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Measures of faith : Science and belief in leadership studies

Spoelstra, Sverre LU ; Butler, Nick LU and Delaney, Helen (2021) In Journal of Management Inquiry 30(3). p.300-311
Abstract
From its inception, leadership studies has embraced the positivist tradition of hypothesis testing. In this tradition, psychometric instruments are meant to ward off belief from scientific practice by testing theories against empirical facts. While leadership scholars purport to conform to the standards of value-neutral science, this paper tells a different story. Drawing on qualitative interviews with 39 positivist leadership researchers, we argue that leadership studies is heavily invested with faith in two main ways: (a) faith in leadership concepts, even when their accompanying measures fall short of methodological standards and (b) faith in leadership studies as a science, even when it is tainted by commercial interests and... (More)
From its inception, leadership studies has embraced the positivist tradition of hypothesis testing. In this tradition, psychometric instruments are meant to ward off belief from scientific practice by testing theories against empirical facts. While leadership scholars purport to conform to the standards of value-neutral science, this paper tells a different story. Drawing on qualitative interviews with 39 positivist leadership researchers, we argue that leadership studies is heavily invested with faith in two main ways: (a) faith in leadership concepts, even when their accompanying measures fall short of methodological standards and (b) faith in leadership studies as a science, even when it is tainted by commercial interests and professional rewards. Ultimately, we suggest that positivist epistemology is accepted in leadership studies as an article of faith. By exploring the interconnection between science and belief in the business school, we draw attention to the “secular religion” of scientism in leadership studies. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Journal of Management Inquiry
volume
30
issue
3
pages
12 pages
publisher
SAGE Publications
external identifiers
  • scopus:85079393294
ISSN
1056-4926
DOI
10.1177/1056492620901793
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
e293e883-9e66-42a5-860c-6c1fd47b4277
date added to LUP
2020-02-26 17:26:35
date last changed
2024-02-15 13:48:46
@article{e293e883-9e66-42a5-860c-6c1fd47b4277,
  abstract     = {{From its inception, leadership studies has embraced the positivist tradition of hypothesis testing. In this tradition, psychometric instruments are meant to ward off belief from scientific practice by testing theories against empirical facts. While leadership scholars purport to conform to the standards of value-neutral science, this paper tells a different story. Drawing on qualitative interviews with 39 positivist leadership researchers, we argue that leadership studies is heavily invested with faith in two main ways: (a) faith in leadership concepts, even when their accompanying measures fall short of methodological standards and (b) faith in leadership studies as a science, even when it is tainted by commercial interests and professional rewards. Ultimately, we suggest that positivist epistemology is accepted in leadership studies as an article of faith. By exploring the interconnection between science and belief in the business school, we draw attention to the “secular religion” of scientism in leadership studies.}},
  author       = {{Spoelstra, Sverre and Butler, Nick and Delaney, Helen}},
  issn         = {{1056-4926}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{07}},
  number       = {{3}},
  pages        = {{300--311}},
  publisher    = {{SAGE Publications}},
  series       = {{Journal of Management Inquiry}},
  title        = {{Measures of faith : Science and belief in leadership studies}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1056492620901793}},
  doi          = {{10.1177/1056492620901793}},
  volume       = {{30}},
  year         = {{2021}},
}