Gerard Seijts

• Seijts, G. H., (Forthcoming), "Character and Trust in Crisis Leadership: Probing the Relationships Among Character, Identification-Based Trust, and Perceptions of Effectiveness in Political Leadership During the COVID-19 Pandemic", The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science
  Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic provided an opportunity to explore the relationships among character, identification-based trust, and perceptions of leadership effectiveness in the context of crisis leadership. Focusing on the leadership of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, we first explore whether Canadians of voting age believe character is important in political leadership during the pandemic. Second, we examine voter perceptions of the importance of the dimensions of character identified by Crossan et al. (2017) and to what extent voters perceive Trudeau demonstrates the behaviors associated with these dimensions. Third, we explore the role of identification-based trust in the relationship between character and perceptions of leadership effectiveness. Fourth, we study the relationships between character, trust, and effectiveness during dynamic conditions where the stakes for citizens with respect to health and social well-being are high. The results of our study connect character to trust and perceived effectiveness of a political leader during a crisis.
• Seijts, G. H., (Forthcoming), "The Short-Sightedness of Sticking with the Interesting Research Advocacy", Journal of Management Inquiry
• Mohan, G.; Seijts, G. H.; Miller, R., 2022, "Does Leader Character Have a Gender?", Journal of Business Ethics: 1 - 18.
  Abstract: Virtues and character strengths are often assumed to be universal, considered equally important to individuals across cultures, religions, racial-ethnic groups, and genders. The results of our surveys and laboratory studies, however, bring to light subtle yet consistent gender differences in the importance attributed to character in leadership: women considered character to be more important to successful leadership in business than did men, and women had higher expectations that individuals should demonstrate character in a new leadership role. Further, the gender of the research participant affected character ratings such that male respondents viewed a female leader who exhibited agentic behaviors in a professionally challenging situation less positively than a male leader who displayed the same agentic behaviors. The data also showed that male participants rated almost every dimension of character displayed by the female leader lower than did female participants. Our findings suggest that the question as to what extent gender differences may bias the assessment of virtues and character strengths is an important one, and one for which the practical implications for individuals in organizations need to be studied in more detail.

  Link(s) to publication:

  https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10551-022-05313-9

  http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10551-022-05313-9

• Seijts, G. H.; Monzani, L.; Woodley, H. J. R.; Mohan, G., 2022, "The Effects of Character on the Perceived Stressfulness of Life Events and Subjective Well-Being of Undergraduate Business Students", Journal of Management Education, February 46(1): 106 - 139.
  Abstract: Stress and the associated correlates, such as depression, alcohol abuse, and suicidal ideation, are a global issue among college and university students. We assert that character is a personal resource that students have at their disposal to address personal, social, and environmental challenges they may encounter in their personal and academic lives. The results of a field study involving undergraduate business students show that character, operationalized as a higher-order construct consisting of 11 inter-related dimensions, has a direct effect on the subjective well-being of students and an indirect effect through the perceived stressfulness of life events. Our results imply that it is essential for faculty and students at management education institutions to fully appreciate the importance of character for effective functioning and to develop the various character dimensions to address adverse personal, social, and environmental situations in a positive fashion.

  Link(s) to publication:

  https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1052562920980108#:~:text=The%20results%20of%20a%20field,perceived%20stressfulness%20of%20life%20events.

  http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1052562920980108

• Seijts, G. H.; Wright, T. A., 2021, "Why Character Matters", Organizational Dynamics, September 50(3): 100754 - 100754.
• Bhardwaj, R.; Seijts, G. H., 2021, "Leader character in the boardroom", Organizational Dynamics, September 50(3): 100751 - 100751.
• Seijts, G. H.; Young-Milani, K., 2021, "The myriad ways in which COVID-19 revealed character", Organizational Dynamics, September 50(3): 100765 - 100765.
  Abstract: Leaders need to be prepared for today's unpredictable, transformative world, and possess the ability to make sound decisions and take effective subsequent action often amid volatile conditions. To do so, scholars have emphasized the importance of character. The COVID-19 outbreak presented leaders of public, private and not-for-profit organizations, as well as every day citizens, with enormous challenges; worldwide, individuals' character was tested. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate how character was revealed – in both positive and negative ways – in the actions that leaders and citizens alike displayed during the fight to overcome this pandemic.

