{"publication_status":"published","year":"2022","_id":"2968","status":"public","date_created":"2023-05-25T09:18:48Z","publication":"Journal of Business Ethics","title":"When Your Leader Just Does Not Make Any Sense: Conceptualizing Inconsistent Leadership","citation":{"mla":"Schilling, Jan, et al. “When Your Leader Just Does Not Make Any Sense: Conceptualizing Inconsistent Leadership.” <i>Journal of Business Ethics</i>, vol. 185, no. 1, Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2022, pp. 209–21, doi:<a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-022-05119-9\">10.1007/s10551-022-05119-9</a>.","ama":"Schilling J, Schyns B, May D. When Your Leader Just Does Not Make Any Sense: Conceptualizing Inconsistent Leadership. <i>Journal of Business Ethics</i>. 2022;185(1):209-221. doi:<a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-022-05119-9\">10.1007/s10551-022-05119-9</a>","bibtex":"@article{Schilling_Schyns_May_2022, title={When Your Leader Just Does Not Make Any Sense: Conceptualizing Inconsistent Leadership}, volume={185}, DOI={<a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-022-05119-9\">10.1007/s10551-022-05119-9</a>}, number={1}, journal={Journal of Business Ethics}, publisher={Springer Science and Business Media LLC}, author={Schilling, Jan and Schyns, Birgit and May, Daniel}, year={2022}, pages={209–221} }","apa":"Schilling, J., Schyns, B., &#38; May, D. (2022). When Your Leader Just Does Not Make Any Sense: Conceptualizing Inconsistent Leadership. <i>Journal of Business Ethics</i>, <i>185</i>(1), 209–221. <a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-022-05119-9\">https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-022-05119-9</a>","chicago":"Schilling, Jan, Birgit Schyns, and Daniel May. “When Your Leader Just Does Not Make Any Sense: Conceptualizing Inconsistent Leadership.” <i>Journal of Business Ethics</i> 185, no. 1 (2022): 209–21. <a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-022-05119-9\">https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-022-05119-9</a>.","ieee":"J. Schilling, B. Schyns, and D. May, “When Your Leader Just Does Not Make Any Sense: Conceptualizing Inconsistent Leadership,” <i>Journal of Business Ethics</i>, vol. 185, no. 1, pp. 209–221, 2022.","alphadin":"<span style=\"font-variant:small-caps;\">Schilling, Jan</span> ; <span style=\"font-variant:small-caps;\">Schyns, Birgit</span> ; <span style=\"font-variant:small-caps;\">May, Daniel</span>: When Your Leader Just Does Not Make Any Sense: Conceptualizing Inconsistent Leadership. In: <i>Journal of Business Ethics</i> Bd. 185, Springer Science and Business Media LLC (2022), Nr. 1, S. 209–221","short":"J. Schilling, B. Schyns, D. May, Journal of Business Ethics 185 (2022) 209–221."},"user_id":"245590","volume":185,"doi":"10.1007/s10551-022-05119-9","quality_controlled":"1","publisher":"Springer Science and Business Media LLC","oa":"1","author":[{"orcid":"0000-0002-2122-9408","first_name":"Jan","id":"252636","full_name":"Schilling, Jan","last_name":"Schilling"},{"first_name":"Birgit","full_name":"Schyns, Birgit","last_name":"Schyns"},{"full_name":"May, Daniel","last_name":"May","first_name":"Daniel"}],"issue":"1","date_updated":"2023-06-19T15:08:12Z","page":"209-221","language":[{"iso":"eng"}],"intvolume":"       185","type":"journal_article","main_file_link":[{"url":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-022-05119-9","open_access":"1"}],"publication_identifier":{"issn":["0167-4544"],"eissn":["1573-0697"]},"abstract":[{"text":"Perceived consistency, and even more so inconsistency of behavior is an important factor in the evaluation of other people. This is especially true for leaders, whose behavior is typically closely monitored and interpreted by their followers. While perceived consistency is typically rewarded, behaving inconsistently as a leader can be ethically problematic, as it violates fundamental ethical principles. To theoretically capture how followers interpret and react to unexpected, ambiguous and/or confusing leader behavior, we introduce the concept of inconsistent leadership. We define this new concept as a process in which over a longer period of time the activities, experiences, and/or relationships of an individual or the members of a group are repeatedly influenced by their leader in a way that followers cannot make sense of in light of prior behavior or traits of that leader. We propose that a sensemaking process is triggered in followers whenever they register salient/important leader behavior that is novel, ambiguous and/or confusing when compared to behavioral expectations for that leader. Ascriptions of inconsistent leadership arise when followers’ sensemaking strategies temporarily or permanently fail to resolve the behavior–expectation discrepancy. Moreover, we clarify the relationships to other leadership concepts and delineate relevant follower and environmental influences on the sensemaking process. In doing so, we offer a clear conceptualization of inconsistent leadership and provide a solid base for future research.","lang":"eng"}]}