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Jacinda Ardern's compassionate leadership: a case of social change leadership in action

Jacinda Ardern's compassionate leadership: a case of social change leadership in action This article investigates the leadership style of Jacinda Ardern, Prime Minister of Aotearoa New Zealand. It uses the model of Social Change Leadership (SCL) to evaluate her approach to leadership as well as some notable successes and failures of her premiership.Design/methodology/approachThe article adopts a grounded theory approach in which five increasingly refined research iterations were conducted to detect and articulate patterns of significance (Strauss and Corbin, 1997). Ultimately, the team selected 19 leadership examples to be cross referenced with the SCL model.FindingsThe article finds that in terms of leadership style Ardern corresponds closely to the SCL framework. The 19 examples show clusters of behavior that clearly denote a SCL constellation in terms of her approach. It also finds, however, that in terms of performance goals there is a less clear picture with less coherence to the framework. These findings in turn point to an interesting potential tension in the SCL model that has hitherto not been acknowledged.Originality/valueThe article is the first of its kind to apply SCL to a major global political leader. It is the first structured, academic assessment of Ardern's leadership. It adds a theoretical contribution to ongoing discussions on the efficacy and utility of the SCL framework. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png International Journal of Public Sector Management Emerald Publishing

Jacinda Ardern's compassionate leadership: a case of social change leadership in action

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Publisher
Emerald Publishing
Copyright
© Emerald Publishing Limited
ISSN
0951-3558
DOI
10.1108/ijpsm-03-2022-0071
Publisher site
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Abstract

This article investigates the leadership style of Jacinda Ardern, Prime Minister of Aotearoa New Zealand. It uses the model of Social Change Leadership (SCL) to evaluate her approach to leadership as well as some notable successes and failures of her premiership.Design/methodology/approachThe article adopts a grounded theory approach in which five increasingly refined research iterations were conducted to detect and articulate patterns of significance (Strauss and Corbin, 1997). Ultimately, the team selected 19 leadership examples to be cross referenced with the SCL model.FindingsThe article finds that in terms of leadership style Ardern corresponds closely to the SCL framework. The 19 examples show clusters of behavior that clearly denote a SCL constellation in terms of her approach. It also finds, however, that in terms of performance goals there is a less clear picture with less coherence to the framework. These findings in turn point to an interesting potential tension in the SCL model that has hitherto not been acknowledged.Originality/valueThe article is the first of its kind to apply SCL to a major global political leader. It is the first structured, academic assessment of Ardern's leadership. It adds a theoretical contribution to ongoing discussions on the efficacy and utility of the SCL framework.

Journal

International Journal of Public Sector Management – Emerald Publishing

Published: Aug 11, 2022

Keywords: New Zealand; Leadership; Social change leadership theory

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