Searching for the Wellspring of Leading Change: Leader Self-efficacy in Organizations

Many organizations are increasingly looking to managers to drive change and continuous improvement within their units. This research project develops and tests a leadership model that focuses on the source of a manager\u27s motivation for stepping forward and attempting to lead change. The new construct of leadership self-efficacy (LSE) is defined and featured as the key variable in the model. Three dimensions of LSE are proposed: direction-setting, gaining followers\u27 commitment, and overcoming obstacles to change. Based on provisions of Bandura\u27s (1986) social cognitive theory, the primary hypothesis is that managers higher in LSE will be seen by others in the work environment as engaging in more attempts at leading change. Relationships are also proposed between LSE and several individual, interpersonal, and organizational factors that are expected to influence this confidence judgment. The correlation results provided support for the relationship between the first two dimensions of LSE and managers\u27 leadership attempts, as rated by direct reports. A moderator effect for organizational commitment was found for the relationship between the third dimension, overcoming obstacles, and leadership attempts. In addition, several significant relationships were found between LSE and its proposed antecedents, including trait self-esteem, subordinates\u27 cynicism about organizational change initiatives, and managers\u27 job autonomy. Implications for theory, organizational implications, and several ideas for future research are discussed in the final chapter