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Purpose – This research focuses on the distinct group of high-status employees commonly referred to as workplace vigilantes, and conceptually investigates how unethical requests by these individuals impact the behavior and attitude of other employees over time using the social identity theory. Design/methodology/approach – For developing a conceptual model, literature from the domains of social identity, organizational behavior and general management was searched through Google Scholar. To search the literature, some key terms such as “unethical activities”, “Islamic work ethics” and “social identity” were searched and analyzed. Findings – Using the social identity theory, a conceptual process model is developed which suggests that when high-status employees propose unethical requests to employees, individuals with high morality are likely to refuse those unethical requests to protect their self-categorizations. However, taking the unfair advantage of their illegitimate powers, high-status employees are likely to eventually make wrong judgments and give unnecessary punishments to moral employees. It is further argued that consistent victimization is likely to negatively impact the social identity of such employees and leads to irritability in moral employees, particularly when such individuals are unable to get the requisite social support from their leaders. Originality/value – While a considerable body of literature has focused on the antecedents and consequences of intense unethical business practices and the crucial role of leaders in such activities, limited attention has been given to the role of other employees and how they engage in mild unethical misconduct regularly, which is the key focus of this research. The novel conceptual framework needs to be tested in diverse contexts for further development and validation.

Coaches need to expand their repertoires for developing leaders in turbulent contexts. From the leader-client perspective, this interpretive qualitative study investigated how executive coaching facilitated leaders' identity work during the COVID-19 pandemic. Findings indicated that leaders faced identity uncertainty in transitioning to virtual leadership - and how coaching supported leaders with their identity work. While the outcomes of the coaching were shifts in leader identity, it seemed that coaches did not work explicitly with an identity lens. This finding suggests identity and identity work be adopted as a theoretical lens to enhance the coaching of leaders in changing contexts.

The study uses the decolonial lens to disrupt the contentious dominance of whiteness in leadership development, not to mention in coaching, in management and organization studies (MOS). It contributes insights into how a decolonizing coaching space enables and guides a coachee to reflect and rethink the navigation of the realities of her decolonial identity. The decolonial identity encapsulates the authentic self and the neoliberal identity is the plastic self in a neoliberal university context. Universities' pervasive and normalized neoliberal discourse has become a "paradigm"--the overarching worldview through which universities' visions, missions, strategic objectives, and values are constructed. For academics to thrive in their performance and "walk on water" in achieving performance targets, they ought to embrace being academic capitalists, which shapes idealized neoliberal identities--conforming identities, complicit in undermining social, economic, and epistemic justice. Qualitative research methods were utilized to conduct a reflexive study, and data collected from the reflections and reflexive dialogues in leadership development coaching sessions and journals were thematically analyzed. The study reveals that the coach and coachee's shared decolonial identity offered counter-narratives that unmask the dominant great "white" man leadership in organizations. It also illuminates insights into the significance of black feminist pedagogy in the coaching process to honor the coachee's decolonial identity and rich cultural experiences. It enabled her to explore them critically and derive meanings from developing decolonizing, critically conscious leadership strategies for emerging transformation challenges. Meaningful dialogue dimensions emerged, which served as lenses that steered a decolonial approach in supporting the coachee to reflect and rethink the leadership performance vision, strategic objectives, action plans, implementation, and monitoring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent theorizing challenges the notion that leadership, and especially leader identities, is static. Yet, we know little about the dynamics that characterize how leader identities change within individuals across short periods of time. The current work integrates theorizing on temporal dynamics in leadership research with event systems theory to describe and predict day-to-day shifts (i.e., unidirectional, sudden changes) and dynamic ebb and flow patterns (i.e., multidirectional, potentially nonlinear