For Good and for Bad: The Distinctive Effects of Successors’ Leadership On Collective Engagement and Organizational Performance

Speaker

Katherine Klein

Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania

Abstract

Organizational succession - the transition from one leader on top to the next - is a fact of organizational life. Do successors spark change in the collective engagement of the workforce – change that shifts organizational performance in succession’s wake? Building on change readiness theory, we argue that employees’ shared perception of their organization’s need for change conditions the effects of successors’ vision communication and coaching on collective engagement. Building on uncertainty management theory, we argue that leading as a successor is distinctive – that successors’ vision communication and coaching drive greater change than incumbents’ vision communication and coaching do. The results of our quasi-experimental, longitudinal study of principal succession in a sample of 113 U.S. elementary schools support our predictions describing the impact of successors’ versus incumbents’ coaching. When, prior to succession, teachers perceived a strong need for organizational change, successors’ coaching led to gains in collective engagement and thus in schools’ ensuing performance. When teachers perceived little need for change, successors’ coaching backfired, driving declines in collective engagement and school performance. Incumbents’ coaching did not spark significant change in collective engagement and school performance regardless of teachers’ perception of the need for change. Finally, and contrary to our predictions, neither successors’ nor incumbents’ vision communication drove change in collective engagement and performance. Our theory and findings illuminate the distinctive benefits and risks of successors’ coaching in driving change in collective engagement and performance. For good and for bad, successors’ coaching drives change in that incumbents’ leadership behavior does not.

This seminar will take place at T09-67 (Mandeville Building). Alternatively, please follow the link below to join online via Zoom.

Meeting URL: https://eur-nl.zoom.us/j/91666589151?pwd=dWtseVM5K1ZVa00vcTBqVVlXa01sZz09&from=addon

Meeting ID: 916 6658 9151

Passcode: 736774