  Link(s) to publication:

  https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0090261620300176

  http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.orgdyn.2020.100765

• Monzani, L.; Seijts, G. H.; Crossan, M. M., 2021, "Character matters: The network structure of leader character and its relation to follower positive outcomes", PLOS One, September 16(9): e0255940 - e0255940.
  Abstract: We investigated the relationship between self-ratings of leader character and follower positive outcomes – namely, subjective well-being, resilience, organizational commitment, and work engagement – in a public-sector organization using a time-lagged cross-sectional design involving 188 leader – follower dyads and 22 offices. Our study is an important step forward in the conceptual development of leader character and the application of character to enhance workplace practices. We combined confirmatory factor analysis and network-based analysis to determine the factorial and network structure of leader character. The findings revealed that a model of 11 inter-correlated leader character dimensions fit the data better than a single-factor model. Further, judgment appeared as the most central dimension in a network comprising the 11 character dimensions. Moreover, in a larger network of partial correlations, two ties acted as bridges that link leader character to follower positive outcomes: judgment and drive. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.

  Link(s) to publication:

  http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0255940

• Seijts, G. H.; Young Milani, K., 2021, "The application of leader character to building cultures of equity, diversity, and inclusion", Business Horizons
  Abstract: Many organizations in the public, private, and not-for-profit sectors have begun to take action to address the systemic racism entrenched in their processes, systems, and structures. This has included commitments to elevate initiatives for equity, diversity, and inclusion. Data indicates that such good faith efforts are often not as successful as leaders and organizations had envisioned. Our assertion is that if we really want to address systemic racism in organizations, we must first attend to the people who work there. This is because their individual and collective character, revealed through behavior, drives and determines organizational processes, systems, structures, and culture. The purpose of this paper is to connect character to the creation and sustainment of organizational cultures of equity, diversity, and inclusion with a specific focus on anti-Black racism. Character is not a subjective, amorphous entity but manifests as a set of observable behaviors. We explain that character equips people with consciousness and the conduct to embrace and cultivate equity, diversity, and inclusion in their organizations and their lives. We provide concrete examples of the dimensions of character in action using brief illustrations.

  Link(s) to publication:

  https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0007681321001300

  http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bushor.2021.07.007

• Seijts, G. H.; de Clercy, C.; Mohan, G., 2021, "Trust as a Mediator of the Relationship Between Character and Perceptions of Leader Effectiveness During the COVID-19 Crisis", Canadian Journal Of Behavioural Science-Revue Canadienne Des Sciences Du Comportement, July 53(3): 358 - 364.
  Abstract: Character is a leadership quality that is often scrutinized yet poorly understood. Our research focuses on several questions relating to character and perceived leader effectiveness during the COVID-19 crisis. First, does the character of the prime minister matter to voters during major crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic? Second, are all dimensions that comprise the leader character framework we examined considered essential for political leadership in times of crisis? Third, is character related to perceptions of leadership effectiveness? Fourth, what role does identification-based trust play in the relationship between character and perceptions of leadership effectiveness in times of crisis? The results of our survey taken during the early weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic reveal that character is considered among Canadians of voting age as an important ingredient of political leadership. We also found that there is a significant gap between the perceived importance of the dimensions that comprise character and the belief that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau lives up to the expectations. The congruence between the perceived importance of the character dimensions and the belief that Trudeau demonstrated these dimensions predicted leadership effectiveness, and this relationship was mediated by trust. Our results are based on perceptions of leadership effectiveness; that is, we do not have objective measures of performance.

  Link(s) to publication:

  http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/cbs0000214

• de Clercy, C.; Seijts, G. H.; Nguyen, B., 2020, "Do Canadian and American Voters Evaluate Leader Character Similarly? Comparing Voters’ Perceptions of Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, and Justin Trudeau", American Review of Canadian Studies, December 50(4): 498 - 521.
  Abstract: We investigate whether a framework drawn from the field of organizational management can be used by citizens of two countries with different political history and culture to assess character. Drawing on a survey administered two weeks before the 2016 US presidential election, we report that Canadians and Americans are the same in how they evaluate eleven dimensions of character: both considered all dimensions as essential in political leaders. The results also showed an appreciable gap between the perceived importance of the character dimensions and whether respondents believe three national leaders – Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton and Justin Trudeau – live up to these expectations. However, the two groups differ in their evaluation of the specific dimensions of character among these political leaders. Canadians are less supportive of Trump’s character array than that of Clinton or Trudeau. Also, Canadian Conservatives are less supportive of Trump’s character than are American Republicans.

