Positive Leadership in Organizations

Positive Leadership in Organizations
Rolf Van Dick, Department of Social Psychology, Goethe University Frankfurt

and Lucas Monzani, University of Western Ontario, Ivey Business School
https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190236557.013.814
Published online: 19 November 2020
Summary
Positive leadership is a major domain of positive organizational scholarship. The adjective
“positive” applies to any leader behavioral pattern (style) that creates the conditions by
which organizational members can self-actualize, grow, and flourish at work. Some
examples of style are authentic, transformational, servant, ethical, leader–member
exchange, identity leadership, and the leader character model. Despite the myriad
constructive outcomes that relate to said positive leadership styles, positive leadership it
is not without its critics. The three main criticisms are that (a) the field is fragmented and
might suffer from conceptual redundancy, (b) extant research focuses on the individual
level of analysis and neglects reciprocal and cross-level effects, and (c) positive
leadership is naïve and not useful for managing organizations.
Our multilevel model of positive leadership in organizations proposes that leaders rely on
internalization and integration to incorporate meaningful life experiences and functional
social norms into their core self. Further, through self-awareness and introspection,
leaders discover and exercise their latent character strengths. In turn, positive leaders
influence followers through exemplary role modeling and in turn followers validate
leaders by adopting their attributes and self-determined behaviors. At the team level of
analysis, positive team leaders elevate workgroups into teams by four mechanisms that
shape a shared “sense of we,” and workgroup members legitimize positive leaders by
granting them a leader role identity and assuming follower role identities. Finally, at the
organizational level, organizational leaders can shape a virtuous culture by anchoring it
on universal virtues and through corporate social responsibility actions improve their
context. Alternatively, organizations can shape a virtuous culture through organizational
learning.
Keywords: positive leadership, character, multilevel model, positive social exchanges, identity
management, organizational learning
Introduction: What Is Positive Leadership?
The 21st century inaugurated a new way of understanding leadership (Dinh et al., 2014;
Luthans & Avolio, 2003; Monzani, Ripoll, & Peiro, 2012). More precisely, the academic
narrative on leadership moved beyond a purely dramaturgical view of leadership, where
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leaders are seen as charismatic heroes and followers as passive recipients of influence
(Gardner & Avolio, 1998). As a result of such a narrative shift, myriad new leadership theories
emerged.
Further, after such shift, the term “leadership” is frequently used to label an interactive
process of reciprocal influence where social actors (leaders, followers, and other
stakeholders) interact with each other and their context (Avolio & Gardner, 2005; Hannah,
Balthazard, Waldman, Jennings, & Thatcher, 2013; Haslam, Reicher, & Platow, 2020;
Hernandez, Eberly, Avolio, & Johnson, 2011; Meuser et al., 2016). Academia’s shift away from
leader-centric theories, models, and frameworks was partially driven by the general public’s
disappointment with how highly charismatic (yet also highly self-serving and narcissistic)
leaders took part and facilitated a series of scandals during the first decade of the 21st
century. Such scandals peaked during the Wall Street Crash of 2008 and the devastating
Great Recession that followed (Barling, Christie, & Turner, 2008; Gandz, Crossan, Seijts, &
Stephenson, 2010; Price, 2003).
In this article, the adjective “positive” derives from the insights that positive psychology
brought to the field of organizational behavior (Luthans & Youssef, 2007; Seligman &
Csikszentmihalyi, 2014). Positive psychology is a domain of psychology that is theoretically
anchored on classical Western and Eastern philosophical systems, and its primary aim is
helping individuals to self-actualize, grow, and flourish (Snyder & Lopez, 2002). After more
than 10 years since its inception, positive organizational scholarship is an established field of
academic inquiry, and positive leadership is one of its major domains of interest (Luthans &
Avolio, 2009).
One common characteristic of these new positive leadership theories, models, and
frameworks is that most share a moral component grounded in one or more classical virtue
ethics systems (Lemoine, Hartnell, & Leroy, 2019). Some examples include authentic
leadership (Gardner, Avolio, Luthans, May, & Walumbwa, 2005), ethical leadership (Brown,
Treviño, & Harrison, 2005), and servant leadership (Greenleaf, 1977; Liden, Wayne, Zhao, &
Henderson, 2008). “Positive leadership” is extended to those leadership theories, models, and
frameworks that aim to elevate followers, groups, and other organizational stakeholders and
foster organizational excellence, veritable organizational performance, and sustainable
processes and practices (Hernandez et al., 2011).
Positive leadership should matter for organizational stakeholders. For example, a line
manager can increase the quality and quantity of solutions that engineers create by building
and broadening psychological capital, meaning personal resources such as hope, optimism,
resilience, and efficacy (Avey, Avolio, & Luthans, 2011). Similarly, project managers can
elevate their team’s functioning by clarifying the group’s goals and processes (Hu & Liden,
2011), promoting a shared identity and “sense of us” (Steffens et al., 2014), and creating
collective affective states (positive work climate; Woolley, Caza, & Levy, 2010). Similarly, at
the upper echelons of a firm, positive leaders can use their authority to drive financial
performance in a socially responsible way (De Hoogh & Den Hartog, 2008; Skubinn,
Buengeler, & Schank, 2019). These are just some illustrations of the myriad outcomes that
positive leadership has for followers, teams, organizations, and even society.
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In order to understand positive leadership in organizations, an integrative effort is necessary
(Meuser et al., 2016). Further, in order to provide a meaningful contribution to the leadership
field so that it moves beyond the study of interpersonal influence, such integration should be
horizontal (i.e., providing enough breath and coverage regarding research in positive
leadership models) as well as vertical, meaning that it captures mechanisms that span across
multiple levels of analysis (Yammarino, Dionne, Chun, & Dansereau, 2005). Thus, an
integrative multilevel approach to theorizing on positive leadership in organizations would
provide scholars with an account of how positive leaders extend their influence beyond a close
collaborator (e.g., a follower), but also beyond teams and the organization. More importantly,
it should capture those social forces and influences that facilitate or hinder leader(ship)
emergence and development.
The article is structured as follows. First, instead of trying to cover the existing research on
every positive leadership style (Zhao & Li, 2019), we abstract three core assumptions that
generalize across positive leadership models. Then, we follow a suggestion by Hernandez et
al. (2011) to explore the different sources (loci), transmission mechanisms, and recipients of
positive leadership at multiple levels of analysis (see Figure 1; Skubinn et al., 2019;
Yammarino et al., 2005). Finally, we discuss critiques to positive leadership, attempting to
answer their concerns, and its implication for research and practice.
Figure 1. An integrative multilevel model of positive leadership in organizations.
Figure 1 can be interpreted as follows. First, the vertical axis captures levels of analysis
(individual, group, and organization), whereas the horizontal axis captures the relations
between leaders and different organizational actors. Second, reciprocal same-level effects are
illustrated at the center of Figure 1, capturing the influence mechanisms between leaders and
different organizational actors. Finally, cross-level mechanisms (either top-down or bottom-up)
are illustrated following logic of “feed-forward” and “feed-back” loops according to Crossan,
Lane, and White (1999). More precisely, the mechanisms by which leaders extend their
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influence into different organizational actors are operationalized as feed-forward loops (value
congruence, similarity, institutionalizing) and the mechanisms by which the social context
influence leaders (onboarding and socialization, integration, and internalization) are captured
as feed-back loops.
Core Assumptions Across Positive Leadership Theories, Models, and

