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The purpose of the study was to construct a Leadership Mindset Scale (LMS) and to assess its reliability and construct validity. Participants were 100 employees in a variety of leadership and non-leadership positions at various organizations in three states. An item and factor analysis on the 13 LMS items led to a scale with 11 items (Cronbach α = .80). A Principal Axis Factor analysis with Promax rotation suggested three factors: Leadership Mindset Teachability (LMS-T), a belief in leadership teachability; Leadership Mindset Improvability (LMS-I), a belief in leadership improvability over time; and Leadership Mindset Predictability (LMS-P), a belief that leadership cannot be predicted at an early age. Convergent validity of LMS-Total and Teachability was evidenced by significant correlations with the implicit theories of intelligence and anxiety scales, and developmental leadership and transactional leadership scales. Divergent validity was evidenced by a non-significant correlation with social desirability. The results suggest that the LMS measures a construct different from those of other leadership scales used in the study. The LMS can be helpful in leadership training programs to promote a growth mindset about the trainability of leadership skills.

Scalar terms, such as “local” and “global,” “big” and “small” are fundamental in how academics and practitioners make sense of and respond to grand challenges. Yet, scale is so taken-for-granted that we rarely question or critically reflect on the concept and how it is used. The aim of this paper is to identify scale as an important concept in research on grand challenges and to point out why taking scale for granted can be problematic. In particular, I suggest that to date most research on grand challenges sees scale as a fundamental ontological feature of the world. Yet, scalar categories and hierarchies are not as self-evident and given as they may seem. Moreover, taking scale as an ontological fixed category limits our ability to make sense of, theorize and respond to grand challenges. As an alternative, I suggest seeing scale as an epistemological frame that participants employ in their everyday practices to make sense of, navigate and develop solutions to grand challenges. The chapter concludes with a research agenda for studying scale as socially constructed in practice.

We conduct a literature review on forms of organizing that address grand challenges, which are operationalized as the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations, as this framework is universal and widely adopted. By analyzing the articles that match our criteria, we identify six differentiable organizational forms: movements, temporary organizations, partnerships, established organizations, multi-stakeholder networks, and supranational organizations. These six forms are differentiated based on the two following categories: organizing segment and communicational technological approach. Our analysis shows that tackling a grand challenge often starts with collectives as a protest culture without any expected goal, besides sending an impulse to others. This impulse is received by criticized institutionalized organizations that have the capacity and resources to address the problem properly. However, new challenges arise as these organizations inadequately resolve these problems, thereby leading to conflict-laden areas of tension, wherein emergent organizations complement institutionalized organizations that have created the first infrastructure. To solve the most complex problems, a trichotomous relationship between different forms of organizations is necessary. Moreover, communicational technological approaches become more sophisticated as grand challenges increase in complexity.

This paper adds to the literature on societal grand challenges by shifting the focus away from business firms and other formal organizations as key actors in addressing such challenges toward the inherent organizing capacity that lies in the use of language itself. More specifically, we focus on the organizing capacities of metaphor-based communication, seeking to ascertain which qualities of metaphors enable them to co-orient collective action toward tackling grand challenges. In addressing this question, we develop an analytical framework based on two qualities of metaphorical communication that can provide such co-orientation: a metaphor’s (a) vividness and (b) responsible actionability. We illustrate the usefulness of this framework by assessing selected metaphors used in the public discourse to make sense of and organize collective responses to the Covid-19 pandemic, including the flu metaphor/analogy, the war metaphor, and the combined metaphor of “the hammer and the dance.” Our paper contributes to extant research by providing a means to assess the co-orienting potential of metaphors in bridging varied interpretations. In so doing, our framework can pave the way toward more responsible use of metaphorical communication in tackling society’s grand challenges.

Leader self-efficacy (LSE) is associated with leader emergence and effectiveness, and is a strong predictor of both individual and group performance. While some research exists related to the connection between LSE and adult leadership, more studies are required to better understand the details surrounding LSE as it relates to adolescents. This mixed methods study examines the effects of a leadership development intervention on LSE in an eighth-grade student population. Results indicate strong support for the effectiveness of the intervention and its potential to increase youth LSE. This finding holds significant implications for educational practice, research, and the future of leadership development.

