Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Jepson School Of Leadership Studies Dean's Report 2021 - 2022, Sandra J. Peart

Jepson School of Leadership Studies Dean's Reports

University of Richmond's Jepson School of Leadership Studies Dean's Report for 2021 - 2022.

Lay Theories Of Heroism And Leadership: The Role Of Gender, Communion, And Agency, Crystal L. Hoyt, Scott T. Allison, Agatha Barnowski, Aliya Sultan

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

Whereas leadership is generally perceived as a masculine enterprise, heroism research suggests that people view heroes as similarly masculine, but having more feminine traits. We predicted that heroes will be evaluated higher than leaders in communion but not differ in agency. In Study 1, heroes were perceived to have higher communion and similarly high agency as leaders. In Studies 2 and 3, we replicated these trait ratings focusing on perceptions of typical heroes/leaders (S2) and personal heroes/leaders (S3). In Study 4, we showed that the greater level of communion associated with heroes is independent of their gender. In Study 5, …

The University Of Richmond: Leadership During Crisis, Gabby Beneducci, Josie Bossidy, Ben Castellano, Lexi Cobbs, Phoebe Cook, Westen Doran, Caroline Dzenitis, Taylor Fine, Evie Hanson, Sophia Hartman, Maha Hassan, Katelyn Inkman, Grace Jamin, Matt Kalady, Mimi Laws, Regan Mccrossan, David Nadwodny, Kathryn Reda, Savon Smith, Brian Taylor, Arden Tierney, Lauranett L. Lee

Student Publications

Throughout history, we have experienced numerous points of difficulty, tension, and conflict. Although they vary widely in their cause, context, and intensity, these points in history are considered times of crisis. How humans have reacted to these events and moments having created influential turning points in human history. This presentation explores various crises in American history, and the role of leaders and leadership during these times. This presentation looks at these crises, past and present, from the perspective of the collegiate institution, specifically, the University of Richmond.

Social Psychological Approaches To Women And Leadership Theory, Crystal L. Hoyt, Stefanie Simon

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

In this chapter, we take a social psychological approach to understanding gender and leadership. In doing so, we explain how both the social context and people’s perceptions influence leadership processes involving gender. The theoretical approaches taken by social psychologists are often focused on one of these two questions: (1) Are there gender differences in leadership style and effectiveness? and, (2) What barriers do women face in the leadership domain? We begin our chapter by reviewing the literature surrounding these two questions. We then discuss in detail one of the greatest barriers to women in leadership: the prejudice and discrimination that …

Real, Intended Change: Business Movements?, Gill Robinson Hickman

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

We are well aware that the economy, environment and organizations in today’s global context are highly interdependent and interconnected. This interdependence contributes to the blurring of lines among business, nonprofit and government entities to the extent that new forms of organization are emerging to tackle socioeconomic and sociopolitical issues that only the political system and social movements confronted in the past.

James MacGregor Burns proclaimed in his groundbreaking book, Leadership, that the effectiveness of leaders “will be tested by the achievement of purpose in the form of real and intended [emphasis added] social change.”¹ Burns explained that social …

The Role Of Social Dominance Orientation And Patriotism In The Evaluation Of Minority And Female Leaders, Crystal L. Hoyt, Stefanie Simon

Psychology Faculty Publications

This research broadens our understanding of racial and gender bias in leader evaluations by merging implicit leadership theory and social dominance perspectives. Across two experimental studies (291 participants), we tested the prediction that bias in leader evaluations stemming from White and masculine leader standards depends on the extent to which people favor hierarchical group relationships (SDO) and their level of patriotism. Employing the Goldberg paradigm, participants read identical leadership speeches attributed to either a woman or a man described as either a minority (Black or Latino/a) or a majority (White) group member. Results show SDO negatively predicted evaluations of minority …

Antebrazo, Ernesto Seman

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

nada puede ser más parecido a un campo de concentración que el útero, con sus paraedes húmedas y rugasas, los ruidos de aguera asordinados, la luz que apenas llega. Carecemos de voluntad propia y de su ejercicio. Nuestro destino sujeto a fuerzas que imaginamos, sin saber cuándo ni porqué. Para los que vengan, en el muro oscuro con la punta del mango de una cuchara tallaría hasta hacerlas chillar: «Acá estuvo durante nueve meses Heraldo Dornou. No sabemos adónde nos lleban ni qué será de nosotros desde hoy. Marzo 1976 ¡Hasta siempre¡».

