title: Discrepancies in Leader and Follower Ratings of Transformational Leadership: Relationship with Organizational Culture in Mental Health.
abstract: The role of leadership in the management and delivery of health and allied health services is often discussed but lacks empirical research. Discrepancies are often found between leaders' self-ratings and followers' ratings of the leader. To our knowledge no research has examined leader-follower discrepancies and their association with organizational culture in mental health clinics. The current study examines congruence, discrepancy, and directionality of discrepancy in relation to organizational culture in 38 mental health teams (N = 276). Supervisors and providers completed surveys including ratings of the supervisor transformational leadership and organizational culture. Polynomial regression and response surface analysis models were computed examining the associations of leadership discrepancy and defensive organizational culture and its subscales. Discrepancies between supervisor and provider reports of transformational leadership were associated with a more negative organizational culture. Culture suffered more where supervisors rated themselves more positively than providers, in contrast to supervisors rating themselves lower than the provider ratings of the supervisor. Leadership and leader discrepancy should be a consideration in improving organizational culture and for strategic initiatives such as quality of care and the implementation and sustainment of evidence-based practice.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive (0812), La Jolla, CA, 92093-0812, USA. gaarons@ucsd.edu.|Child & Adolescent Services Research Center, San Diego, USA. gaarons@ucsd.edu.
authors.forename: Gregory A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Aarons
authors.affiliation: San Diego State University, San Diego, USA.
authors.forename: Mark G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Ehrhart
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive (0812), La Jolla, CA, 92093-0812, USA.|Child & Adolescent Services Research Center, San Diego, USA.
authors.forename: Lauren R
authors.initials: LR
authors.lastname: Farahnak
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive (0812), La Jolla, CA, 92093-0812, USA.|Child & Adolescent Services Research Center, San Diego, USA.
authors.forename: Marisa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sklar
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive (0812), La Jolla, CA, 92093-0812, USA.|Child & Adolescent Services Research Center, San Diego, USA.
authors.forename: Jonathan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Horowitz
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007857:Leadership; D008297:Male; D008605:Mental Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D015279:Organizational Culture; D009936:Organizational Innovation; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: Discrepancy; Leadership; Management; Mental health; Organizations; Public sector