Frameworks
Three core assumptions seem to generalize across positive leadership theories, models, and
frameworks. The first core assumption is that individuals internalize and organize their life
experiences into a structure of the mind, which is called “The Self” by cognitive and
humanistic psychologists (Ryan & Deci, 2002). The Self is “a knowledge structure that helps
people organize and give meaning to memory and behavior” (van Knippenberg, van
Knippenberg, De Cremer, & Hogg, 2004, p. 827). Thus, self-oriented cognitive processes and
adaptive behavioral scripts (e.g., self-awareness and self-regulation, respectively) are core
elements of mainstream positive leadership theories, such as authentic and servant leadership
(Gardner et al., 2005; van Dierendonck, 2010).
The second overarching assumption is that humans are gregarious by nature. People seek to
flourish and thrive by collaborating with others, rather than by exploiting others’ weaknesses.
This homo socialis perspective is at odds with the homo economicus view, which is a core
assumption in behavioral economics that understands humans as mere “rational maximizers
of individual profit” (Gintis & Helbing, 2015; Gluth & Fontanesi, 2016). The gregariousness
assumption is a fundamental theoretical for relational approaches to positive leadership, such
as the Social Identity Model Of Leadership, (Hogg, 2001a) and Identity Leadership (Steffens
et al., 2014; van Dick et al., 2018).
Similarly, a third overarching assumption refers to the nature of organizations. Most positive
leadership theories understand organizations as something more than “shareholder profit-
maximizing” entities (van Dierendonck, 2010). In other words, employees tend to expect more
than a paycheck in exchange for their sustained commitment. Positive leadership styles such
as transformational (Bass, 1985), responsible (van Quaquebeke & Eckloff, 2010; Waldman &
Siegel, 2008), and meaningful leadership (van Knippenberg, 2020) explicitly depict
organizations as entities with purpose, such as being a valuable actor of the societies in which
they operate.
Loci, Mechanisms, and Recipients of Positive Self-Leadership
The sources (loci) of positive self-leadership can be internal or external. The primary recipient
of positive self-leadership is the leader. Self-awareness is the transmission mechanism for the
internal sources of self-leadership, whereas internalization and integration are the two
transmission mechanisms for external sources of positive self-leadership. Internalization
refers to the process of transforming external regulations into internal regulations, whereas
integration refers to the process of incorporating such regulations into one’s sense of self
(Deci, Eghrari, Patrick, & Leone, 1994).
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The internal sources of positive self-leadership are genetically inherited traits (De Neve,
Mikhaylov, Christakis, & Fowler, 2013; Zaccaro, 2007). Several meta-analyses show that
intelligence (Antonakis, House, & Simonton, 2017; Lord, de Vader, & Alliger, 1986) and stable
personality traits are predictors of transformational leadership (Bono & Judge, 2004; Judge,
Piccolo, & Kosalka, 2009). Thus, by engaging in self-aware introspection, individuals can
discover their dormant character strengths and start exercising them (Crossan et al., 2017).
In turn, self-awareness enables individuals to voluntarily self-determine their behavior (Kernis,
2003; Kernis & Goldman, 2006). As stated in Henley’s poem, positive self-leadership starts by
becoming “the captain of one’s soul” (i.e., displaying self-determined behaviors).
Being part of a group with functional social norms and experiencing meaningful life
experiences (crucible moments; Byrne, Crossan, & Seijts, 2018) are the external sources of
positive self-leadership. According to Self-Determination Theory (SDT), as individuals grow,
they internalize any external behavioral regulation that contributes to fulfill three
psychological needs. Further, such regulations are and integrated into their selves by
abstracting their context and recasting them as personal values (Hitlin, 2003). For example,
the norms of the social context in which an individual operates might prescribe
compassionately helping a stranger in need. Thus, if every time the opportunity of being
compassionate appears said individual follows the social norm, such behavioral regulation will
eventually be abstracted and integrated into the self as the character element of
“compassion” and stored under the category of “humanity” (Crossan et al., 2017). Once
integrated into the self, character elements such as “compassion” and dimensions such as
“humanity” become the standards by which said individual will examine his or her behaviors,
and consequently use such information to self-regulate his or her behavior (Ryan & Deci,
2002). The more self-aware individuals are about their character strengths, core values, and
integrated regulations, the more that their behavior will be self-determined (as opposed to
being externally determined by someone else or a social structure).
Regarding the outcomes of positive self-leadership, SDT claims that self-determination is a

