Leadership and Followership

A research group of the Business School.

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What makes a leader? And how is a leader defined by their followers and other external influences? We aim to build knowledge in the area of leadership and followership and promote this to practitioners. We also supervise PhD students in this field, including research around traditional approaches, implicit leadership theories and followership.

Evolving ideas

Traditional research into leadership has focused on the leader as a person and how potential leaders can be trained in certain effective behaviours. But this approach ignores the critical role of the follower.

Recognising that leadership doesn’t happen in an empty space, our research incorporates thinking around how it’s shaped by the characteristics of followers. This includes investigating how followers’ needs and expectations influence not only how they view and evaluate their leader, but also how far they willingly follow the leader and engage with organisational goals.

At the same time, we are interested in how followers contribute to and shape the leadership process as they respond to the leader's perceived behaviour and shape how the leader then responds.

Staff

Faculty, Durham University Business School, Mill Hill Lane, Durham DH1 3LB

• Professor Susanne Braun
• Prof Russell Craig
• Prof Olga Epitropaki
• Prof Jackie Ford
• Dr Les Graham
• Professor Yanjun Guan
• Professor Rosalie Hall
• Professor Catherine Lam
• Professor Robert Lord
• Dr Anna Tilba
• Professor Barbara Wisse
• Dr Qin Zhou

Research Staff, Durham University Business School, Mill Hill Lane, Durham DH1 3LB

• Ms Xiaotong Zheng

Publications by staff in this group

Authored book

• Ford, J., Harding, N. & Learmonth, M. (2008). Leadership as identity: constructions and deconstructions. Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan.

Journal Article

• Knoll, M., Lord, R., Petersen, L.-E. & Weigelt, O. (2016). Examining the Moral Grey Zone: The Role of Moral Disengagement, Authenticity, and Situational Strength in predicting Unethical Managerial Behaviour. Journal of Applied Social Psychology 46(1): 65-78.
• Peus, C., Braun, S. & Knipfer, K. (2015). On becoming a leader in Asia and America: Empirical evidence from women managers. The Leadership Quarterly 26(1): 55-67.
• Lord, R.G., Dinh, J. & Hoffman, E. (2015). A quantum approach to time and organizational change. Academy of Management Review 40(2): 263-290.
• Keller Hansbrough, T., Lord, R. & Schyns, B. (2015). Reconsidering the Accuracy of Follower Leadership Ratings. The Leadership Quarterly 26(2): 220-237.
• Scheuermann, T.S., Tokar, D.M. & Hall, R. (2014). An Investigation of African American Women's Prestige Domain Interests and Choice Goals Using Social Cognitive Career Theory. Journal of Vocational Behavior 84(3): 273-282.
• Stam, D., Lord, R., van Knippenberg, D. & Wisse, B. (2014). An Image of Who We Might Become: Vision Communication, Possible Selves, and Vision Pursuit. Organization Science 25(4): 1172-1194.
• Dinh, J., Lord, R., Garnder, W., Meuser, J., Liden, R.C. & Hu, J. (2014). Leadership theory and research in the new millennium: Current theoretical trends and changing perspectives. The Leadership Quarterly 25(1): 36-62.
• Lord, R. & Dinh, J. (2014). What have we learned that is critical in understanding leadership perceptions and leader performance relations?. Industrial and Organizational Psychology 7(2): 158-177.
• Peus, C., Braun, S. & Frey, D. (2013). Situation-based measurement of the Full Range of Leadership Model - development and validation of a situational judgment test. The Leadership Quarterly 24(5): 777-795.
• Braun, S., Peus, C., Weisweiler, S. & Frey, D. (2013). Transformational leadership, job satisfaction, and team performance: A multilevel mediation model of trust. The Leadership Quarterly 24(1): 270-283.
• Levant, R.F., Hall, R J. & Rankin, T J. (2013). Male Role Norms Inventory-Short Form (MRNI-SF): Confirmatory factor analytic investigation of structurre and measurement invariance across gender. Journal of Counselling Psychology 60(2): 228-238.
• Hoffman, E. & Lord, R. (2013). A taxonomy of event-level dimensions: implications for understanding leadership processes, behaviour and performance. Leadership Quarterly 24(4): 558-571.
• Ford, J., Harding, N. & Learmonth, M. (2012). Who is it that would make business schools more critical? A response to Tatli. British Journal of Management 23(1): 31-34.
• Schaubroeck, J.M., Hannah, S.T., Avolio, B.J., Kozlowski, S.W.J., Lord, R.G., Trevino, L.K., Dimotakis, N. & Peng, A.C. (2012). Embedding ethical leadership within and across organizational levels. Academy of Management Journal 55(5): 1053-1078.
• Dinh, J.E. & Lord, R.G. (2012). Implications of dispositional and process views of traits for individual difference research in leadership. The Leadership Quarterly 23(4): 651-669.
• Peus, C., Wesche, J. S., Streicher, B., Braun, S. & Frey, D. (2012). Authentic leadership: An empirical test of its antecedents, consequences, and mediating mechanisms. Journal of Business Ethics 107(3): 331-348.
• Peus, C., Braun, S. & Frey, D. (2012). Despite good intentions: The role of follower attributions in adverse leadership. A multilevel model of social contagion processes. Journal of Psychology/Zeitschrift für Psychologie 220(4): 241-250.
• Braun, S., Wesche, J. S., Frey, D., Weisweiler, S. & Peus, C. (2012). Effectiveness of mission statements in organizations. A review. Journal of Management & Organization 18(4): 430-444.
• Braun, S., Peus, C. & Frey, D. (2012). Is beauty beastly? Gender-specific effects of leader attractiveness and leadership style on followers’ trust and loyalty. Journal of Psychology/Zeitschrift für Psychologie 220(2): 98-108.
• Tokar, D., Buchanan, T.S., Subich, L.M, Hall, R.J. & Williams, C.M. (2012). A structural examination of the Learning Experiences Questionnaire. Journal of Vocational Behavior 80(1): 50-66.
• Out, D., Hall, R.J., Granger, D.A., Page, G.G. & Woods, S J. (2012). Assessing salivary C-reactive protein: Longitudinal associations with systemic inflammation and cardiovascular disease risk in women exposed to intimate partner violence. Brain, Behaviour and Immunity 26(8): 543-551.
• Levant, R.F., Rankin, T. J., Hall, R. J., Smalley, K.B., David, K., & Williams, C.M. (2012). The measurement of nontraditional sexuality in women. Archives of Sexual Behaviour 41(1): 283-295.
• Harding, N., Lee, H., Ford, J. & Learmonth, M. (2011). Leadership and charisma: a desire that cannot speak its name?. Human Relations 64(7): 927-949.
• Lord, R.G., Hannah, S.T. & Jennings, P.L. (2011). A framework for understanding leadership and individual requisite complexity. Organizational Psychology Review 1(2): 104-127.
• Hannah, S.L., Lord, R.G. & Pearce, C.L. (2011). Leadership and collective requisite complexity. Organizational Psychology Review 1(3): 215-238.
• Lord, R.G. & Shondrick, S. J. (2011). Leadership and knowledge: Symbolic, connectionist, and embodied perspectives. The Leadership Quarterly 22(1): 207-222
• Naidoo, L.J., Kohari, N.E., Lord, R.G. & Dubois, D.A. (2010). “Seeing” is retrieving: Recovering emotional content in leadership ratings through visualization. The Leadership Quarterly 21(5): 886-900.
• Shondrick, S.J., Dinh, J.E. & Lord, R.G. (2010). Developments in implicit leadership theory and cognitive science: Applications to improving measurement and understanding alternatives to hierarchical leadership. The Leadership Quarterly 21(6): 959-978.
• Johnson, R.E. & Lord, R.G. (2010). Implicit effects of justice on self-identity. Journal of Applied Psychology 95(4): 681-695.
• Shrondrick, S.J. & Lord, R.G. (2010). Implicit leadership and follower theories: Dynamic structures for leadership perceptions, memory, and leader-follower processes. International Review of Industrial and Organizational Psychology 25: 1-34.
• Lord, R.G., Diefendorff, J.M., Schmidt, A.M. & Hall, R.G. (2010). Self-regulation at work. Annual Review of Psychology 61(1): 543-568.
• Elicker, J.D., Lord, R.G., Ash, S.R., Kohari, N.E., Hruska, B.J., McConnell, N.L. & Medvedeff, M.E. (2010). Velocity as a predictor of performance satisfaction, mental focus, and goal revision. Applied Psychology: An International Review 59(3): 495-514.
• Elicker, J.D., McConnell, N.L. & Hall, R J. (2010). Research participation for course credit in Introduction to Psychology. Teaching of Psychology 37(3): 183-185.
• O’Malley, A.L., Ritchie, S.A., Lord, R.G., Gregory, J.B. & Young, C.M. (2009). Incorporating embodied cognitions into sensemaking theory: A theoretical examination of embodied processes in a leadership context. Current Topics in Management 14: 151-182.
• Hannah, S.T., Woolfolk, R.L. & Lord, R.G. (2009). Leader self-structure: A framework for positive leadership. Journal of Organizational Behavior 30(2): 269-290.
• Chang, C-H., Johnson, R.E. & Lord, R.G. (2009). Moving beyond discrepancies: The importance of velocity as a predictor of satisfaction and motivation. Human Performance 23(1): 58-80.
• Naidoo, L.J. & Lord, R.G. (2008). Speech imagery and perceptions of charisma: The mediating role of positive affect. The Leadership Quarterly 19(3): 283-296.