  Link(s) to publication:

  http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02722011.2020.1849328

• Seijts, G. H.; Espinoza, J.; Carswell, J., 2020, "Utility Analysis of Character Assessment in Employee Placement", Leadership and Organization Development Journal, September 41(5): 703 - 720.
  Abstract: Utility Analysis of Character Assessment in Employee Placement Abstract There has been a surge of interest in leader character and a push to bring character into mainstream management theory and practice. Research has shown that CEOs and board members have many questions about the construct of leader character. For example, they like to see data indicating to what extent character contributes financially to organizational performance. Human resource management professionals are often confronted with the need to discuss and demonstrate the value of training and development initiatives. The question as to whether such interventions have a dollars-and-cents return on the investment is an important one to consider for any organizational decision maker, especially given the demand for increased accountability, the push for transparency, and tightening budgets in organizations. We investigated the potential dollar impact associated with the placement of managers based on the assessment of leader character, and we used utility analysis to estimate the dollar value associated with the use of one instrument – the Leader Character Insight Assessment – to measure leader character. The data revealed an ROI of at least 900% for our most conservative utility estimate, thus supporting the assessment of leader character in placement for managers.

  Link(s) to publication:

  http://10.0.4.84/LODJ-07-2019-0314

  http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/LODJ-07-2019-0314

• Seijts, G. H.; de Clercy, C., 2020, "How Do Populist Voters Rate Their Political Leaders? Comparing Citizen Assessments in Three Jurisdictions", Politics and Governance, March 8(1): 133 - 145.
  Abstract: Drawing from the field of management studies, we explore how a sample of voters in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom use a leader character framework to judge political leadership. We ask, how do voters actually assess the character of their current leaders? And, in light of the populist zeitgeist, do people who hold a populist attitude differ markedly in how they judge the character of political leaders? Our results show that voters generally consider character important. However, voters who lean toward populism believe character matters less in political leadership than individuals who scored low on the populism indicator. This durable difference merits more exploration in a political context marked by populism. Our findings about the factors that influence vote choice contribute to this conversation and to extant research that reports that some voters pay greater attention to leader characteristics than do others.

  Link(s) to publication:

  http://dx.doi.org/10.17645/pag.v8i1.2540

• Seijts, G. H.; Byrne, A.; Crossan, M. M.; Gandz, J., 2019, "Leader Character in Board Governance", Journal of Management and Governance, March 23(1): 227 - 258.
  Abstract: Despite the critical leadership role that corporate boards play in organizations, the character of their members has been neglected in research studies. We used a multi-method data collection approach to explore whether current directors in the public, private, and not-for-profit sectors believe that leader character plays an important role in board governance, particularly with regards to how boards make decisions, recruit new members, lead their organizations, and work together to perform their fiduciary and other responsibilities. Despite the perceived importance of leader character as reported by highly experienced corporate directors, we found that leader character is not commonly attended to in board conversations as a means to purposively improve the way boards operate. We outline practical implications of our findings as well as offer a call to action for future research on character in the context of board governance with the intent to improve governance in the public, private, and not-for-profit sectors and hence to foster sustained excellence in organizations.

  Link(s) to publication:

  https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10997-018-9426-8

  http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10997-018-9426-8

• Seijts, G. H.; de Clercy, C.; Nguyen, B., 2018, "Exploring How Canadian Voters Evaluate Leader Character in Three Cases: Justin Trudeau, Hillary Clinton And Donald Trump", Journal of Canadian Studies, November 52(2): 427 - 450.
  Abstract: In exploratory research, we investigate whether a recently developed framework of leader character, grounded in the business administration literature, has any utility for understanding how citizens value the character of modern political leaders. We are interested in whether the entire leader character framework, or only a subset of its dimensions, are valued by Canadians in political leaders. An opinion poll of 506 Canadians in the fall of 2016 examines how they responded to the framework, which dimensions of leader character they value highly, and how they employed it to evaluate three well-known politicians who were then in the media spotlight: Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau and American presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. The results suggest Canadians possess a clear, distinct set of preferences with respect to the ideal shape of leader character. This finding is salient toward understanding the modern political culture of Canada, as well as addressing speculation that the rise of populism in many countries suggests voters might embrace a leader in the mould of American president Donald Trump.

  Link(s) to publication:

  http://dx.doi.org/10.3138/jcs.2017-0055.r1

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