source of both hedonic and eudaemonic happiness in general (Ryan & Deci, 2001). For those
engaging in self-leadership when in a leadership role, constructive and self-determined
behaviors predict eudemonic outcomes, such as subjective and physical well-being (Kaluza,
Boer, Buengeler, & van Dick, 2020).
Loci, Mechanisms, and Recipients of Positive Dyadic Leadership
As in any other dyadic relation, leaders and followers are simultaneously sources and
recipients of positive dyadic leadership. However, its transmission mechanisms might vary
depending on the level of analysis and temporal moment of the dyadic exchange. More
precisely, at the dyadic level, the primary transmission mechanism is a positive social
exchange between leader and follower (Ilies, Morgeson, & Nahrgang, 2005). Positive social
exchanges refer to the high-quality exchanges explained by Leader-Member Exchange Theory
(LMX; Graen & Uhl-Bien, 1995).
Leaders’ exemplary role modeling and followers’ identification are the two major transmission
mechanisms of positive dyadic leadership. Exemplary role modeling is a mechanism by which
leaders influence followers to achieve higher levels of self-determined behavior at earlier
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1
stages of the positive social exchange. More precisely, by becoming behavioral exemplars,
leaders invite followers to examine introspectively their character, their core values, and
existing behavioral regulations (character contagion).
Followers can also be the source of positive dyadic leadership, by displaying behaviors such as
“taking charge of work” (Xu, Loi, Cai, & Liden, 2019). “Taking charge of work” captures
behaviors such as delivering work on time and proactively improving procedures. By
displaying such behaviors, followers signal leaders that they are trustworthy, loyal, and
professional. Thus, followers can use exemplary role modeling to elicit self-determined
behaviors in their leaders.
As the positive social exchange matures, followers will likely start seeing their leaders as
identification targets (and vice versa), triggering a personal identification process. Personal
identification refers to “a process by which individuals realize cognitive overlap between the
self and others over time in a relationship” (Humberd & Rouse, 2016, p. 427). Given that role
modeling is accepted as a marker of identification (Gibson, 2004), leaders who act as
exemplary models will elicit followers’ personal identification, kick-starting in turn, the
internalization and integration processes by which individuals incorporate the positive
characteristics, values, and behaviors of their relevant others at work (Avolio, Gardner,
Walumbwa, Luthans, & May, 2004). Such identification, in turn, will validate leaders and
signal that they attained legitimacy as exemplars in their follower’s eyes.
Extant research shows that displaying leader self-determined behaviors like the behaviors
prescribed by authentic (Walumbwa, Avolio, Gardner, Wernsing, & Peterson, 2008),
transformational (Bass & Avolio, 1994), ethical (Brown et al., 2005), servant (Liden et al.,
2008), and identity leadership (Steffens et al., 2014) predict LMX quality, at least when
measured by followers’ reports (Banks, McCauley, Gardner, & Guler, 2016; Eva, Robin,
Sendjaya, van Dierendonck, & Liden, 2019; Hoch, Bommer, Dulebohn, & Wu, 2018; van Dick
et al., 2018). In turn, LMX quality, as a type of positive social exchange, has been extensively
reported as a predictor of follower outcomes, such as increased in-role and extra-role
performance, constructive attitudes and psychological states (commitment, justice,
psychological capital), reduced role conflict, turnover, and so forth (Dulebohn, Bommer, Liden,
Brouer, & Ferris, 2012; Gerstner & Day, 1997; Ilies, Nahrgang, & Morgeson, 2007; Martin,
Guillaume, Thomas, Lee, & Epitropaki, 2016; Rockstuhl, Dulebohn, Ang, & Shore, 2012;
Schriesheim, Castro, & Cogliser, 1999). Indeed, Gottfredson and Aguinis (2017) in their
“meta–meta”-analysis of 35 meta-analyses with more than 3,000 studies and one million
participants confirms that LMX is the key mediator that translates all leadership behaviors
(consideration, initiating structure, transformational) into performance and Organizational
Citizenship Behaviors (OCB).
Finally, positive dyadic leadership has been linked to several followers’ well-being criteria
(hedonic, eudaemonic, and even physical well-being; for a comprehensive review, see
Inceoglu, Thomas, Chu, Plans, & Gerbasi, 2018). For example, positive dyadic leadership
elicits hedonic outcomes (e.g., job satisfaction and satisfaction with the leader) as well as
eudaemonic outcomes, such as increased feelings of self-determination and self-esteem
through the fulfillment of psychological needs (Ilies et al., 2005; Leroy, Anseel, Gardner, &
Sels, 2015). Further, there is accumulating evidence on how positive leadership styles such as
authentic (Banks et al., 2016), transformational (Hobman, Jackson, Jimmieson, & Martin,
2011), and identity leadership reduce followers’ emotional exhaustion and burnout, either
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directly (Banks et al., 2016; van Dick et al., 2018) or through a decrease in frequency of
deviant behaviors in their followers (e.g., workplace bullying; Escartín, Monzani, Leong, &
Rodríguez-Carballeira, 2017).
Loci, Mechanisms, and Recipients of Positive Team Leadership
The two sources (locus) of positive team leadership are a social group (team) and any person
who provides direction to said social group (i.e., the team’s leader(s)). The main recipient of
positive team leadership is the workgroup. Our review identified two transmission
mechanisms, as captured by the leader identity model and the (social) identity management
model (DeRue & Ashford, 2010), with two (assuming and granting) and four subprocesses
(identity prototypicality, entrepreneurship, advancement, impresarioship), respectively.
Positive dyadic leadership shapes positive team leadership because individuals tend to
gravitate toward and “band with” other individuals who share similar characteristics and
congruent values (McPherson, Smith-Lovin, & Cook, 2001). Thus, if a team leader has been
adequately socialized into a virtuous organizational culture, that team leader can shape the
collective character of the team for which they provide leadership. Alternatively, if the values
comprised in their organization’s culture are not virtuous, positive team leaders could draw
from their personal values to shape the collective character of the team they lead. Yet, how
can a group determine who will lead and who will follow when there is not a clear candidate
leading the team?
The leader identity model of DeRue and Ashford (2010) provides a parsimonious explanation
of how a group of individuals construct their leader and follower identities, respectively. These
authors claim that leader and follower identities emerge from a two-phase, social construction
process, consisting of the “claiming” and “granting” of leadership. This model aims to explain
why some leaders might lack legitimacy, even when occupying a leadership position within a
firm’s hierarchy. In the first stage of the claiming-granting process, aspirational leaders claim
the leadership of a social group. Then, the group decides whether to grant or decline
leadership to said leader. Alternatively, a social group can grant their followership to a given
individual, even if he or she didn’t make a claim for informal leadership, and it is said
individual who decides if he or she “will lead” or not. As the main outcome of this process, the
role identities of the group members are actualized, validating leaders and followers’
identities by the group. In turn, leaders gain group-level legitimacy. Yet, this model still does
not explain how leaders can leverage the group’s shared identity to elevate a group of
individuals into an effective workgroup or team. Fortunately, recent advances in social identity
approaches to leadership can cover such a conceptual gap in the model of DeRue and Ashford
(2010).
The second transmission mechanism of positive team leadership can be best explained with a
recent extension to the Social Identity Model of Leadership (Haslam et al., 2020; Steffens et
al., 2014). The first subprocess of such identity leadership has been termed “prototypicality,”
and it refers to embodying the norms, beliefs, and behaviors of the workgroup (“being one of
us”). In this regard, research based on the social identity model of leadership, which focuses
on leader prototypicality, found that those who embody the characteristics of the shared
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mental representation of the social group are more likely to emerge as leaders (Hogg, 2001b;
van Knippenberg & Hogg, 2003) and also are more effective (Barreto & Hogg, 2017). Such
findings align with the claiming-granting process proposed by DeRue and Ashford (2010).
Identity leadership behaviors are a positive form of leadership because they elevate the
functioning of a group of individuals by creating a collective awareness of their shared
similarities, collective interests, and strengths as relative to the strengths of other groups.
Despite the importance of leader prototypicality to elevate a group’s functioning, leaders need
to not only represent the groups they want to lead but also actively shape and manage the
identities of those groups (van Dick et al., 2018). In short, Haslam et al. (2020) proposed three
additional identity leadership dimensions. First, identity entrepreneurship captures those
identity leadership behaviors aimed at shaping or actualizing the shared identity of the team
(“crafting a sense of us”). Second, identity advancement refers to taking action to facilitate
the attainment of group goals (“doing it for us”). Third, identity impresarioship refers to
behaviors aimed at enhancing the standing of the group in front of other groups (“making us
matter”), such as developing structures, events, and activities that give weight to the group
existence and embed a shared understanding, coordination, and so forth (e.g., group
processes and emerging states).
While research on identity leadership is still in its infancy, early findings suggest that identity
leadership dimensions are associated with team members’ self-esteem, perceived team
support, and work engagement, with significant standardized coefficients ranging from β = .
27 to β = .53. A study revealed that identity leadership also relates to outcomes that facilitate
team functioning, such as team identification (van Dick et al., 2018). While there are yet little
or no multilevel studies on identity leadership, based on prior findings, it seems plausible that
identity leadership will predict a team’s emerging states (e.g., positive work climate) and
other outcomes that contribute to their overall team effectiveness (group potency, cohesion,
etc.).
Loci, Mechanisms, and Recipients of Positive Organizational Leadership
Positive organizational leadership captures the effort of positive leaders to manage their
organization’s culture so that it remains anchored on virtuous, universal values (as opposed to
toxic or non-virtuous values). Thus, the primary recipient of positive organizational leadership
is an organization’s culture, and its main outcomes concern organizational stakeholders and
society at large. The two main transmission mechanisms of positive organizational leadership
are organizational learning (Crossan et al., 1999) and corporate social responsibility (Aguinis,
2011). Whereas organizational learning is inward-looking (directed at organizational
members), corporate social responsibility is outward-looking (directed at society).
An organization’s culture might be virtuous or not, depending on what values and behaviors
are promoted by leaders at the upper echelons of a firm and rewarded by the organization.
One of the most well-accepted definitions of organizational culture is
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a pattern of basic assumptions that a given group has invented, discovered, or developed in
learning to cope with its problems of external adaptation and internal integration, and which
is that have worked well enough to be considered valid, and, therefore, to be taught to new
members as the correct way to perceive, think and feel in relation to those problems.
(Schein, 1984, p. 3)
Schein’s definition of culture implies the notion of institutionalization as a cross-level process