Managing To Clear The Air: Stereotype Threat, Women, And Leadership, Crystal L. Hoyt, Susan E. Murphy

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

In this article, we explore the process and implications of stereotype threat for women in leadership, broadly construed. First, we provide a brief background on the phenomenon of stereotype threat generally. Next, we explore stereotype threat for women in leadership by reviewing a model of stereotype threat in leadership contexts that includes cues to stereotype threat, consequences of stereotype threat, and moderators of stereotype threat appraisals and responses. In this review, in addition to considering research focused squarely on leadership, we include the broader categories of research examining stereotype threat effects in the workplace and in tasks and domains relevant …

Leading Through Reading In Contemporary Young Adult Fantasy By Philip Pullman And Terry Pratchett, Elisabeth Rose Gruner

English Faculty Publications

There’s a popular bumper sticker in some areas that reads: “God said it, I believe it, that settles it.” It is sometimes paired with another one: “Bibles that are falling apart usually belong to people that aren’t.” The two combine to suggest an approach to reading and religion that are at the core of my argument in this chapter: they suggest that religious reading is fundamentally anti-interpretive; that reading the Bible or other religious texts provides direct access to truth. In the young adult texts I discuss in this essay, however, the opposite is the case: while texts (of many …

Opinion: Education For Professional Leadership And The Humanities: Exhortations And Demonstrations, Peter Iver Kaufman

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

The complaint: pre-professional, para-professional, and professional programs occupy large slabs of the undergraduate curricula in colleges and universities in the United States. Core courses in which the arts and humanities were introduced to first- and second-year students are extinct in places, replaced by distribution requirements or specialized seminars that occasionally--but not often--expose students to a broad range of studies from classics to cultural anthropology, history, philosophy, music, literature, political theory, and other precincts in the liberal arts. Undergraduates wishing to enter the professional programs in journalism, business (finance, accounting, and marketing), education, energy, environmental sciences, health care, and health sciences …

Ethical Decision Making And Leadership: Merging Social Role And Self-Construal Perspectives, Crystal L. Hoyt, Terry L. Price

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

This research extends our understanding of ethical decision making on the part of leaders by merging social role and self-construal perspectives. Interdependent self-construal is generally seen as enhancing concern for justice and moral values. Across two studies we tested the prediction that non-leading group members’ interdependent self-construal would be associated with lower levels of unethical decision making on behalf of their group but that, in contrast, this relationship would be weaker for leaders, given their social role. These predictions were experimentally tested by assigning participants to the role of leader or non-leading group member and assessing the association between their …

On "Strongly Fortified Minds": Self-Restraint And Cooperation In The Discussion Tradition, Sandra J. Peart, David M. Levy

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

Accordingly, this essay explores some unappreciated benefits of discussion.² While educators frequently favor discussion as a means to encouraging engaged learning, they nonetheless rarely attempt to explain how or why these benefits arise. More than this, the role of economists from Adam Smith through Frank Knight and his student, James Buchanan, in explaining the benefits associated with discussion has been neglected both within economics and throughout the academy. In this tradition one accepts the inevitability of an individual "point of view" and the good society is one that can govern itself by means of an emergent consensus among points …

How Do Leaders Lead? Through Social Influence, Donelson R. Forsyth

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

This chapter considers leadership to be a social influence process that derives from multifarious sources, manifests itself in a variety of forms, and generates outcomes both extraordinary and commonplace. However, it cuts through some of influence’s complexities by distinguishing between two oft-contrasted forms of influence: the direct and the indirect (Falbo, 1977; Kipnis, 1984). Military leaders, as legitimate authorities in the services, can and do issue orders to subordinates who are duty-bound to follow those orders. Politicians speak directly to their constituents, explaining their policies and asking for support. Team leaders identify the subtasks that must be completed by the …

Ethical Decision Making And Leadership: Merging Social Role And Self-Construal Perspectives, Crystal L. Hoyt, Terry L. Price

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

This research extends our understanding of ethical decision making on the part of leaders by merging social role and self-construal perspectives. Interdependent self-construal is generally seen as enhancing concern for justice and moral values. Across two studies we tested the prediction that non-leading group members’ interdependent self-construal would be associated with lower levels of unethical decision making on behalf of their group but that, in contrast, this relationship would be weaker for leaders, given their social role. These predictions were experimentally tested by assigning participants to the role of leader or non-leading group member and assessing the association between their …

Gender Bias In Leader Evaluations: Merging Implicit Theories And Role Congruity Perspectives, Crystal L. Hoyt, Jeni L. Burnette

