Session Information
01 SES 04 B, Research Perspectives on Leadership (Part 1)
Paper Session to be continued in 01 SES 06 C
Contribution
Research questions:
1. Does motivation has a significant positive effect on perceived skills?
2. Does motivation has a significant positive effect on the perceived changes in leadership styles?
3. Does perceived skills has a significant positive effect on the perceived changes in leadership styles?
4. Does perceived skills positively mediate the relationship between motivation and perceived changes in leadership styles?
Objective: Our objective is to examine how the participants perceive the skills they learned via their motivation and their perceived changes in leadership styles.
Conceptual framework and hypothesis:
Self-determination theory (SDT) is seen as a sound theoretical framework in this study because it examines conditions that elicit and sustain motivation (Ryan & Deci, 2000). According to SDT, satisfying psychological needs—autonomy, competence, and relatedness—is essential for individuals’ psychological growth and well-being (Deci & Ryan, 2000). Leaders who are motivated are likely to see activities as their own rewards and opportunities for learning and growth (Ryan & Deci, 2017).
As adult learners, leaders’ motivation for joining a training course varies from uplifting their knowledge and skills to social interaction (Kao et al. 2011; Loizzo et al. 2017). Understanding their motivation to participate in the learning and how this relates to learning outcomes have been highlighted in the literature over the past decade (Douglas et al. 2020). The findings of Dinh et al. (2022) endorsed the view that motivation has effects on the learning outcomes of the leadership program. Accordingly, we hypothesize;
Hypothesis 1. Motivation has a significant positive effect on perceived skills.
Autonomously motivated leaders understand the value of the work they do. A major characteristic of motivation is the alignment of behaviours with core values so that these behaviours are seen as emanating from oneself (Deci & Ryan, 2000). Related research using SDT found school leaders’ autonomous motivation was linked with reports of their trans-formational leadership (Trépanier et al., 2012). In what follows, we use SDT’s unique perspective of learning motivations to formulate our hypotheses on leadership styles’ change. We describe the most likely pathways between participants’ motivations and leadership styles’ change, which constitutes the hypothesized model.
Hypothesis 2 Motivation has a significant positive effect on perceived changes in leadership styles.
Leadership has been related to a person’s skills, and abilities to get people moving in a direction (Kets De Vries & Florent-Treacy, 2002). The very core of specialized leadership training focuses on areas of improving leaders' knowledge, skills, and attitudes; and, training and education on leadership styles (Bass, 1990). Leadership course participants are motivated to participate and learn from courses, and to use the knowledge and skills learned in their leadership practice, especially when they see the positive transfer from the course to the workplace will be for the benefit for them (Bass, 2008). Accordingly, we hypothesize;
Hypothesis 3. Perceived skills has a significant positive effect on perceived changes in leadership styles
The mediating role of perceived skills
To reiterate, we examine the motivation has effects on the learning outcomes of the leadership program (Dinh et al., 2022). Leadership course participants are motivated to use the knowledge, skills, and abilities learned for use in their leadership practice (Bass, 2008). Characteristics of motivation are the alignment of change of behaviours, so these behaviours are seen as emanating from oneself (Deci & Ryan, 2000). Related research found leaders’ autonomous motivation was linked with reports of their transformational leadership (Trépanier et al., 2012). Thus, accordingly, we hypothesize:
Hypothesis 4. Perceived skills positively mediate the relationship between motivation and perceived changes in leadership styles
Method
Methodology Drawing on survey data of 748 participants directly associated with academic leadership development program during 2021–2022. The research is undertaken linked to a capacity-building project in higher education funded by European Union’s Erasmus + program. The leadership training course aimed at capacity building on university governance and leadership for leaders and staff working in academic institutions. By using community-based and practice-based learning approaches, the programs were designed for academic leaders and staff working in academic institutions to advance their knowledge and skills on academic leadership. The conceptual model was tested with structural equation modeling (SEM) using Mplus program (v8). Scales were adapted from previous research to measure motivation to participate the leadership development program (with its four-dimensions including practical enhancement, occupational promotion, external expectations and social contact) ( Kao et al. 2011) and perceived skills (Kirkpatrick and Kirkpatrick 2006) after the leadership development program, the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ ) (Avolio and Bass, 2004) includes transformational style (Idealized influence, Inspirational motivation, Intellectual stimulation, and Individualized consideration) and Transactional leadership style (contingent reward and management by exception-active, reflective–formative second order assessments were specifically applied to measure the multi-dimensional nature of motivation and perceived changes in leadership styles, respectively. The bootstrap approach was used to identify all the significant mediating paths with the 95% confidence interval estimates excluding zero (MacKinnon et al., 2004).