by which workgroups generalize and abstract their experiential insights and learnings. Once
abstracted to the general principle level, such knowledge can be communicated to other
members and applied into different situations (Crossan et al., 1999). Thus, in the same way
that the Self is a repository of knowledge that hosts an individual’s character, an
organization’s culture is the organizational-level repository that captures a firm’s collective
character.
Organizational character matters beyond its impact on organizational financial performance

(Di Milia & Birdi, 2010; García-Morales, Jiménez-Barrionuevo, & Gutiérrez-Gutiérrez, 2012).
The values and social norms incorporated into an organization’s culture will trickle down into
social norms by socialization processes such as newcomer onboarding (Bauer & Erdogan,
2011), and eventually internalize and integrate into organizational members’ selves. Thus,
ensuring that organization’s culture is also anchored on virtuous universal values should be a
priority for positive leaders. Surprisingly, despite the importance of organizational culture,
there is little systematic research exploring how positive leaders contribute to shaping a
virtuous culture (some noteworthy exceptions are Liden, Wayne, Liao, & Meuser, 2014;
Sarros, Cooper, & Santora, 2008; Toor & Ofori, 2009; Wu, Kwan, Yim, Chiu, & He, 2015;
Xenikou & Simosi, 2006).
Corporate social responsibility is a mechanism by which organizations can positively influence

