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Leaders' Networking Behaviours in a Time of Crisis: A Qualitative Study on the Frontline against COVID‐19
Author(s) -
Tasselli Stefano,
Sancino Alessandro
Publication year - 2023
Publication title -
journal of management studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 4.398
H-Index - 184
eISSN - 1467-6486
pISSN - 0022-2380
DOI - 10.1111/joms.12884
Subject(s) - nomothetic and idiographic , context (archaeology) , covid-19 , public relations , repertoire , qualitative research , sociology , political science , psychology , social psychology , social science , geography , medicine , physics , disease , archaeology , pathology , acoustics , infectious disease (medical specialty)
What do leaders do when they interact with followers and stakeholders in a time of crisis? What networking behaviours do leaders manifest in such a context of emergency? We answer these questions through qualitative research and cluster analysis conducted on a sample of leaders involved in community management in the most affected region in northern Italy during the three key phases of the COVID‐19 pandemic. Our findings span a period of 18‐months and show that leaders display a behavioural repertoire that includes six networking actions. Grouped together, these actions identify three clusters of leaders: Churners, who engage mainly in network generation and network termination; Divergent leaders, who manifest high levels of network conflict and re‐construal; and Sense‐makers, who are high in network deepening and teleology. Our research contributes to unveil the idiographic micro‐foundations of networking behaviour during organizational jolts.