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

This research extends our understanding of gender bias in leader evaluations by merging role congruity and implicit theory perspectives. We tested and found support for the prediction that the link between people’s attitudes regarding women in authority and their subsequent gender-biased leader evaluations is significantly stronger for entity theorists (those who believe attributes are fixed) relative to incremental theorists (those who believe attributes are malleable). In Study 1, 147 participants evaluated male and female gubernatorial candidates. Results supported predictions, demonstrating that traditional attitudes toward women in authority significantly predicted a pro-male gender bias in leader evaluations (and progressive attitudes predicted …

Inspirational Or Self-Deflating: The Role Of Self-Efficacy In Elite Role Model Effectiveness, Crystal L. Hoyt

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

This research examines the role of self-efficacy in women’s responses to elite leadership role models. Previous research on role models has been equivocal, demonstrating that the impact of social comparisons on the self is multifaceted. Using an experimental methodology, 102 female participants were presented with role models (elite, non-elite, control) before serving as the leader of an ostensible 3-person group. Findings revealed that women with low, as opposed to high, levels of leadership self-efficacy were less inspired by the highly successful role models and showed deflating contrast effects as demonstrated in their diminished identification with leadership, leadership aspirations, and leadership …

I Can Do That: The Impact Of Implicit Theories On Leadership Role Model Effectiveness, Crystal L. Hoyt, Jeni L. Burnette, Audrey N. Innella

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

This research investigates the role of implicit theories in influencing the effectiveness of successful role models in the leadership domain. Across two studies, we test the prediction that incremental theorists (‘leaders are made’) compared to entity theorists (‘leaders are born’) will respond more positively to being presented with a role model before undertaking a leadership task. In Study 1, measuring people’s naturally occurring implicit theories of leadership, we showed that after being primed with a role model, incremental theorists reported greater leadership confidence and less anxious-depressed affect than entity theorists following the leadership task. In Study 2, we demonstrated the …

Introduction: Leadership Ethics In Africa, Joanne B. Ciulla

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

The idea for this special issue originated at the inaugural conference of the Center for Leadership Ethics in Africa, at the University of Fort Hare. The articles do not cover all of the various countries in Africa, but they touch on some of the common themes and challenges of leadership across the continent. Moreover, this volume brings the voices and perspectives of African scholars into the ongoing conversation of leadership studies.

Ethics Effectiveness: The Nature Of Good Leadership, Joanne B. Ciulla

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

No abstract provided.

The Bathsheba Syndrome: When A Leader Fails, Donelson R. Forsyth

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

Another leader—no, an entire cadre of leaders—has been found to be a moral failure. Legal authorities have charged Jerry Sandusky, who retired as the defensive coordinator for the Penn State football team in 1999, with the sexual abuse of children who he targeted through his involvement in the charitable organization The Second Mile. Additionally, a number of other administrators and leaders at Penn State University—the university’s president Graham Spanier, vice-president Gary Schultz, athletic director Tim Curley and long-time football coach Joe Paterno—face charges or have been fired from the university because of their failure to take action when Sandusky’s crimes …

Female Leaders: Injurious Or Inspiring Role Models For Women?, Crystal L. Hoyt, Stefanie Simon

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

The impact of female role models on women’s leadership aspirations and self-perceptions after a leadership task were assessed across two laboratory studies. These studies tested the prediction that upward social comparisons to high-level female leaders will have a relatively detrimental impact on women’s self-perceptions and leadership aspirations compared to male and less elite female leaders. In Study 1 (N = 60), women were presented with both female and male leaders before serving as leaders of ostensible three-person groups in an immersive virtual environment. This study established the relatively deflating impact of high-level female leaders, compared to high-level male leaders and …

Leadership Ethics, Joanne B. Ciulla, Donelson R. Forsyth

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

A CEO bankrupts the company he is supposed to be leading. A retiree donates thousands of hours to her community. A company's leadership decides not to relocate a factory overseas, for the sake of the residents of an economically challenged town. A president of a club on a college campus encourages members to cheat on their examinations so that the group's members can earn academic honors. An elected public official arranges a tryst with a lover and abandons his duties for days on end.

