Global Followership Conference

1. Resisting Competently: A Mixed Methods Study of Reactions to Ethical Followership - K. Payne
   When facing an unethical request from a leader, the leadership literature suggests that a follower may comply with the leader, thereby engaging in unethical followership. Or they may resist the leader, thereby engaging in ethical followership. What do ethical followers actually do to resist, and what outcomes do they generate? Based on a mixed methods approach, this paper contributes a revised theoretical framework for ethical followership, a set of four variables that may moderate or mediate the relationship between ethical follower behaviors and outcome variables, and previously unexamined behaviors and categories of behaviors.
2. The Interplay of Followers' Ethical Beliefs and How Those Beliefs Intersect, Influence, and Shape the Values and Ethical Behavior of Other Followers - R. Thomas
   Ethical followers expect leaders to be ethical and possess the traits of honesty, loyalty, integrity, and sound decision-making skills, but do followers expect the same from each other? (Browne & Trevino, 2014). This presentation addresses how ethical followers influence not only leaders but other followers in the organization. Followers' play a critical and often overlooked role in creating and maintaining ethical conduct in organizations by setting an example for other followers.

This moderated panel provides participants the opportunity to hear from three pioneers in the followership space who have successfully led programmatic and institutional level projects advancing followership. These developments include the Global Followership Conference, The Center for the Advancement of Followership, and the Followership Resource Digitization project. Panelists will share some of the obstacles encountered and strategies leveraged to overcome the hurdles. Participants will have the opportunity to share their own success stories as well as synthesize key principles and actions to facilitate their own followership advancement projects, furthering the followership movement.

1. Situational Followership: Incorporating Flexibility into Followership Typology - D. Alegbeleye
   As a way of addressing the rigidity inherent in followership typologies, this paper proposes a situational model of followership that describes how followers can adapt their followership style to both their leader and the situation. Five propositions were developed to explicate how four situational factors relate to the two major dimensions upon which most followership typologies are based: follower’s active engagement and follower’s constructive voice. The four situational factors explored in this paper include leaders’ inspirational behavior, leaders’ participative behavior, the psychological safety climate of the workplace, and followers’ psychological bravery. Moreover, a situational followership model was developed.
2. Developing Leadership and Followership Competencies: Analysis from a National Summer Camp Program - F. Kick
   This competency-based survey development research examines how interactive student leadership development programming at a U.S. summer camp can simultaneously develop leadership and followership competencies in secondary school students.
3. Followership and Authentic Leadership in Volunteer Organizations with a Paid Leader - J. Johnson
   This study explores the relationship between authentic leadership (AL) and followership in volunteer-based organizations led by a paid leader. Nonprofits, critical for addressing social issues, often rely on volunteers, which creates unique leadership challenges. Overemphasis on leader-centric models risks burnout and undermines organizational health. Authentic leaders, who demonstrate purpose, compassion, and relationship-building, positively influence followership and organizational effectiveness. Using a quantitative survey of 20 food pantry volunteers, the study revealed strong correlations between AL traits (compassion, relationship-building, passion) and increased follower engagement. While limited by sample size and nonparametric testing, findings affirm AL’s role in fostering volunteer commitment and suggest areas for further research.
4. Reimagining human function and management for human wholeness: The being-orientation model for the next-stage organizations - D. W. Ofumbi
   Followership and leadership are two sides of the same coin but for far too long we regarded followership as a subordinate rank, which is either nothing or a step toward leadership rather than a complementary role and discipline. The followership/leadership chasm stems from the human orientation of doing, which has dominated management theory since its inception. For us to restore the complementary relationship between followership and leadership in organizations, we must adopt the human orientation of being. So, this study introduces the human orientation of being to enhance human wholeness for human full life and work commitment in organizations.