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Numerous difficulties exist in employing psychometrically sound quantitative measures of leadership development that are both generalizable and brief. Here, we highlight our efforts in creating the Ready, Willing, and Able Leader (RWAL) Scale. This instrument of leadership capacity: (a) has been psychometrically validated for use with college student populations; (b) includes measures of leadership capacity that are known to be essential to effective leadership practice (leader self-efficacy, motivation, and skill); (c) is broad enough for use across diverse educational and developmental contexts; and (d) is brief and concise.

Paradoxical leadership concerns competing yet interrelated leader behaviors in response to conflicting workplace demands. Emerging research examines the outcomes of paradoxical leadership, yet less is known about its antecedents. This article aims to examine the combined effect of leader fluid intelligence, trait anxiety and trait anger, on transformational leadership and abusive supervision as contrasting paradoxical leader behaviors.

This study involves 157 leader–manager dyads, and 137 leader–follower teams utilizing a cross-correlational, time-lagged, online survey design.

Results indicate that leader fluid intelligence moderates the relationship between leader trait emotions and behavior such that low fluid intelligence and high trait anxiety results in manager perceptions of low transformational leadership, while low fluid intelligence and high trait anger results in follower perceptions of high abusive supervision.

The results suggest that fluid intelligence is a common factor that determines how leader trait emotions (anxiety and anger) are expressed through paradoxical leader behaviors as perceived by different hierarchical observers (i.e. a leader's superior and subordinates).

This study followed 134 university students within a national sample for one or two years, from their initial participation in a LeaderShape Institute session. We examined the shape of their trajectories of leadership growth over this course of time, with particular focus on development long after the session had ended. We also investigated the degree to which additional formal leadership development opportunities statistically predicted leadership development. Results indicated a typical non-linear shape to development and suggested that most formal experiences, as a whole, possess little association with leadership growth when controlling for other experiences associated with leadership development in students.

Numerous studies have provided evidence that interracial interaction can contribute to the development of leadership skills and behaviors for university students. Yet, little empirical research has been dedicated to understanding the effects of structural (compositional) racial diversity within leadership programs on program participant outcomes. This study examined the impact of the structural racial diversity of 50 leadership program sessions on student leadership capacity gains over time. A total of 667 participants in sessions coded as either “High,” “Moderate,” or “Low” with regard to racial diversity within the session served as the sample. Results from data collected immediately prior to, directly after, and 3-4 months after program participation suggest the training effects of a leadership initiative may be augmented by the recruitment of racially diverse participants.

The LeaderShape Institute is a popular immersion-based leadership program that is hosted on dozens of university campuses and conducted nationally each year. As part of a comprehensive research effort, a sample of 1,279 students at 21 participating institutions completed a pre-test prior to participating, as well as a post-test immediately after and a follow- up test three to four months later. Tests included measures of leadership skills, leadership- oriented self-efficacy, motivation to lead, and motivation to advocate for social issues. Results suggest students make gains in skill, confidence, and motivation to advocate for social issues, but that not all gains emerged similarly across social identity groups. Several differences emerged when comparing gains measured from pre-test to post-test and gains that included follow-up tests. This study provides support for the effectiveness of the LeaderShape Institute, and possesses several implications for the methods used in assessing the development of leadership capacity.

We conducted a national study of the Collegiate Leadership Competition (CLC), which since inception in 2015, has included over 75 higher education institutions. The CLC brings students together in collaborative institution-based teams to compete with other teams in competitions to achieve goals and practice effective leadership skills. Our goal was to assess leadership capacity growth over the course of a four-month team practice period through the daylong inter-team competition and evaluate participant leadership assessed several months later. Results suggested students made significant and sustainable gains in leader-self-efficacy and short-term gains in leadership skill and motivation to lead. Our results also indicated the team’s coach played a significant role in student leadership development.

Leadership development programs for students in educational settings are proliferating in number and design. Curricular programs range from academic minors and certificates to doctoral programs in a variety of academic homes (e.g., education, business, healthcare). Co-curricular programs often take the form of drop-in workshops, day-long experiences, alternative spring breaks, service-learning trips, and other programs housed in student affairs and administrative offices (Guthrie & Jenkins, 2018). Moreover, the number of programs has steadily increased over the last 15 years from just under 1,000 in 2006 (Brungardt, et al., 2006) to more than 2,000 (ILA Program Directory, 2021). And while there is some commonality among the approach of these leadership programs in terms of content and delivery (see Harvey & Jenkins, 2014), vast differences exist in the structure and learning goals of student leadership programs compared to other social science disciplines. A potentially fruitful area in which to explore its effectiveness in supporting leadership development is the environment of competitive teams, where individuals work together as a group to compete against other teams. The purpose of our research was to investigate the degree to which such a competitive environment might support or detract from student leadership group, employing a potentially effective example of a formal program that utilizes the innovative approach of team competitions to motivate learning (the CLC).