These behaviors raise questions about motivation, rationality, and intent, but with a difference; these actions cannot …

Taking A Turn Toward The Masculine: The Impact Of Mortality Salience On Implicit Leadership Theories, Crystal L. Hoyt, Stefanie Simon, Audrey N. Innella

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

The present research investigates the influence of subtle death-related thoughts (i.e., mortality salience), on people’s images of effective leaders (i.e., their implicit leadership theories). We test the prediction that mortality salience will change the content of these implicit theories to be more gender stereotypical such that individuals will conceive of effective leaders in a significantly more masculine, or agentic, manner. To test this prediction, we assessed participants’ communal and agentic implicit leadership theories after they were presented with a mortality salience or control manipulation. Results show that priming individuals to think about their mortality with two open-ended questions resulted in …

Handmaiden And Queen: What Philosophers Find In The Question: "What Is A Leader?", Joanne B. Ciulla

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

The word “philosophy” was born when the Greek philosopher and mathematician Pythagoras of Samos (572-497 BC) was asked if he thought he was a wise man. He answered no, he was merely a lover of wisdom – a phileo sophia. The philosophers who came after him were not as humble. Since philosophy was the study of just about everything, they dubbed it the “queen of the sciences”. Philosophy reigned supreme until Christian times when the theologian Clement of Alexandria (150–215?AD) demoted philosophy from the “queen” of the sciences to the “handmaid of theology”. The Enlightenment philosopher John Locke (1632–1704) also …

The Jepson School: Liberal Arts As Leadership Studies, Joanne B. Ciulla

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

Around twenty years ago, I joined the faculty of the University of Richmond to help design the Jepson School of Leadership Studies.The easiest way to understand Jepson is as a liberal arts school with an explicit focus on the study of leadership. Our students take courses in history, philosophy, psychology, political science, and so on. These courses draw on the methodology and content of a discipline to understand leadership as a phenomenon and a practice. So as a school, we are multidisciplinary and some of our classes are interdisciplinary. By taking a liberal art approach to leadership studies, the Jepson …

Leadership And The More-Important-Than-Average Effect: Overestimation Of Group Goals And The Justification Of Unethical Behavior, Crystal L. Hoyt, Terry L. Price, Alyson E. Emrick

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

This research investigates the empirical assumptions behind the claim that leaders exaggerate the importance of their group’s goals more so than non-leaders and that they may use these beliefs to justify deviating from generally accepted moral requirements when doing so is necessary for goal achievement. We tested these biased thought processes across three studies. The results from these three studies established the more-important-than-average effect, both for real and illusory groups. Participants claimed that their group goals are more important than the goals of others, and this effect was stronger for leaders than for non-leading group members. In Study 3, …

Political Economy, Sandra J. Peart, David M. Levy

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

Political economy describes how human societies are organized by exchange. The critical issue for political economists is the interaction between self-directed decision making and the incentives that turn decisions into approved outcomes. In this interaction, political economists see a key role for leadership, a role that depends upon our common concern for others (Robbins, 1981). There are three roles, then, for leadership in the political economist’s model: self-directed decision making, incentive making, and establishing the criteria for approved outcomes.

Group Processes, Donelson R. Forsyth, Jeni Burnette

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

Social behavior is often group behavior. People are in many respects individuals seeking their personal, private objectives, yet they are also members of social collectives that bind members to one another. The tendency to join with others is perhaps the most important single characteristic of humans. The processes that take place within these groups influence, in fundamental ways, their members and society-at-large. Just as the dynamic processes that occur in groups--such as the exchange of information among members, leading and following, pressures put on members to adhere to the group's standards, shifts in friendship alliances, and conflict and collaboration-change the …

Groups And Teams, Crystal L. Hoyt, Donelson R. Forsyth

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

To understand leaders and leadership, one must understand groups and their dynamics. Leadership can occur across great distances, as when a leader influences followers who are distributed across differing contexts, but in many cases leadership occurs in an intact group that exists in a specific locale: Teams, boards, advisory councils, and classrooms arc all examples of groups that work toward shared goals with, in many cases, the help and guidance of a leader. Leadership can be considered a set of personality traits or a specific set of behaviors enacted by an individual, but an interpersonal, group-level conceptualization considers Ieadership to …

Political Traditions: Conservatism, Liberalism, And Civic Republicanism, Thad Williamson

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

How unequal authority and power can be justified is a central question of political theory and of leadership studies (Price & Hicks, 2006). Indeed, while in everyday language leadership is commonly viewed as a positive term and the word leader connotes respect, in some political vernaculars, the very idea of leadership is suspect, if not embarrassing. For instance, one of the most influential public intellectuals of the late 20th century, Noam Chomsky, consistently refers to leadership in disparaging way. In Chomsky's (2005) view, leadership is a code word intended to justify class rule, vastly unequal political and economic power, and …