the broader context in which they operate. Corporate social responsibility can be
conceptualized as “context-specific organizational actions and policies that take into account
stakeholders’ expectations and the triple bottom line of economic, social, and environmental
performance” (Aguinis, 2011, p. 855; Wu et al., 2015).
In the same way that positive social exchanges enhance both leaders and followers, corporate
social responsibility provides not only the social context but also societal legitimacy for the
organization, but it also has been strongly related to veritable financial outcomes (Busch &
Friede, 2018; Orlitzky, Schmidt, & Rynes, 2003) and sustainable business practices (Orlitzky,
Siegel, & Waldman, 2011). Positive leadership behaviors such as those prescribed by ethical
leadership and transformational leadership have been shown to predict corporate social
responsibility initiatives, and in some studies, the existence of a constructive culture grounded
on universal values mediated such relationship (Groves & LaRocca, 2011; Wu et al., 2015).
Global Positive Leadership: Leadership Principles Across Cultures
A major criticism to extant leadership research is that its mainstream theories are U.S.-centric
(Hofstede, 1980). Thus, the behavioral prescriptions that apply to U.S. leaders might not
necessarily apply to leaders in those societies who uphold substantially diverse cultural
values. Such misfit is even greater for those regional alliances among emerging countries with
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diverse cultural values, such as the BRIC states (Brazil, Russia, India and China; Kingah &
Quiliconi, 2016). Prescribing a specific set of leader behaviors might then not be the best
approach to foster global positive leadership, as what is acceptable in some cultures might not
be acceptable in others. Thus, how would a positive leadership model then generalize to non-
Western cultures?
Interestingly, cross-cultural psychological research found a common ground to theorize about