changes over multiple days) of individuals' leader identities. Specifically, we argue that the experience of strong (i.e., novel, disruptive, extraordinary) daily events facilitates positive leader identity shifts, and that over time, the resulting identity ebb and flows are more pronounced in unfamiliar compared to familiar contexts. We collected experience sampling data from 69 young adults at a university in the UK across seven-day periods at three different time points during the academic year (1159 data points). Using dynamical systems modeling, we analyze the velocity (i.e., rate of change) and the acceleration (i.e., change in velocity) parameters of individuals' leader identity dynamics. We find that (a) on a daily level, strong events prompt positive shifts in leader identity, and that (b) over time, chains of stronger and weaker events provoke similar patterns of leader identity ebb and flows. However, these relationships are not stronger in unfamiliar compared to familiar contexts. Our research informs the theoretical understanding of events and short-term leader identity dynamics. We discuss implications for theory and research, in particular how events can trigger leader identity formation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This longitudinal qualitative study explores how social interactions between young professionals and their leadership coach develop leader identity. Examining eleven pairs of coaches and clients participating in a three-to-six-month leadership development programme, this exploratory research found five general interaction types that form the basis of leader identity development. We explain how coaching interaction types are combined to create a powerful adult learning process for navigating leadership transitions in an original leader identity transformation framework. The findings expand the understanding of coaching processes and leader identity transformation, providing insights for researchers and practitioners to help young professionals navigate leadership.

Purpose: Building on research in educational leadership, dual language leadership, and leader identity development, this study examines how principals of schools with dual language immersion (DLI) strands perceive and enact their leadership roles and identities. As DLI strands proliferate in schools and districts, this research contributes to understandings of principals' leader identities as they implement these programs. Research Methods/Approach: We used an embedded single case study design, with the phenomenon of Indiana school leadership in DLI strands as the case and principals as the embedded units of analysis, and we conducted semistructured interviews with over 80% of Indiana DLI strand principals (n = 26). We conceptualized this as a single case, due to the common policy context of state legislation related to DLI and school choice. Findings: The DLI strand principals described their leadership work through primarily instructional and distributed leadership dimensions, drawing upon their historic, epistemic, and political understandings of their roles. Principals draw less upon the emotional and narrative dimensions of their leader identities, which are more apparent in teacher identity literatures. Implications for Research and Practice: Principals of new DLI strands often have limited expertise related to DLI models and have not considered how their roles should accommodate leading "two schools in one." We provide recommendations for both practitioners and researchers in leadership preparation to encourage school leaders' deeper engagement in reflective work across the dimensions of leader identity development. We furnish a matrix of questions to guide this work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The importance of organizational citizenship behavior for the environment (OCBE) has received increasing attention in recent years because organizations face increasing pressure from environmental deterioration. The purpose of this study is to use social identity theory to construct a cross-level theoretical model of ethical leadership on OCBE, and to explore the cross-level influential mechanisms of ethical leadership on OCBE. Data collection was conducted via a two-wave distribution of leader-employee paired questionnaires in 20 manufacturing companies in China. In the first wave, data about OCBE and team environmental atmosphere were collected from leaders. Subsequently, 2 months later, we conducted the second wave of data collection when data about ethical leadership and leader identity were obtained from their employees. The results showed that at the individual level, ethical leadership has a significant positive impact on employees' OCBE, and such relationship is partially mediated by employees' leader identity and positively moderated by team environmental atmosphere across levels. At the team level, ethical leadership has a significant positive impact on employees' OCBE, and such relationship is completely mediated by team environmental atmosphere. This study investigates the cross-level influential mechanism of ethical