Expected Outcomes
Findings Mplus estimations revealed that participants motivation positively influences perceived changes in transformational leadership styles and transactional leadership, besides motivation positively influences the perceived skills, the perceived skills positively influences perceived changes in transformational leadership styles and transactional leadership. Interestingly, the relationship between motivation and perceived changes in transformational leadership is also positively mediated by the perceived skills.
References
Avolio, B. J., & Bass, B. M. (2004). Multifactor leadership questionnaire. Mind Garden. Bass, B. M. & Avolio, B. J. (1990). The implications of transactional and transformational leadership for the individual, team, and organizational development. Research in Organizational Change and Development (Vol. 4, s. 231-272). Bass, B. M., & Bass, R. (2008). Handbook of leadership: Theory, research, and application. Free Press. Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (2000). The “what” and “why” in goal pursuits: Human needs and the self- determination determination of behavior. Psychological Inquiry, 11, 227–268. Dinh, N. B. K., Zhu, C., Nguyet, D. A., & Qi, Z. (2022). Uncovering factors predicting the effectiveness of MOOC-based academic leadership training. Journal of Computers in Education, September. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40692-022-00241-z Douglas, K., Merzdorf, H. E., Hicks, N., Sarfaz, M. I., & Bermel, P. (2020). Challenges to assessing motivation in MOOC learners: An application of an argument-based approach. Computer & Education, 150, 103829. Kao, C. P., Wu, Y., & Tsai, C. (2011). Elementary school teachers’ motivation toward web-based pro- fessional development, and the relationship with Internet self-efficacy and belief about web-based learning. Teaching and Teacher Education, 27(2011), 406–415. Kets De Vries, M., & Florent-Treacy, E. (2002). Global leadership from A to Z: Creating high commitment organizations. Organizational Dynamics, 30(4), 295–309. Kirkpatrick, L., & Kirkpatrick, J. (2006). Evaluating training programmes: the four levels. San Fransisco: Berrett-Koehler. Li, K., & Griffin, M. A. (2022). Prevention-focused leadership and well-being during the pandemic: mediation by role clarity and workload. Leadership and Organization Development Journal, 43(6), 890–908. https://doi.org/10.1108/LODJ-10-2021-0455 Loizzo, J., Ertmer, P., Watson, W., & Watson, & Lee, S. (2017). Adults as self-directed and determined to set and achieve personal learning goals in MOOCs: Learners’ perceptions of MOOC motivation, success, and completion. Online Learning, 21, 2. MacKinnon, D.P., Lockwood, C.M. and Williams, J. (2004), “Confidence limits for the indirect effect: distribution of the product and resampling methods”, Multivariate Behavioral Research, Vol. 39 No. 1, pp. 99-128 Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2000). Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being. American Psychologist, 55(1), 68. Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2017). Self-determination theory: Basic psychological needs in motivation, development, and wellness. New York, NY: Guilford. Trépanier, S. G., Fernet, C., & Austin, S. (2012). Social and motivational antecedents of perceptions of transformational leadership: A self-determination theory perspective. Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science, 44(4), 272-277.
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