positive global leadership. Despite the regional variations in cultural norms, certain values
and principles seem to be universally endorsed (Peterson & Seligman, 2004; Schwartz, 1992).
For example, there is a substantive overlap between the six cardinal virtues prescribed in
Aristotelian and Confucian virtue ethics: mainly Courage, Temperance, Justice, Humanity,
Integrity (understood as Truthfulness), and Prudence (understood as Practical Wisdom or
Judgment) (see Crossan et al., 2017; Hackett & Wang, 2012). Similarly, the virtues of
Humanity and Transcendence appear as underlying the cultural dimensions identified by the
GLOBE study (Humane and Future orientation, respectively; House, Javidan, & Dorfman,
2001). We claim that these virtues are foundational for studies on positive global leadership.
Moving on to more specific positive leadership behaviors, another early finding of the GLOBE
project was that the attributes describing transformational leadership tend to be culturally
endorsed as indicators of outstanding leadership (Den Hartog et al., 1999). To a lesser extent,
something similar occurred for both authentic and servant leadership behaviors (van
Dierendonck et al., 2014; Walumbwa et al., 2008). Finally, a cross-cultural study involving
more than 20 countries revealed that identity leadership generalizes across major cultural
clusters and explains variance above and beyond other positive leadership styles (authentic,
transformational, and LMX) on constructive follower outcomes at the individual level (trust,
satisfaction, innovation).
Virtuous universal values are a critical component of the present model, as said universal
values are the cultural source of constructive leadership principles, and thus, the hallmark of
a virtuous organizational culture. The present model claims that through the cross-level
mechanism of socialization, those behaviors rewarded and reinforced by a virtuous culture
will eventually trickle down to social groups with the organization (e.g., teams). Further,
virtuous social norms will be eventually integrated and internalized to their leader’s self. The
present model also acknowledges that both positive leaders and their followers are not mere
passive recipients of contextual influence. Both leader and followers have individual and
collective agency (and the moral duty) to resist the influence of either a toxic organizational
culture or a national culture that rewards norms and behaviors that do not align with said
universal values.
Critiques to Positive Leadership
Despite the growing evidence suggesting that positive leadership matters for organizations
and their stakeholders, this domain of positive organizational behavior is not without its
detractors. There are three main criticisms. The first criticism is aimed at leadership research
in general, and has been termed the “I like my leader” effect (Yammarino, Cheong, Kim, &
Tsai, 2020), which seems a variation of the “romance of leadership” effect (Meindl, Ehrlich, &
Dukerich, 1985). The second criticism is the “old wine in new bottles” argument (Banks,
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Gooty, Ross, Williams, & Harrington, 2018; Banks et al., 2016). Finally, the third and hardest
criticism depicts positive leadership as “naïve” and irrelevant for the study of organizational
management.
The “I like my leader” effect refers to the notion that at the end of the day, what (positive)
leaders do doesn’t directly matter if their collaborators like them, “liking” being a general
leadership factor, analog to how general cognitive ability is taken as a general factor
underlying the different aspects of human intelligence (Yammarino et al., 2020). This idea is
not new, given that nearly 40 years ago, Meindl et al. (1985) showed empirical evidence that
the followers of charismatic leaders tend to distort their objective assessments and
attributions of “what leaders do, what they are able to accomplish, and the general effects
they have on our lives” (p. 76). Such distortions might explain why certain followers are
willing to endorse leaders who are incompetent, narcissistic, and highly populist, even after
being presented with undeniable evidence of their unethical behavior within a formal
leadership role (Monzani, 2018).
The “I like my leader” effect also appears in other non-charismatic positive forms of
leadership. For example, a recent study exploring the leader character of populist leaders of
three Anglo-Saxon countries (e.g., Trump, Johnson, and Trudeau) reported that those voters
who have a strong populist attitude tend to agree less with the idea that strength of character
is essential to the role of a prime minister or president (Seijts & de Clercy, 2020). Not
surprisingly, this effect was more substantial for Trump voters. Similarly, research on identity
leadership revealed that followers are willing to omit breaches in procedural justice and the
failure to attain goals of those leaders who are seen as representative of the groups they lead
(Giessner & van Knippenberg, 2008; Ullrich & van Dick, 2009). While the “I like my boss”
effect might be a real issue in the study of leadership, Yammarino et al. (2005; Yammarino et
al., 2020) recommend that to prevent such a “halo effect,” the study of (positive) leadership
should abandon the still prevailing leader-centric focus and adopt a multilevel perspective.
The model introduced in this article attempts to heed such call while still acknowledging that
in the same way that positive leaders can influence followers, groups, and the organization,
such social groups and structures can influence the positive leaders as well.
The second critique of the study of positive leadership regards its originality. More precisely,
many critics claim that there are empirical and theoretical overlaps (Banks et al., 2018) across
the different positive leadership models and their psychometric measures (e.g., the measures
for the full range theory and the measures for authentic leadership), suggesting conceptual
redundancy (Banks et al., 2016; Cooper et al., 2005; Hoch et al., 2018). Similarly, a network
analysis of more than 66 leadership theories revealed that certain leadership models
theoretically tend to “band together,” forming “conceptual clusters” (Meuser et al., 2016); or
in other words, there is a conceptual redundancy that spans across the myriad mainstream
leadership styles, not just positive leadership.
To address such “old wine in new bottles” critique, we echo scholars’ suggestion that
leadership research should move toward a more holistic and integrative theorizing (Avolio,
2007) and use diverse measurement efforts (Palanski et al., 2019). Our review revealed that
some leadership frameworks are moving toward such integration. For example, the work by
