Niklas K. Steffens

Political leadership positions are dominated by men. Arguably the most visible of a society’s positions of power, these positions may be important symbols of women’s ability to lead. If so, levels of female political representation within a society should shape its stereotypes of women’s suitability for political leadership. This project (lifecycle plan DOI:10.71240/lcyc.322400) tested this possibility by conducting a secondary analysis of a dataset that measured the stereotypes of women, men and political leaders in 42 countries covering six continents (Nsample = 22,996). Specifically, we tested whether, as a country’s representation of women in political leadership increases, there is a greater increase in the congruence of that country’s stereotypes of political leaders and women than in the congruence of that country’s stereotypes of political leaders and men. We also conducted exploratory analyses to identity whether other socio-ecological and cultural variables correlated with cross-national heterogeneity in the content and congruence of these stereotypes. Surprisingly, we did not find any evidence that the representation of women in politics affected the congruence of the stereotypes between political leaders and women or men. There was, however, (weak) evidence that political populism and conservatism may play a role in the congruence between political leader and gender stereotypes. These findings question the role of macro-level variables in micro-level gendered leadership beliefs.

This paper explores the challenges and opportunities faced by individuals retiring from vocational professions that are central to their self‐concept. Focusing on firefighters, we examine how group memberships and social identities influence adjustment to retirement and the effectiveness of identity‐based coping strategies in promoting mental health and well‐being. Using a mixed‐methods design, we conducted semi‐structured interviews with 20 retired firefighters and a two‐wave longitudinal survey ( N = 313) to investigate how firefighter identity shapes the retirement experience. Findings show that while the firefighter identity served as a psychological resource during working life, its loss in retirement led to a profound sense of lost meaning and purpose. The demanding nature of the role limited engagement with other social groups, reducing social resilience post‐retirement. In line with the Social Identity Model of Identity Change, successful adjustment involved using the firefighter identity to scaffold access to identity‐based resources that restored meaning and supported well‐being. These findings enhance understanding of why certain occupations may leave individuals vulnerable in retirement and contribute to the identity and health literature by identifying strategies to manage social identity transitions. Practical implications for supporting vocational retirees through this life change are discussed.

Despite substantial investment in leadership development, organizations often struggle toimplement relevant programs effectively. This reflects the fact that the success of programimplementation is contingent on identity dynamics. Building on the Social Identity Model ofLeadership, the ASPIRe model, and evidence-based programs such as 5R that apply theseprinciples, we argue that, to be effective, implementation needs to ensure that the approachmakes sense for “us”, aligns with who “we” are, and fits with “our” leadership. To guide thisprocess, we present a Social Identity Model of Leadership Development Implementation(SIMoLDI) which specifies four phases of effective implementation: (1) identity activation, (2)identity alignment, (3) identity actualization, and (4) identity anchoring. Each phase draws ondistinct identity leadership components: prototypicality, entrepreneurship, advancement, andimpresarioship. The principles we outline have general relevance in providing a practical, theory-informed framework for translating leadership development initiatives into sustainable practice,while being particularly applicable when leadership development is focused on buildingcollective capability.

Women are greatly underrepresented in positions of political leadership around the world. In seeking to explain this underrepresentation, some researchers have pointed to people’s tendencies to stereotype leaders as more similar to men than women as these tendencies can support the belief that women are unsuited to leadership. This project aimed to test whether a subtle linguistic intervention was able to ameliorate this gender bias in political leadership stereotypes across different languages and national contexts (country N = 42, sample N = 22,995). Specifically, this project examined whether gender fair language (e.g., the use of paired pronouns ‘he or she’) can reduce the tendency for people to stereotype political leaders as more similar to men than women. To increase the rigor with which these stereotypes were measured, this project complemented the dominant ‘cheap talk’ measure of personal stereotype content with a novel incentivised community measure of this content. As expected, participants stereotyped political leaders as more similar to men than women; this pattern was stronger on the incentivised measure of community stereotypes. Unexpectedly, there was no evidence that paired pronouns reduced this bias (there was weak exploratory evidence that paired nouns increased participants’ tendencies to stereotype political leaders as more similar to women). This project suggests that the ability of gender fair language interventions to ameliorate gender bias in the political leadership domain may be limited.

