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Examines a questionnaire returned by 188 Alabama police and sheriffs’ departments with regard to pursuit issues. Considers variables such as department size, current policy, officer judgment, forcible stop techniques and training. Finds that 80 per cent of these departments had an emergency response policy. Clearly shows that a majority of the respondents think their department’s policy is somewhat restrictive. Cautions that policy may not always be followed in practice. Finds that there is a comprehensive effort to promote safety for officers and all involved, notably in the fact that only 44 per cent of the responding departments allow the use of forcible stop techniques.

For many of the current leadership theories, models, and approaches, the answer to the question posed in the title, “Is leadership more than ‘I like my boss’?,” is “no,” as there appears to be a hierarchy of leadership concepts with Liking of the leader as the primary dimension or general factor foundation. There are then secondary dimensions or specific sub-factors of liking of Relationship Leadership and Task Leadership; and subsequently, tertiary dimensions or actual sub-sub-factors that comprise the numerous leadership views as well as their operationalizations (e.g., via surveys). There are, however, some leadership views that go beyond simply liking of the leader and liking of relationship leadership and task leadership. For these, which involve explicit levels of analysis formulations, often beyond the leader, or are multi-level in nature, the answer to the title question is “yes.” We clarify and discuss these various “no” and “yes” leadership views and implications of our work for future research and personnel and human resources management practice.

This chapter compares interdisciplinary research that engages genomic science from economics, political science, and sociology. It describes, compares, and evaluates concepts and research findings from new and rapidly developing research fields, and develops a conceptual taxonomy of the social environment.

A selection of programmatic and empirical articles, published mostly since 2008 in leading economics, political science, and sociology journals, were analyzed according to (a) the relationship they pose between their discipline and genomic science, (b) the specific empirical contributions they make to disciplinary research questions, and (c) their conceptualization of the “social environment” as it informs the central problematique of current inquiry: gene-environment interaction.

While all three of the social science disciplines reviewed engage genomic science, economics and political science tend to engage genomics on its own terms, and develop genomic explanations of economic and political behavior. In contrast, sociologists develop arguments that for genomic science to advance, the “environment” in gene-environment interaction needs better theorization and measurement. We develop an approach to the environment that treats it as a set of measurable institutional (rule-like) arrangements, which take the forms of neighborhoods, families, schools, nations, states, and cultures.

Interdisciplinary research that combines insights from the social sciences and genomic science should develop and apply a richer array of concepts and measures if gene-environment research – including epigenetics – is to advance.

This chapter provides a critical review and redirection of three rapidly developing areas of interdisciplinary research on gene-environment interaction and epigenetics.

Recent research on leadership has focused on the exploration of the taxonomies of leadership antecedents (or “trigger events”) that significantly influence the development of the attributes of leadership in individuals. These leadership antecedents – which may involve individuals, social institutions, and life experiences – constitute a worthwhile topic for research. This paper aims to report a study which explores the leadership antecedents that inspired leadership development among graduate project management students.

To ascertain the significance of leadership antecedents, a study was conducted at National University of Singapore. A questionnaire survey was used to collect data on taxonomies of various leadership antecedents which contributed to the development of leadership skills among the subjects. Of a total of 90 questionnaires, which were distributed, 58 completed questionnaires were received.

The results suggest that teachers, parents, and mentors are significant in the development of leadership among the emergent leaders. It was also noted that educational and occupational experiences play a central role in leadership development. Future studies can use qualitative approaches, especially grounded theory methodology, to develop comprehensive frameworks explaining leadership development process.

The results of this exploratory study can form the basis for further work in the field of leadership development.

The taxonomy of leadership antecedents employed in this study can be used to design controlled interventions for leadership development in emergent project leaders and project management trainees.