Crossan et al. (2017) acknowledges that to be effective, leaders need to develop 11
dimensions of character and use them as guiding principles of leaders’ behavior and decision-
Page 11 of 23
making processes. Similarly, the leader character-competence entanglement model (Sturm,
Vera, & Crossan, 2017) acknowledges that neither leader character nor leader competencies
alone are enough to ensure sustained leader effectiveness. However, as its name suggests, the
leader character model (Crossan et al., 2017) is still highly leader-centric and could benefit
from an extension to the group and organizational levels. This article attempts such extension
by proposing group-level and organizational-level manifestations of character as well as
suggesting cross-level processes that facilitate its emergence within social collectives that
occur in contemporary organizations.
Finally, a more recent critique is that positive leadership is inherently “naïve.” For example,
Alvesson and Einola (2019) depict a positive leader as a “Disneyland-inspired good leader” (p.
383) that is “unhelpful in organizational practice” (p. 384). Not surprisingly, Alvesson and
Einola (2019) recommend abandoning the study of positive leadership in favor of the struggle
of ideals, focusing on followers and leaders’ relations and the study of the self. Further, these
authors call for investigations about cultures, social practices, and societal changes (p. 394).
The perspective of this article regarding the critique by Alvesson and Einola (2019) is that
while such criticism might be inspiring new research indeed, these and other critics of
positive leadership still fail to provide a compelling alternative to the usual call for embracing
social, historical, and structural determinisms in disfavor of any individual agency aimed at
overcoming the oppressive systemic forces that lead to record levels of social inequality
worldwide in the 21st century. Instead, the positive leadership model introduced in this article
attempts to illustrate that it is still possible to develop a theoretically sound, multilevel model
on positive leadership that extends above and beyond interpersonal influence and answers
such calls without neglecting the agency that positive leaders have in shaping a better work
environment where their followers, their teams, and even the organizations they lead can
reach an optimal functioning level.
Whereas the conversation with such caustic critics of positive leadership is unlikely to be
settled in this article, it is essential to signal readers that such critiques derive from
incompatible core assumptions about human nature. Alvesson and Einola (2019) seem to
assume, as do many other critics of positive leadership, that humans are mere homo
economicus. That is, they are individuals whose behavior can be reduced to the alternating
effect of “carrots” (rewards) and “sticks” (punishments) that minimizes deviations from
established policies and procedures, regardless of whether such norms elevate or diminish
them by alienating, and eventually dehumanizing, them. However, the model introduced in
this article assumes that the true potential of human nature lies in its altruism, its
gregariousness, and its agency over said determinisms. In other words, humans’ behavior in
organizations is driven by larger sense of purpose than collecting and spending paychecks
from the cradle to the grave.
Implications for Research and Practice
The model of positive leadership in organizations introduced in this article has two clear
implications for research and practice. The first implication is regarding what confers the
“positive” attribute to a leadership theory, framework, or model. For leadership to be positive,
its assumptions and predictions must reflect a deep concern for humans working in
contemporary organizations. Thus, leaders aspiring toward a humanistic management might
Page 12 of 23
consider refocusing their approaches so that the maximization of shareholder profit becomes
subordinate to the welfare of their organizations’ people. Future development efforts could
use the present model as a roadmap to help leaders broaden their view on the human aspect
of organizational life. To be regarded as such, positive leaders are accountable of (re)shaping
a sustainable environment in their organizations so that their members find meaning, thrive,
and flourish. Thus, the ultimate mandate of positive organizational leaders is “doing well by
doing good.”
The second implication of the present model is that positive leadership is a dynamic construct.
Even the most virtuous and positive leader can be eventually suffer a “character erosion” if he
or she must operate continuously within an organization whose culture rewards toxic
performance (i.e., “winning at any cost”), or that lacks the proper institutional checks and
balances to limit the power of their leaders (Monzani, 2018; Sturm & Monzani, 2017).
Similarly, the present model acknowledges leadership as a multi-actor, relational process.
Thus, while “the bucket still stops at the top,” workgroups and individual followers share
some form of accountability in ensuring that their leaders do not abuse their authority. In
other words, workgroups and even followers also have true power (and a true responsibility)
to remove their “granting” of leadership to those leaders who abuse their power after
“assuming the mantle.” In this way, followers and workgroups can ensure their leaders’
behavior remains positive and virtuous.
Concluding Remarks
The model presented in this article aims to help future leaders to embrace a more humanistic
view of leadership in organizations. While we acknowledge the importance that leaders’
behaviors have in eliciting positive outcomes for followers, workgroups, and their
organizations, this article proposes a more integrative and democratic view of positive
leadership. In other words, in the same way that “it takes a village to raise a child,” it takes an
organization to ensure that positive leadership in organizations is exercised and sustained.
A comedian once stated: “Our knowledge has made us cynical; our cleverness, hard and
unkind; we think too much, and feel too little; more than machinery, we need humanity; more
that cleverness, we need kindness and gentleness; without these qualities life will be violent,
and all will be lost.” The present work provides researchers and practitioners with a way to
develop such qualities in the hope of promoting more humane leadership in organizations.
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other authors such as Luthans and colleagues have used the term “exemplary role modeling.”
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Positive Leadership in Organizations

