Falling from a Calling: Entitlement and the Social (De)Construction of Leader Identity

Although research on the concept of calling has proliferated in recent years, scholars are just beginning to explore potential problematic outcomes associated with calling. Since calling can be an integral part of one's sense of identity, accepting the call to lead a personally profound mission...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inThe Journal of applied management and entrepreneurship Vol. 20; no. 4; pp. 6 - 24
Main Authors Humphreys, John H., Pane Haden, Stephanie S., Davis, John N.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Sheffield Taylor & Francis Ltd 01.10.2015
Subjects
Equality
History
Identity
Leadership
Social construction
Social services
Studies
United States > US
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Summary:Although research on the concept of calling has proliferated in recent years, scholars are just beginning to explore potential problematic outcomes associated with calling. Since calling can be an integral part of one's sense of identity, accepting the call to lead a personally profound mission may also include an unwarranted sense of entitlement. Regrettably, the extant research on entitlement is inconsistent and the concept has been undervalued in leader identity studies. While researching James Meredith's historic integration of the University of Mississippi, we discovered his belief that he had been called to the struggle for equality, eventually internalizing a leader identity consistent with his calling. Yet, we argue his entitlement beliefs ultimately undermined his leadership identity and inhibited his ability to effectively pursue that call. Accordingly, we use the case of Meredith to illustrate how over-entitlement could engender the social deconstruction of the leadership identity of a called leader.
ISSN:1077-1158
2326-3709
DOI:10.9774/GLEAF.3709.2015.oc.00003