Examining the Threatened Manager: Effects of and Responses to Leader Identity Threat

One of the most challenging features of a managerial role is the exposure individuals have to informal negative feedback from subordinates, peers, and supervisors. Although such feedback is an inevitable component of a manager’s job, we suggest that it can interrupt a manager’s sense of self, or identity, such that their well-being and behavior is negatively affected. Drawing from identity theory and identity perspectives on leadership and stress, this research introduces the phenomenon of leader identity threats— a situation where claims to leadership are not reciprocated through grants of leadership from others. In a two-wave survey of 158 full- time managers from a variety of industries and organizations, we found that managers who experienced leader identity threats to a greater degree in the last year were more likely to experience psychological strain, form intentions to turnover, and self-report negative leader behaviors. Contrary to expectations, support from supervisors did not reduce the negative effects of leader identity threat; indeed, leader identity threat actually negated the positive effects of such support. A third survey employing a critical incidents technique led us to identify four response tactics that managers use to address leader identity threats, including derogating, confessing, teaching, and feedback-seeking. These inductively derived tactics were supplemented by four additional deductively derived responses (withdrawing, shifting, re-framing, and importance change). Finally, through content validation, EFA, and CFA, a scale was developed to measure these eight response tactics. We close by discussing the implications of these findings for organizations, and for future research furthering this line of inquiry.