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Positive Leadership in Organizations

Rolf Van Dick, Department of Social Psychology, Goethe University Frankfurt

Introduction: What Is Positive Leadership?

Figure 1. An integrative multilevel model of positive leadership in organizations.

Core Assumptions Across Positive Leadership Theories, Models, and

Loci, Mechanisms, and Recipients of Positive Self-Leadership

Regarding the outcomes of positive self-leadership, SDT claims that self-determination is a

Loci, Mechanisms, and Recipients of Positive Dyadic Leadership

Loci, Mechanisms, and Recipients of Positive Team Leadership

Loci, Mechanisms, and Recipients of Positive Organizational Leadership

Schein’s definition of culture implies the notion of institutionalization as a cross-level process

Organizational character matters beyond its impact on organizational financial performance

Corporate social responsibility is a mechanism by which organizations can positively influence

Global Positive Leadership: Leadership Principles Across Cultures

Interestingly, cross-cultural psychological research found a common ground to theorize about

Critiques to Positive Leadership

Implications for Research and Practice

Avolio, B. J. (2007). Promoting more integrative strategies for leadership theory-

García-Morales, V. J., Jiménez-Barrionuevo, M. M., & Gutiérrez-Gutiérrez, L. (2012).

Gardner, W. L., & Avolio, B. J. (1998). The charismatic relationship: A dramaturgical

Graen, G. B., & Uhl-Bien, M. (1995). Relationship-based approach to leadership: Development of

Hofstede, G. (1980). Motivation, leadership, and organization: Do American theories apply

Hogg, M. A. (2001a). A social identity theory of leadership <https://doi.org/10.1207/

Kernis, M. H. (2003). Toward a conceptualization of optimal self-esteem <https://doi.org/

Kernis, M. H., & Goldman, B. M. (2006). A multicomponent conceptualization of authenticity:

Luthans, F., & Avolio, B. J. (2003). Authentic leadership development. In K. S. Cameron, J. E.

Monzani, L. (2018). A model for positive leadership in Argentinean firms <https://doi.org/

Price, T. L. (2003). The ethics of authentic transformational leadership <https://doi.org/10.1016/

Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2002). Overview of self-determination theory: An organismic-

Schein, E. H. (1984). Coming to a new awareness of organizational culture. Sloan Management

Seligman, M. E. P., & Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2014). Positive psychology: An introduction <https://

van Dierendonck, D. (2010). Servant leadership: A review and synthesis <https://doi.org/

van Knippenberg, D. (2020). Meaning-based leadership <https://doi.org/

Zaccaro, S. J. (2007). Trait-based perspectives of leadership <http://psycnet.apa.org/doi/

Zhao, H., & Li, C. (2019). A computerized approach to understanding leadership

Organizational Climate and Culture

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