leadership on OCBE in China and provides theoretical guidance for enterprises to promote OCBE effectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on social identity theory, this conceptual article proposes how working in a male‐dominated top management team (TMT) leads to changes in the social psychology of female executives over time. Further, it simultaneously incorporates the role of various factors to develop a comprehensive understanding of positive as well as negative change experiences of female executives. Based on thorough review and integration of the relevant literature from the domains of organizational behaviour, gender management, and psychology, key themes have been extracted and a conceptual model has been proposed. It is suggested that female executives are likely to face epistemological shock after becoming a part of male‐dominated TMTs; however, proactive interactions and development of their cultural toolkit is expected to polish leadership capabilities and improve leader identity in them. Conversely, challenges in developing their cultural toolkit may lead to experiences of emotional exhaustion and the eventual psychological detachment of female executives from their teams and work environment. Unlike the focus of existing literature on general social and cultural challenges faced by female workers, this research offers a unique theoretical direction regarding the essence of extensive psychological changes and their long‐term prospects for females in male‐dominated TMTs. Finally, it also offers practical implications for highlighting various ways to encourage proactivity and social support for creating diversity and inclusion‐based leadership in organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study uses the decolonial lens to disrupt the contentious dominance of whiteness in leadership development, not to mention in coaching, in management and organization studies (MOS). It contributes insights into how a decolonizing coaching space enables and guides a coachee to reflect and rethink the navigation of the realities of her decolonial identity. The decolonial identity encapsulates the authentic self and the neoliberal identity is the plastic self in a neoliberal university context. Universities' pervasive and normalized neoliberal discourse has become a “paradigm”—the overarching worldview through which universities' visions, missions, strategic objectives, and values are constructed. For academics to thrive in their performance and “walk on water” in achieving performance targets, they ought to embrace being academic capitalists, which shapes idealized neoliberal identities—conforming identities, complicit in undermining social, economic, and epistemic justice. Qualitative research methods were utilized to conduct a reflexive study, and data collected from the reflections and reflexive dialogues in leadership development coaching sessions and journals were thematically analyzed. The study reveals that the coach and coachee's shared decolonial identity offered counter-narratives that unmask the dominant great “white” man leadership in organizations. It also illuminates insights into the significance of black feminist pedagogy in the coaching process to honor the coachee's decolonial identity and rich cultural experiences. It enabled her to explore them critically and derive meanings from developing decolonizing, critically conscious leadership strategies for emerging transformation challenges. Meaningful dialogue dimensions emerged, which served as lenses that steered a decolonial approach in supporting the coachee to reflect and rethink the leadership performance vision, strategic objectives, action plans, implementation, and monitoring.

Research on the social identity theory of leadership and identity leadership has found that group identification and related needs influence how they view leadership and leaders within groups. Inspired by these theories, three studies (and two pilot studies) investigated whether group identification relates to whether a group member wants to lead a specific group. Furthermore, the present research investigated whether this relationship still occurred after accounting for individual-level constructs related to leader emergence, such as a person's motivation to lead, leader identity, or other relevant constructs. Study 1 found that a group member's decision to pursue or decline a leadership opportunity is related to both their group identification and individual-level constructs. Study 2 found that how important a group member thought it was to pursue a leadership opportunity differed based on their group identification. Study 3 conceptually replicated this result and found support for an indirect effect: group identification influences how important it is for a person to become a leader of that group, which then increases the likelihood that they pursue a leadership opportunity within that group. This indirect effect remained after including relevant individual-level constructs. Overall, group identification indirectly relates to whether a person wants to become a leader of a specific group.

