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The purpose of this paper is to propose a model for implicit change leadership theory (ICLT) and to explore its relationship with perceived effectiveness of change management (CM).

The study employed a mixed-methods design. It used a qualitative approach to identify schemas on the traits and behaviors of an ideal leader and schemas on what constitute effective CM. A quantitative approach was followed to test the conceptual model.

The study suggests five competencies of ideal change leaders: strategic and technical competencies, execution competencies, social competencies, character, and resilience. Together, these five competencies comprise an ICLT. Moreover, schema congruence correlates with perceived effectiveness of CM. The closer the congruence between subordinates’ ideal change leader and their actual change leader, the greater the perceived effectiveness of CM.

The study was limited to employees in the Philippines. It is thus suggested that data gathering in other populations be conducted to allow for generalizability of results. The research was cross-sectional in design, that limits causal explanations. Longitudinal studies examining perceptions and attitudes during and after the implementation of change could provide more robust evidence of the relationships between schemas and perceptions of change.

The results suggest that to increase the chances of success of their change initiatives, organizations could consider leadership development interventions that could enhance the competencies of their leaders in the implicit change leadership constructs. Organizations also need to consider employee schemas of effective CM when implementing change.

The main contribution of this paper is to expand implicit leadership theory by applying it to a specific leadership context, that of organizational change, and to derive an ICLT.

The purpose of this paper is to examine differences in implicit change leadership schemas and their relationship with change management (CM) of employees of academic institutions and business enterprises.

This study used a quantitative approach through surveys with 645 employees in academic institutions and business enterprises. Path analysis and regression were conducted to determine the relationships between the constructs.

Results show that CM mediates the relationship of change leadership schemas and affective commitment to change in both business enterprises and academic institutions. However, differences were found in the change leadership schemas that predict perceived effectiveness of CM. Execution competencies predicted effectiveness of CM in business enterprises whereas strategic and social competencies predicted perceived effectiveness of CM in academic institutions.

The limitations of the study were the use of self-report data and its cross-sectional design. Future research may use longitudinal designs and multiple sources of data to explore the relationship of change leadership schemas and perceived effectiveness of CM. Moreover, leadership schemas may be examined in other types of organizations such as non-profits, government agencies and social enterprises.

Results suggest that change leadership schemas are context-dependent. Thus, it is important to consider organizational culture and follower schemas when choosing change leaders and executing change. Moreover, differences in the saliences of change leader schemas by type of organization suggest the need to adopt contextually nuanced approaches to the selection and development of change leaders.

This paper contributes to organizational change literature by providing evidence of differences in change leadership schemas among academic institutions and business enterprises.

Challenging, novel, and educational experiences are critical contributors to effective leader and follower development, in part, because such developmental experiences enable people to reconceptualize their perceptions about the traits and characteristics of effective leaders, or their implicit leadership theory (ILT). To understand how ILTs develop throughout developmental experiences, we examine the ILTs of 276 undergraduate students at the beginning and end of their first year of college. Using an open-ended ILT response format, a unique ILT trait of integrity emerged along with the dominant ILT traits of sensitivity, charisma, and dedication identified in previous literature. Overcoming limitations of the factor-based ILT approach, we investigate the development of ILT constellations, allowing a holistic picture of ILTs and how they throughout a developmental experience. Based on cluster analyses, four constellations of ILT themes emerged. Participants shifted to different ILT constellations after a year in college, moving from a non-descript, varied constellation toward constellations with clearly defined, dominant themes. Exploratory analysis revealed that completion of leadership coursework partially explains the shift towards more descript ILT constellations. Results have implications for new methods of future research using the ILTs constellation perspective and the practice of undergraduate leadership education in facilitating leader development among college students.

The purpose of this study is to investigate changing implicit leadership theories (ILTs) within a business student population over a ten-year period.

Students from the same business student population rated men, women and managers in general, using Schein’s Descriptive Index, first during the academic year 2008–2009 and again in 2018–2019.

In Sample 1, the authors found multiple ILTs, male students gender typed the managerial role in favour of men, while female students held a more gender egalitarian view of the managerial role. In Sample 2, the authors found evidence that ILTs are starting to converge, as neither the male nor female sample gender typed the managerial role.

These results aid the understanding of the ILTs that these graduating professionals bring into their new full-time organisations.

The analysis of data from the same population using the same measurement at ten-year intervals, along with the findings that male students no longer gender type the managerial role in the most recent round of data collection, are original contributions to the literature.

The purpose of this paper is to explore change leadership in the context of traumatically experienced change. “Being-centeredness” is proposed as a change leadership paradigm, with the leader becoming a facilitative instrument who assists restoration of a healthy working environment, healed emotions and change transitioning.

This paper is a conceptual research paper. Conceptualizations of being-centeredness are developed by building on the discourse of change emotions in organizations and research on change leadership.

