In search of the emerging millennial leadership paradigm

Millennials are actively entering the labour market and are believed to have different values and attitudes than previous generations, including their views on leadership. The latest up to date survey on millennials’ attitude to leadership – Hartford’s 2015 Millennial Leadership Survey indicated that almost 70% of the US millennial respondents report aspirations of occupying a leadership position within the next 5 years, and 77% of the respondents believe they already now possess the abilities necessary to lead. Meanwhile, the latest data from Statistics Denmark shows that the number of millennial leaders in Denmark has fallen significantly within the last decade.

These obvious differences in attitude towards leadership between Danish and US millennials inspired this comparative research that intends to critically evaluate the level of leadership motivation in Danish and American millennials. The research question of the study is: How is the average level of leadership motivation different among Danish and American student millennials?

The research uses a survey to collect standardized, quantifiable data from a large number of respondents, i.e. the data collection technique used is a self-completed questionnaire, based on already existing scales that have been tested and validated.

The target population of this study are Danish and US college-aged millennials, specifically late millennials aged 18-24, studying at IBA and UNA. The study is based on probability (representative) sampling where the students from business and non-business majors serve as representatives of the target population.

Every year, a significant number of business college millennial-aged graduates enter the workforce, therefore it is of particular interest to both the colleges and the receiving employers to gain insights into what drives this generation – especially which personality traits the millennial students believe they possess and if a connection can be established between those traits and young people’s motivation to lead, i.e., occupy leadership jobs in industry in the future.

The value of this research lies in the circulation of knowledge between the three important areas:  generation of knowledge by the research, implementation of the research results in teaching and further outcome in practice which will presumably be seen when the students who have received the relevant teaching, will demonstrate the expected set of leadership qualities and skills at their jobs.

The project is conducted by IBA in collaboration with the University of North Alabama, USA. Two separate but parallel studies assessed the samples of both U.S. and Danish millennial students.  The cross-cultural nature of the project provides an additional value to the research as it generates the knowledge about the cultural influence on motivation to lead within a key generational cohort as well as encourages the exchange of international experience between the partner institutions.

The complete project timeline includes the following phases:

Phase 1:            Discussion of the main idea by the project group, primary literature review, considerations on the use of methodology;

Phase 2:            Literature review, final decision on the use of methodology, completion and translation of the survey;

Phase 3:            Implementation: data collection and analysis

Phase 4:            Evaluation of the research process and accomplishments, working on dissemination of the results of the research findings.

The literature review identified two personality constructs – Motivation-to-Lead (MTL) (Chan and Drasgow 2001) and Core Self-Evaluation (CSE) (Judge et al. 2003) that have gained a wide recognition as effective tools in leadership and personality research. Together with the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI) (Ames et al. 2006), these already established and validated constructs form the methodological framework for this study.

Besides being an explorative comparative study that has a goal is to establish if there is a relationship between the three key variables, it also has a comparative nature as samples of both US and Danish millennial students will be assessed in two separate but parallel studies.

This research will build upon and extend the findings of Chan and Drasgow (2001) by examining millennials’ Motivation-to-Lead (MTL). As the key predictor of MTL, we will use the Core Self-Evaluation traits (CSE). In addition to CSE and MTL, this study will examine the influence of narcissism because the literature review has indicated that millennials tend to demonstrate above average levels of narcissism.

Hence, the measures included in the survey are:

1. Motivation-to-Lead by Chan and Drasgow (2001): a composite 27-item assessment of an individual’s desire and belief in his or her ability to lead based on Affective-Identity, Non-Calculative, and Social-Normative motivation sub-scales.

2. Core Self-Evaluations Scale developed by Judge, Erez, Bono and Thoresen (Judge et al. 2003): a generalized 12-item assessment that reflects an individual’s four specific core traits – self-esteem, generalized self-efficacy, neuroticism, and locus of control.

3. Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI-16) by Ames, Rose and Anderson (Ames et al. 2006): a 16-item unidimensional assessment of an individual’s enhanced perception of his or her own behaviors and attributes.

Bibliography

Ames, D., Rose, P., and Anderson, C. (2006) ‘The NPI-16 as a Short Measure of Narcissism’. Journal of Research in Personality 40, 440–450.

Chan, K. and Drasgow, F. (2001) ‘Toward a Theory of Individual Differences and Leadership: Understanding the Motivation to Lead’. The Journal of Applied Psychology 86 (3), 481—498.

FINANS, K. (2019) Flere Unge Dropper Jagten På En Toppost – FINANS [online] available from <https://finans.dk/karriere/ECE11411542/flere-unge-dropper-jagten-paa-en-toppost/?ctxref=ext> [12 February 2020]

Judge, T.A., Erez, A., Bono, J.E., and Thoresen, C.J. (2003) ‘The Core Self-Evaluations Scale: Development of a Measure.’ Personnel Psychology 56 (2), 303–331

The Hartford (2016) Newsroom|The Hartford Media Relations Team|The Hartford [online] available from <https://newsroom.thehartford.com/releases/gen-y-gap%3A-the-hartford-poll-finds-industries-that-drive-u-s-economy-are-failing-to-attract-millennials> [12 February 2020]

The value of this research lies in the circulation of knowledge between the three important areas:  generation of knowledge by the research, implementation of the research results in teaching and further outcome in practice which will presumably be seen when the students who have received the relevant teaching, will demonstrate the expected set of leadership qualities and skills at their jobs.

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