The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of business leader gender on the pursuit of innovation opportunities. Extant research suggests that leader gender represents an important characteristic that shapes firm behavior in various ways. The authors build upon this research by relating business leader gender, perceptions of environmental munificence and distributive justice to firm investment in innovation.

This study examines the survey responses of 469 business leaders in India. These individuals were primarily responsible for their firms. Their responses to survey questions were analyzed using ordinary least squares regression.

The results of this study suggest that female-led firms exhibit less investment in innovation than male-led firms. Results also suggest that female business leaders perceive less environmental munificence as well as distributive justice. Finally, study results suggest that the effect of gender on firm investment in innovation is mediated by perceptions of distributive justice.

This study provides an empirical link between business leader gender and firm investment in innovation. In doing so, it acknowledges and provides insight into the gendered nature of the initiation of innovation processes and leadership. Finally, the finding that business leader perceptions of distributive justice mediate the relationship between business leader gender and investment in innovation extends current understanding of the mechanisms underlying the lower investment in innovation rates exhibited by female-led firms.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between human resource (HR) executive representation in top management and the growth of newly public firms. It draws upon research on strategic leadership, strategic HR management and Penrose’s theory of firm growth to consider the role of HRs executives in addressing demands placed upon top managers in the pursuit of firm growth. This study attempts to extend the focus of research on the influence of HR executives on organizational outcomes

In order to test study hypotheses, this study analyses data from a sample of US newly public firms that underwent initial public offerings (IPO) during the 2007 calendar year. Study data were analyzed using ordinary least squares regression in order to test study hypotheses.

This study provides general support for study hypotheses. First, HR executive presence in top management was found to be positively related to post-IPO firm growth. Second, upper echelon size and the number of firm employees were found to weaken the positive effect of HR executive presence in top management on post-IPO firm growth.

As a consequence of study design, the results found in this study may be limited with respect to their external validity. Therefore, researchers and practitioners are encouraged to use caution before generalizing study findings to other contexts.

This study provides implications for top management team staffing and the pursuit of firm growth. Newly public firms appear to benefit in terms of firm growth by including HR executives in top management. The benefits of doing so appear to be reduced for newly public firms as the size of their upper echelons and number of employees increase.

This study extends research on the firm level consequences of HR executive presence in top management as well as research on factors which influence firm growth.

This study aims to draw upon research from strategic human resource management (HRM) and strategic management to examine how HRM demands influence the likelihood that chief executive officers (CEOs) will staff top management with a human resource (HR) executive.

The theory and hypotheses developed in this study are tested on a sample of US initial public offering firms from the calendar year 2007, using logistic regression.

The results of hypothesis tests suggest that HR executive presence in top management is positively related to the HRM demands faced by a CEO stemming from product/service innovation strategies, the number of HRs employed by the firm and CEO’s financial orientation.

The results of this study may not generalize to other settings. This study does not simultaneously consider the role of other structural forms which may increase or reduce the degree of HRM demands faced by the CEO. This study extends prior research on executive job demands by expanding the understanding of factors which give rise to HRM sources of executive job demands. Study results suggest that CEOs with financial orientations are more likely to staff their top management teams with an HR executive, which suggests that in the face of executive job demands stemming from a particular functional area, CEOs delegate responsibility for that function to another member of top management. This finding suggests that CEOs can, and in fact do, recognize the limitations engendered by their experiences and that when confronted with a specific type of executive job demand that does not align with their expertise, they take steps to address their individual limitations by appointing others that are more capable of addressing the particular source of executive job demand.

Study results suggest that product/service innovation strategies, CEO’s financial background and the number of HRs employed by the firm increase the likelihood of HR functional representation in top management.

The theory and results of this study extend the focus of extant research on factors giving rise to HRM’s functional representation in top management. Although prior research has emphasized the role of ownership characteristics and risk preferences in the adoption of this structural form, this study examines the role of CEO HRM demands. This approach allows for the integration of the upper echelons theory with the strategic HRM literature and provides an empirical examination of CEO job demands arising from the HRM function.

The purpose of this paper is to add to the small but growing body of research examining the influence of founder gender on new venture access to venture development programs.

Hypotheses were tested utilizing a sample of 482 nascent technology ventures which applied for admittance into a venture development organization headquartered in the southern region of the United States from March 2004 through February 2016.

Findings suggest that female-founded applicant ventures experience a higher likelihood of acceptance into venture development programs than male-founded applicant ventures. Results further suggest that social attention to gender equality reduces this effect for female-founded applicant ventures. Findings extend the understanding of the gendered nature of high-technology venturing and venture development organizations.

The findings of this study may not generalize to new ventures operating in other contexts (e.g., non-U.S., low-tech, and other venture development programs). Additionally, this study's design and data limitations do not allow for the establishment of causality or address founder motivations to apply for acceptance into venture development programs.

This study adds to empirical findings regarding the influence of founder gender on new venture acceptance into venture development programs by developing and testing competing hypotheses. This study also extends extant research by examining the moderating effect of social attention to gender equality on the hypothesized relationships between founder gender and acceptance into venture development programs.