Change interventions are experienced more traumatic than often believed. Healing of these emotions is essential to avoid stuckness. Becoming an instrument of change enables being-centered leaders to assist the emotional healings of victims and survivors when change is experienced as traumatic, promoting individual transitioning, restricting resistance to enhance change readiness and resilience.

Although conceptualizations are supported by an abundance of research and practical experience, as with any conceptual research, it lacks direct empirical evidence to support the conceptualizations.

Being-centeredness is an untapped inner capacity in many change leaders and change interventions. Explicitly normalizing and promoting being-centeredness and the further development of this capacity in leaders will allow this latent capacity to surface from its suppressed state, to be applied overtly.

The paper provides a new paradigm on leaders can and should deal with acute emotions that are often experienced from change, which focus more on the way of being of leaders, than competencies or change activities that must be done. This is likely to further emotional healing, change transitioning, resilience and ultimately change success.

This research aims to examine the influence of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) dark triad traits, follower COVID-19 anxiety and self-leadership on follower evaluations of the effectiveness of organizations’ response to the COVID-19 pandemic crisis.

In this paper data were collected over two time periods. At time 1, mid-October 2021, 650 participants responded to questions on their CEO’s leadership traits and self-leadership. At time 2, (3-week lag) 275 matched individual responses provided followers’ evaluations of the effectiveness of the organization’s COVID-19 response and follower self-leadership.

CEO dark triad traits had direct and indirect negative effects on followers’ evaluations of the organization’s COVID-19 response (through COVID-19 anxiety). Follower self-leadership mitigated the negative effects.

By examining the moderating role of self-leadership, we can offer organizations evidence-based strategies to mitigate some harmful effects of leaders exhibiting dark triad traits.

Given that organizations are still dealing with the ongoing ramifications of COVID-19 and planning for future crises, our findings emphasize the negative effects of dark traits on COVID-19 anxiety, and in turn, on follower’s evaluation of effective organization response to a crisis, highlighting the importance of top-level leader selection.

Our results bolster Manz’s (1986) argument that self-leadership might be key to achieving peak performance in organizations and important for follower well-being.

This study of dark traits is especially important in a crisis context to understand how leaders affect followers’ perceptions about organizational outcomes and factors that might mediate or moderate the negative impact. Despite interest in understanding leadership during a crisis, the majority of research is focused on positive traits of leaders (Palmer et al., 2020).

The purpose of the paper is to identify traits and behaviors of organization leaders that were deemed helpful by employees during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This is an exploratory qualitative study that utilized online surveys. Data from 155 participants were subjected to content analysis.

Several interrelated traits and behaviors of effective crisis leadership were identified. These were clustered into three superordinate themes – attending to the person, taking charge and showing the way forward and sustaining the spirit.

Findings from this paper can be furthered by conducting quantitative studies to validate themes and/or test a conceptual model of effective crisis leadership. Gathering data from other populations at different points in time during the COVID-19 pandemic may also be useful.

A review of leadership development programs and organization norms and values is recommended in order to ensure that they are consistent with crisis leadership competencies.

This paper helps address the gap on follower-centered perspectives about organizational leadership responses to crises and highlights the importance of care and compassion in leading employees during difficult times.

Utilizing the social cognitive theory, this study aims to suggest that organizations that promote high-performance work practices (HPWPs) are instrumental in fostering an individual's affective commitment to change through the explanatory process of an individual's readiness to change. In addition, high adaptive leadership would also strengthen HPWPs and readiness to change relationships.

This study tested the hypotheses using a temporally segregated research design across three time waves (n = 337).

This study found support for the direct, mediating, moderating and mod-med hypotheses. The results of this study corroborate that a high adaptive leadership and an organization implementing HPWPs set the stage for creating an individual's affective commitment to change via their readiness to change.

The current study integrates the change management, leadership and HRM literature by suggesting a unique mechanism and boundary conditions that advance research and practice in an individual's willingness and acceptance to change. Based on the study's findings, the authors suggest theoretical and practical implications for research and practice.

While studies have established the important role of change agents throughout organizational change programs and emphasized the change agents’ impact on outcomes of change efforts, it could be argued that the decision-making procedure for the selection of change agents may also influence the success of organizational change programs in several ways. This research aims to explore and compare the potential influence of a traditional change agent selection procedure with a more systematic and objective approach.

A qualitative case study has been conducted, before and after testing a group decision support system for the selection of change agents in an organization that was on the verge of a major rebranding.

The main findings suggest the importance of objectivity, transparency and attention to competency in the selection procedure for the role, while providing evidence for using a systematic participative decision-support process for the selection of change agents, leading to several desirable organizational outcomes, including improvements in perception of objectivity, trust, transparency, fairness and competency related to the selection process.

Drawing from the previous studies and the presented findings, this study offers evidence on the importance of paying attention to the selection procedure for the change agent role as it could potentially have an influence on the employees across organizations and, consequently, the success of change programs.