The Influence of Followers on the Leadership Effectiveness of Clinical Research Leaders

Lack of competent followers in the leadership process may result in a disengaged workforce and diminished organizational growth. In the contemporary business environment, some leaders fail to recognize and engage competent followers in the leadership process. Grounded in the situational leadership and followership theories, the purpose of this quantitative correlational study was to examine the relationship among follower active engagement (AE), follower independent, critical thinking (ICT), and the dimensions of leadership effectiveness (LE) to engage competent followers. The participants (N = 52) completed 2 online questionnaires: Leader Behavior Analysis II Other Questionnaire and Kelley’s Follower Questionnaire. The linear regression analysis results indicated the full model, containing 2 predictor variables (Follower AE; Follower ICT), was not significant in predicting the outcome variable, LE, to engage competent followers, F(2, 49) = .036, p = .964, R2 = .001. Leaders must analyze work environments and understand which followers present barriers to achieve organizational goals and fail to provide the leader with critical information. The implications for positive social change include the potential for clinical research leaders to self-assess their leadership and evaluate followers\u27 impact in delivering clinical research to local communities