Political leadership positions are dominated by men. Arguably the most visible of a society’s positions of power, these positions may be important symbols of women’s ability to lead. If so, levels of female political representation within a society should shape its stereotypes of women’s suitability for political leadership. This project will test this possibility by conducting a secondary analysis of a dataset that measured the stereotypes of women, men and political leaders in 44 countries covering six continents (Nsample = 23,256). Specifically, we will test whether, as a country’s representation of women in political leadership increases, there is a greater increase in the congruence of that country’s stereotypes of political leaders and women than in the congruence of that country’s stereotypes of political leaders and men. We will also conduct exploratory analyses to identity whether other socio-ecological and cultural variables correlate with cross-national heterogeneity in the content and congruence of these stereotypes. This project will shed light on the way in which macro-level variables can shape micro-level gendered leadership beliefs.

Slow-moving environmental hazards create uneven stress and conflicting risk perceptions, which can weaken solidarity. Yet, how leadership and identity can manage such diversity remains unclear. We shed light on this issue through an ethnographic study of identity leadership in a school in Finland with long-standing poor indoor-air quality and health issues. We identified five components (i.e. contents) of shared social identity managed by the principal that acted to support good morale and mutual support in the group. Together these identity contents produced a system of meanings offering a shared social identity to both those whose health was impacted by the stressor and those who were largely unaffected. We conclude that leaders are not only identity entrepreneurs and impresarios who manage and craft shared identities, but they are also ‘conductors of identity’ who play a key role in stabilizing a system formed by different identity contents.

Research inspired by the social identity theory of leadership has focused predominantly on the importance of a leader being seen to be representative of the groups they lead. However, beyond this, research suggests that leaders also need to create, advance, and embed a sense of shared social identity in those groups. In the present research, we explore how these different facets of identity leadership combine to form distinct leader profiles. We draw on two heterogeneous independent samples from the Global Identity Leadership Development project ( N = 7682; N = 7855) to explore profiles of leaders’ engagement in identity leadership. In both studies, a latent profile analysis of the results of a CFA using a bifactor‐( S − 1) model was conducted. In each case, the analysis identified two different predominant identity leadership profiles: ‘engaged identity leaders’ and ‘moderate‐inconsistent identity leaders’. Employees working with engaged identity leaders reported substantially more positive job‐related attitudes. The results were very similar across the two studies and suggest that this profile analysis is generalizable. The findings support suggestions that identity leadership is multidimensional rather than solely a matter of identity prototypicality.

We examine how leaders’ self-concepts as a leader (leader identity) and as a team member (team identity) shape motivation and behaviour. In Studies 1 (N=667) and 2 (N=432), field surveys of people with leadership responsibility, revealed that leader identity predicted more strongly leaders’ motivation to build their personal identity around themselves as a leader than their motivation to engage in identity leadership (building a social identity around team members). Conversely, team identity more strongly predicted motivation to engage in identity leadership than motivation to build a personal identity as a leader. Team identity also predicted greater, whereas leader identity predicted less, team member-oriented organisational citizenship behaviour and resource-sharing with team members. Study 3 (N=60 leaders; 120 team members), a laboratory experiment with student groups, replicated these findings and examined resource-sharing behaviour in interacting teams. Studies 2 and 3 also examined brief self-reflection as a leadership development tool. Self-reflection on leader distinctiveness strengthened leader identity among new-group leaders, while reflection on team distinctiveness strengthened team identity among established-group leaders. Overall, leader identity and team identity provide distinct bases for leadership, with team identity being a stronger driver of leaders’ motivation to build a sense of ‘us’ and support team members.