Chapter in book

• Lord, R.G. & Dinh, J.E. (2012). Aggregation processes and levels of analysis as organizing structures for leadership theory. In The Nature of Leadership. Day, D.V. & Antonaki, J. Los Angeles, CA: Sage. 29-65.
• Lord, R.G., Hall, R.J. & Halpin, S.M. (2011). Leadership skill development and divergence: A model for the early effects of gender and race on leadership development. In Early development and leadership: Building the next generation of leaders. Murphy, S.M. & Reichard, R.J. New York: Psychology Press/Routledge. 229-252.
• Hall, R.J., Lord, R.G. & Foster, K.E. (2009). Considerations in applying the social relations model to the study of leadership emergence in groups: a leadership categorization perspective. In Multi-Level Issues in Organizational Behavior and Leadership. Yammarino, F.J. & Dansereau, F. Bingley, UK: Emerald. 8: 193-213.
• Lord, R.G. (2008). Beyond transformational and transactional leadership: Can leaders still lead when they don’t know what to do? In Complexity and leadership volume I: Conceptual foundations. Uhl-Bien, M. & Marion, R. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing. 155-184.
• Allen, P., Kaut, K. & Lord, R.G. (2008). Emotion and episodic memory. In Handbook of behavioral neuroscience: Episodic memory research. Dere, E., Easton, A., Nadel, L. & Huston, J.P. Elsevier. 18: 115-132.
• Lord, R.G. (2008). Follower cognitive structures and affective structures and leadership processes. In Rethinking Followership. Riggio, R.E., Chaleff, I. & Lipman-Blumen, J. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
• Diefendorff, J.M. & Lord, R.G. (2008). Goal striving and self-regulation processes. In Work motivation: Past, Present, and Future. Kanfer, R., Chen, G. & Prichard, R.D. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. 151-196.