Leader identity theory posits that, in addition to being positional, leadership is also a malleable state of mind. This means that even employees holding positions of authority within their organization may be nudged to identify more strongly with their leader role on some days versus others. The leadership literature, however, is silent about predictors that may prime leader identity day-to-day. We draw from leader identity theory and research on expressive writing to propose that leader identity can be activated daily via positive leader self-reflection (e.g., reflecting and writing about qualities that make one a good leader) in ways that are beneficial for the leader both at work and at home. We tested our theoretical expectations in two field experiments. In the first study, as expected, we find that leaders reported higher activated leader identity and more goal progress on intervention (vs. control) days. In turn, activated leader identity and goal progress enhanced leader well-being measured in the evening at home. Surprisingly, and contrary to expectations, the well-being enhancing effects of positive leader self-reflection were weaker for leaders who were higher (vs. lower) in identity fusion with their followers. In the second study, we demonstrate the malleable nature of leader identity by showing not only that positive leader self-reflection activates leader identity, but also that negative leader self-reflection diminishes its activation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The transition to a new leader role requires identity work. New leaders are likely to experience anxiety, threat, and conflict related to valued aspects of their identities. These identity challenges are particularly salient in the experiences of new leaders from minority and non-dominant groups. We address this challenge by proposing a narrative coaching framework that is practical and amenable to empirical testing. Specifically, we propose a framework of coaching principles and narrative practices that can support leaders through the identity transitions of separation, liminality, and the integration of a new leader identity. In doing so, this paper provides actionable practices for coaching new leaders as well as directions for research on coaching and leader development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Storying family experiences provides a means to explore and support leader identity development. The idea of recalling and reflecting on stories about and from families can surface how orientations to lead are learned early on in life. We report on students’ narratives generated during a postgraduate early childhood education leadership course to understand the significance of family storytelling in leader identity development and the awakenings this process encouraged for those involved. Using McCain and Matkin’s (2019) concept of retrospective storytelling, narrative inquiry underpinned our analysis of students’ family-oriented stories and the identification of two themes regarding their orientation to leadership: the influence of families’ hardships, work ethic and selfless actions; and the expectations associated with being the first-born in the family and the assumed responsibilities. Our findings affirm the transformative potential of selecting, telling, and reflecting on family stories to both understand the roots of leadership motivations and develop leader identities. Implications include promoting a narrative-based pedagogy for leadership development that centres on postgraduate students’ retrospective storying of family experiences.

Growing body of research in leader and leadership identity exhibits the topic's importance in today's turbulent and uncertain global environment. Leader identity, which is related to the personal development of the leader, analysed at personal, relational and collective (group) levels. However, leader identity does not fully support leadership. Leaders operate and grow within the context of the people they lead - the group, the followers, who collectively possess social (group) identity. Researchers view this as a complex phenomenon involving shared values, perspectives and goals. There is no distinct line that separates leader identity from group identity, but there is an area where they clash. As a personevolves as a leader, leader identity is expected to incorporate more elements of group identity and develop towards it, although that is not inevitable. The current studyemphasises leader-follower interactions and identity fusion, linking them to identity leadership development and suggesting possible outcomes.. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this exploratory case study, we examined women’s lived experience as leaders and their participation in an in-person leadership development program. More specifically, we studied how women perceived an in-person leadership development program through a lens of authentic leadership. Our method for gathering information included individual interviews, field observation, and archival data. The interviews focused on particular episodes and stories of the participants’ leadership experiences in their professional life and learning experiences through the leadership development program. The findings from this study indicated the importance of self-awareness of leader identity and increased confidence, building their authentically balanced approach, and creating a social network through collective learning. This paper concludes with future research and practical implications for women leaders, senior human resource development professionals, and senior managers who design and develop women leadership training programs.

