Perceived Changes in Leadership Behavior during Formal Leadership Education

• Published date: 01 June 2023
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/00910260221136085
• Author: Peter Sørensen,Morten Balle Hansen,Anders Ryom Villadsen
• Date: 01 June 2023
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/00910260221136085

Public Personnel Management

2023, Vol. 52(2) 170 –190

© The Author(s) 2022

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DOI: 10.1177/00910260221136085

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Article

Perceived Changes in

Leadership Behavior during

Formal Leadership Education

Peter Sørensen1, Morten Balle Hansen1,

and Anders Ryom Villadsen2

Abstract

The aim of this study is to research how leaders’ subordinates, peers, and superiors

perceive changes in leadership behavior (measured as task, relation, and change

orientations) when leaders in their organization participate in formal leadership

education. This question is addressed in a longitudinal 3-year study. This article uses

data from a panel of respondents (n = 860–897) from four Danish municipalities.

Descriptive statistics and leader fixed effects indicate that formal leadership

education has a substantial short-term perceived impact on leadership behavior. The

most robust finding in the study are the statistically significant correlations between

the perception of leadership behavior and the perceiver’s hierarchical position. The

study shows significant differences between subordinates, peers, and superiors in

their perceptions of the development of leadership behavior over time. Subordinates

rate change in leadership behavior as significantly lower than do peers and superiors.

Keywords

education, fixed effects, leadership behavior, panel data

Leadership behavior strongly influences the outcomes of both private and public sec-

tor organizations (Inceoglu et al., 2018; Kjeldsen & Andersen, 2021; O’Toole & Meier,

2011; Walker & Andrews, 2015). Consequently, in recent decades, interest in

leadership training and development has increased (Hannum & Craig, 2010; Lacerenza

1University of Southern Denmark, Odense

2Aarhus University, Denmark

Corresponding Author:

Peter Sørensen, Department of Political Science and Public Management, University of Southern

Denmark, Niels Bohrs Alle 55, Odense M, DK-5230, Denmark.

Email: psor@sam.sdu.dk

1136085PPMXXX10.1177/00910260221136085Public Personnel ManagementSørensen et al.

research-article2022

Sørensen et al. 171

et al., 2017; Lee & Suh, 2016; Seidle et al., 2016), emphasizing the importance of solid

knowledge of how various training programs affect leadership behavior. Paradoxically,

such knowledge is limited (Avolio et al., 2010; Seidle et al., 2016).

Leadership training and development can take many forms. Organizations can

choose to hire consultants to provide workplace training and development workshops

and seminars. Organizations can also send selected personnel to specialized courses,

or they can provide more generic formal leadership education. These include profes-

sional/executive master’s degree programs, such as Master of Public Administration,

Master of Business Administration, or Diploma of Leadership (studied in this article)

offered by universities, business schools, and colleges.

Within this diversity of leadership programs, research has predominantly focused

on the effects of specialized training and development activities of shorter duration

(Seidle et al., 2016). Much less research has focused on the impact of years-long for-

mal leadership education on leadership behavior (Andersen et al., 2017; Seidle et al.,

2016; Yukl, 2012, 2013). This article addresses this knowledge-gap by focusing on

formal leadership education and how the subordinates, peers, and superiors of a par-

ticipant perceive their leadership behavior during and after the program.

Using panel data, this article examines the research question:

Research Question 1 (RQ1): To what extent is leaders’ participation in a long-

term, part-time, formal leadership education program associated with changes in

their leadership behavior, as perceived by their subordinates, their peers, and their

superiors?

Three types of leadership behavior are researched. Each of these are broadly recog-

nized as important to organizational efficiency: task-oriented, relations-oriented, and

change-oriented leadership behavior (Borgmann, 2016; Yukl, 2008, 2012).

The study contributes to research on leadership training, education, and develop-

ment in three ways. First, it adopts the rare approach of focusing on a formal and

generic educational program (Andersen et al., 2017; Seidle et al., 2016; Yukl, 2012,

2013). Second, the study focuses on the perceived effect of the education program,

exploring how different groups of organizational actors perceive the leadership behav-

iors of an individual participating in a formal leadership education program. Third, by

relying on panel data with annual measurements throughout the education program,

the investigation adds to the very few longitudinal studies of leadership training

(Ployhart et al., 2002; van Wart, 2003). Furthermore, relying only on other assess-

ments, the problems associated with self-reported data, which are frequently used in

studies of leadership training are avoided (Braddy et al., 2014; McKee et al., 2018).

This article is structured as follows. First, the literature on the effects of training and

development on leadership behavior is reviewed. Second, hypotheses are developed.

Third, the methods are described. Fourth, the results and conclusions of the study are

discussed.