This paper aims to identify the occupational profiles of a logistics and a supply chain (SC) controller, both promising SC professions, examining the required competences and tasks undertaken while taking into account current trends in supply chain management and its wider dimensions.

The study used a content analysis based on job advertisements for the position of logistics controller and SC controller. The collected material allowed the construction of an occupational competence mix model in the style of Cheetham and Chivers for the logistics and SC controller, and the identification of the level of competence of both professions, using the model proposed by Czapla. In addition, the analysis of the data was supplemented by use of the Anova test and a radar chart.

The SC and logistics controllers have a high degree of similarity in both the meta and core competences areas. Similarities also occur in the case of the analysed groups of tasks undertaken by these professions. Tasks in the areas of “definition” and “maintaining” prevail. The SC controller and the logistics controller are considered “engaged inspirers” because they have reached this level of professional competence. Both these professions can ensure an effective, sustainable and transparent SC through direct cooperation with the SC manager and/or logistics manager.

This study uses a content analysis based on job advertisements addressed to the German market. These job advertisements are standardized, and therefore, provide only a general outline of the competences and tasks of the SC and logistics controllers.

The study provides information to practitioners by identifying the competences and tasks assigned to the SC and logistics controllers that are needed to improve the efficiency and transparency of the SC and its management. The research is an incentive for people involved in education to adapt changes in curricula in the business (accounting, controlling and logistics) and engineering (related to logistics) fields of study by creating courses based on SC controlling or/and logistics controlling.

The study shows the current, necessary changes for SC professionals (e.g. the appointment of a SC controller and/or logistics controller) resulting from changes in business and the challenges for SC management (e.g. transparency and sustainability).

Leader self-efficacy (LSE) is a construct studied in adults and college students which is associated with leader emergence, individual performance, and group performance.However, to date, it has not been heavily examined in youth.Therefore, a five-item youth LSE scale was created which can aid in further research of this construct.This holds significant implications for future educational initiatives, research, and the development of the next generation of leaders.

Many early-career researchers (ECR) are motivated by the prospect of creating knowledge that is useful, not just within but also beyond the academic community. Although research facilities, funders and academic journals praise this eagerness for societal impact, the path toward such contributions is by no means straightforward. In this essay, we address five common concerns faced by ECRs when they strive for societal impact. We discuss the opportunity costs associated with impact work, the fuzziness of current impact measurement, the challenge of incremental results, the actionability of research findings, and the risk of saying something wrong in public. We reflect on these concerns in light of our own experience with impact work and conclude by suggesting a “post-heroic” perspective on impact, whereby seemingly mundane activities are linked in a meaningful way.

Research on grand challenges in the management literature is vibrant and growing. Given that the term “grand challenges” was first invoked in our field 10 years ago, it is timely to reflect on how we came to this point – and where we might go from here. In this article, we first explore the origins of the concept of grand challenges in order to trace core assumptions and developments and understand how they shape the current conversation about grand challenges in management scholarship. We next convey findings from our review of 161 papers that cite the editorial for a grand challenges special issue (George, Howard-Grenville, Joshi, & Tihanyi, 2016), uncovering four ways in which papers are shaping the conversation on grand challenges. Finally, based on our perspective on how we got here and where we are now, we make several suggestions for what should come next in driving forward research on grand challenges. We urge scholars to go beyond the study of collaboration for tackling grand challenges and shift toward a more critical, yet generative, exploration of their construction, persistence, and unintended consequences. We also call for increased attention to theorizing grand challenges to guide practitioners’ understanding of the nature of the thing they are trying to address. In these ways, we hope to inspire management scholars to leverage expertise on processes – not content per se – that shape how grand challenges manifest and how they may be tackled.

Public sector auditing research has changed rapidly over the past four decades. This paper aims to reveal how the field has developed and identify avenues for future research.

The authors used a structured literature review following Massaro et al. The sample comprises papers on public sector auditing published in accounting and public sector management journals between 1991 and 2020.

The present analysis highlights that academic research interest in public sector auditing has grown and become more diverse. The authors argue this may reflect a transformation of the public sector in recent decades, owing to the developing institutional logics of public sector reforms, from traditional public administration to new public management and now new public governance.

This paper offers a comprehensive review of the public sector auditing literature, discussing different perspectives over time. It also outlines the various public sector reforms introduced over the period of the study. In reviewing the existing literature, the authors highlight the themes for future research and policy settings.