Although the leadership literature has emphasized the importance of leader identity for leader behaviors and leader effectiveness, little is known about whether and how professionals, who are experts in their field and hold a formal leader role, construe a leader identity. To expand our understanding of leader identity construal, we explored how professors in German research universities interpreted their formal leader role and whether and how they saw themselves as leaders. Based on findings from an inductive interview study, we contribute to the literature in three ways: First, our findings imply that patterns of professional identity and leader identity dimensions likely predict when a leader role is rejected, accommodated, incorporated, or emphasized. Second, we explain why professionals with a formal leader role see themselves primarily as specialists, mentors, managers, or shapers. Third, we extend previous notions of the leader identity concept by elaborating on its dimensions. Our findings have practical implications on an individual and organizational level, and may help design more effective leadership development programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Latinas have been systematically excluded from positions of leadership across industries and professions in the United States. As a result, they often lack role models, mentors, and sponsors to guide them effectively. Latina leaders overcome substantial challenges and obstacles to obtain their positions of leadership. Organizations use leadership development programs to enhance the skills and abilities of their leaders and Latinas are often overlooked and are not given access to these opportunities. A community-based, culturally tailored leadership development program, the MANA de San Diego Latina Success Leadership Program (LSLP), was created to address such challenges and obstacles. Findings from a qualitative study indicated that the experience provided a safe space for Latinas to develop a nuanced leader identity--a Latina space. By being around other Latina leaders where they shared stories of struggles and successes, participants experienced heightened confidence and empowerment that led to direct changes in their leadership behaviors and career trajectories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this exploratory case study, we examined women's lived experience as leaders and their participation in an in-person leadership development program. More specifically, we studied how women perceived an in-person leadership development program through a lens of authentic leadership. Our method for gathering information included individual interviews, field observation, and archival data. The interviews focused on particular episodes and stories of the participants' leadership experiences in their professional life and learning experiences through the leadership development program. The findings from this study indicated the importance of self-awareness of leader identity and increased confidence, building their authentically balanced approach, and creating a social network through collective learning. This paper concludes with future research and practical implications for women leaders, senior human resource development professionals, and senior managers who design and develop women leadership training programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reflects on the latent organisational process that leads tothe scarcity of women in senior positions. Utilising characteristics of legitimisation, institutionalisation and self-determination theories the paper observes how women manage upward mobility. Subsequently, it was important to investigate the mid-level cohorts, as there lies the critical question triggering the anomaly. Focusing on the public sector with an interest in gendered organisations, the study examines law enforcement. Conversely, the aim of this paper is to focus on why there is a continued dearth in the number of policewomen at top level positions in USA and Australia. A qualitative study with a phenomenological approach is applied. Semi-structured interviews are conducted with 40 policewomen in mid-management positions in American and Australian law enforcement. It further aims to explore the linkages of the ongoing paucity of gendered leadership in organisations, questioning how these will influence women's ability to advance to higher-level positions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the current study was to explore the connection between generativity and mentoring. Specifically, ten college students who mentor shared stories illustrating the link they perceived between mentoring and generativity. A cross-case analysis was utilized to explore the data and connect the developmental/environmental factors of leader identity (i.e. motivations to mentor) with generative themes (i.e. how participants mentored or were mentored). The cross-case analysis resulted in three overarching mentoring styles: Guide, Relator, and Friend. Findings from the current study have implications for leadership educators, mentoring programs, and college student development scholars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inclusive educational leaders promote teacher team functioning. To support leader inclusiveness, we designed and implemented a faculty development programme focusing on leader identity formation. We investigated (1) how participants' leader identity developed throughout the programme and (2) how the design principles contributed to this process, according to participants. A design-based research approach was followed. Participants were 7 course coordinators, leading an interdisciplinary teacher team. To study leader identity development, participants repeatedly filled out a validated questionnaire. To investigate how design principles contributed, observational field notes, facilitator debriefings, a programme evaluation questionnaire and a semi-structured focus group were used. Thematic analysis was applied for qualitative data. Participants gained broader views on leadership, moving from individual dominance towards engaging team members. Most participants initially experienced a deconstruction of their former leader identity and became motivated to improve leadership qualities. Competence-building, reflecting and receiving feedback on workplace experiences, and practicing in a safe environment were perceived to be key for identity development. We developed and evaluated a leader identity programme which can convert teachers' classic leadership views towards views incorporating social interactions and relationships. We demonstrated how social interactions provide opportunities to learn from pe.ers in the work environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is important for leaders to have a clear, credible and motivating view of who they are and who they want to become as a leader. Understanding and managing leader identity is a key practice area for leaders. After reviewing some relevant literature, a practice-oriented framework is offered which focuses on some key elements of leader identity and is operationalized through a management cycle. A review of the application value, implications and challenges of this approach is provided. With increasing accountability for organizational outcomes including stakeholder performance, well-being and well-doing, this approach offers practitioners a way to understand and manage key considerations relating to managing leader identity at work for positive impact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The stories we tell about our origins can shape how we think and act – helping us make sense of and communicate who we have "become" over time. To better understand the role that origin stories play in individuals' work lives, we explore how 92 men and women leaders make sense of "becoming" a leader (origin stories) and "doing" leadership (enactment stories). We find that, despite the uniqueness of their experiences, their narratives converge around four frames, being, engaging, performing, and accepting, through which they understand, articulate, and enact their leader identities. We theorize that these narrative frames serve as sensemaking and identity work devices which allow them to create temporal coherence, validate their leader identity claims, and offer them behavioral scripts. Our findings also unearth key gender differences in the use of these frames, in that men used the performing frame more often and women tended toward the engaging frame. These findings provide novel insights into the ways in which the gendered context of leadership becomes embedded in leaders' understandings of who they are and what they intend to do in their roles. We discuss the theoretical implications of our findings on scholarly conversations around identity, leadership, and gender. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We based our exploratory study on the premise that the role of a K-12 teacher in the classroom is that of a leader. Teachers must identify as leaders to effectively navigate the challenges of teaching and learning. In our research, we developed and validated a tool containing both quantitative and qualitative items to assess the attributes of the leader identity of teachers in the context of their role as a classroom teacher. The responses of the 91 K-12 teachers who participated in our research revealed variations in the levels of leader identity attributes based on individual differences. We found most teachers tended to perceive the primary role of a teacher as a conveyer of knowledge, and yet strongly agreed that teachers are critical role models. We also found a disconnect between why they became teachers and their perceptions of the role of a teacher. Following our results, we interpret our findings, provide associated implications, and offer directions for future research.

We propose that distinct leadership competencies differ in their development over time. Extending the integrative model of leader development (Day et al., 2009), we further propose that leader identity will form complex relationships with leadership competencies over time. To test these propositions, we use longitudinal data (i.e., 5 months, four measurement points) of the 80 in total high-potential executives in a corporate leadership development program. We find a significant difference in the initial levels and the changes of eight distinct leadership competencies. We also find that leader identity relates to the development of certain – but not all – leadership competencies. Finally, we demonstrate the importance of developing leadership competencies by linking them to career advancement (i.e., job promotion). These findings are discussed in light of their theoretical and practical implications.

The paper explores African women school leaders' constructions of their leadership identity. Using self-perception theory which sees changes in self-perceived leadership skills and dispositions as being related to changes in perceived leader identity, constructions of African women's leadership identity are mapped over a life-long career. Leader identity is, in this sense, inextricably linked to gender and an attempt is therefore made to understand these leader identities as gendered. The paper presents an analysis of the interviews of three women selected from a bigger study of 89 school leaders from four countries in sub-Saharan Africa. The three narratives of women leader identity construction are drawn from three of the four case study countries. The narrative approach to data analysis reflecting women school leaders' experiences of leader identity construction involved reading transcripts and coding them with themes characterizing the processes of becoming a leader and being identified as one. Findings suggest that processes of becoming a leader are influenced by women leaders' experiences of early socialization that gave them ways of doing leadership as well as values and attributes that shape their approach to leadership. These women grew up with a strong perception of who they are, and this instilled a sense of agency that facilitates leaderful actions. These actions were then affirmed through their different stages of growth and career development, thus strengthening their leader identity. It is concluded that understanding women leaders' experiences of leader identity is an important ingredient of leadership development.

Are leaders born or made? In this study of contemporary leadership development programmes, we find that leaders are not only made but also – in Ian Hacking's sense – made up. Such programmes increasingly employ practices like personality profiling, appraisals, feedback and coaching aimed at creating knowledge about individual leaders in order for them to develop. The effects of these practices on participants have been theorized in terms of identity regulation and resistance, yet in our view the situated accomplishments of authority and identity remain inadequately theorized. This study follows a number of such practices as texts and conversations, and shows how a programme participant's leader identity becomes authorized and acknowledged as participants and instructors ventriloquize texts in conversations. We theorize this as identity reconfiguration, as it entails the continual staging and authorizing of diverse figures. Our findings have implications for the relation between governmentality studies and studies of texts and conversations in leadership development programmes as well as for how we approach agency and context in this realm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose that distinct leadership competencies differ in their development over time. Extending the integrative model of leader development (Day et al., 2009), we further propose that leader identity will form complex relationships with leadership competencies over time. To test these propositions, we use longitudinal data (i.e., 5 months, four measurement points) of the 80 in total high-potential executives in a corporate leadership development program. We find a significant difference in the initial levels and the changes of eight distinct leadership competencies. We also find that leader identity relates to the development of certain – but not all – leadership competencies. Finally, we demonstrate the importance of developing leadership competencies by linking them to career advancement (i.e., job promotion). These findings are discussed in light of their theoretical and practical implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In response to increased calls for research that can provide greater understanding of the relational and contextual issues surrounding leader identity construction processes, this qualitative study aims to provide insights into the subjective experience of constructing a leader identity within the context of organizations. Drawing on data from 50 semi-structured interviews, this paper focuses on significant sub-themes, which were grouped into two categories, namely identity catalysts (e.g. issues that participants identified as positively aiding in their leader identity construction process) and identity barriers (e.g. issues that participants identified as negatively impacting their leader identity construction process). These catalysts and barriers will be elaborated upon and their relationship to leader identity explained. This paper provides new insights into the leader identity construction process by using Leadership Identity Construction Theory as a lens for interpretation, and offers notable implications for theory, research and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mid-level roles in education have been widely explored, primarily in schools, but little research has been conducted during the systemic reform that involves creating a mid-level role between end units and the system. The present study explores the sense-making of early childhood leaders (ECLs) at the initial stage of their new role as mid-level managers. The new role was established as a result of a national administrative reform that, among others, made the systemic hierarchy more vertical by establishing a new mid-level layer between superintendents and early childhood teachers. This qualitative research included semi-structured interviews with 47 mid-level preschool managers. The study sought to uncover their views of the main challenges associated with assuming a new mid-level managerial role, and their coping styles in this role. The analysis revealed that the new mid-level management role raises three challenges concerning the ambiguity of identity: power base, voice, and interpersonal loyalty. ECLs cope with these challenges by assuming different types of leader identities, those of the representative, the companion, and the mediator. The implications of the findings for the limited knowledge on ECLs and for the introduction of the new mid-level roles are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Empirical research suggests that focusing on one's identity as a leader may enhance ongoing leadership development. As a complement to traditional theory- and skills-based approaches to leader development, we offer an identity-based, multidomain approach to leadership development through a series of integrated in-class exercises. Specifically, these exercises focus on developing four components of leader identity: meaning, strength, levels (personal, relational, and collective), and integration of domain-specific subidentities, culminating in the creation of a leader identity narrative. After a brief review of the literature on leader identity, we describe the exercises in detail along with potential prompts for personal reflection and group discussion. We also present qualitative evidence of the intended outcomes of the exercises, including the desired effect of developing students' leader identities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines leadership and leader emergence as a contextual process. The paper argues that the emergence of leader identities is a contextual process which is premised on relations between organizational actors and practices. We adopt a social constructionist view on leadership emergence, applying a practice theory perspective on an empirical case of supervisory leadership emergence. Our empirical material consists of informant accounts and corporate documentation of a multiyear organization development project. The empirical narrative explores how the expectation set for a group of supervisors in the organization to act as leaders of production was initially impaired by a lack of participation in central organizing activities. The organization development project reformed the supervisory work to include more tasks related to production activities, which facilitated a new interpretation of the supervisors as leaders. We analyse how the inclusion of supervisors in the daily production practices induced an identity change where the supervisors came to be identified as leaders in production. We argue that contextual changes at the level of organizing practices can influence leadership and leader emergence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]