as some notable successes and failures of her premiership.
Design/methodology/approach
The article adopts a grounded theory approach in which five increasingly refined research iterations were conducted to detect and articulate patterns of significance (Strauss and Corbin, 1997). Ultimately, the team selected 19 leadership examples to be cross referenced with the SCL model.
Findings
The article finds that in terms of leadership style Ardern corresponds closely to the SCL framework. The 19 examples show clusters of behavior that clearly denote a SCL constellation in terms of her approach. It also finds, however, that in terms of performance goals there is a less clear picture with less coherence to the framework. These findings in turn point to an interesting potential tension in the SCL model that has hitherto not been acknowledged.
Originality/value
The article is the first of its kind to apply SCL to a major global political leader. It is the first structured, academic assessment of Ardern's leadership. It adds a theoretical contribution to ongoing discussions on the efficacy and utility of the SCL framework.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
We wish to provide special thanks to Hector Ramirez for his assistance.
Citation
Van Wart, M., Macaulay, M. and Haberstroh, K. (2022), "Jacinda Ardern's compassionate leadership: a case of social change leadership in action", International Journal of Public Sector Management, Vol. 35 No. 6, pp. 641-658. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJPSM-03-2022-0071
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited