Supervisory influence: Subordinate development of crisis leader potential in an extreme context

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the development of leader potential in an extreme context - it develops and tests a model that describes how subordinate perceptions of individual-focused transformational leadership, subordinate trust in the leader and subordinate identification with the team influence supervisory evaluations of subordinate crisis leader potential. Design/methodology/approach Surveys were administered to emergency services personnel and their supervisors working in a large fire rescue organization in the Southeastern USA. Survey responses were analyzed using hierarchical regression. Findings Results support the theoretical model - subordinates reporting high levels of trust in their transformational leader were evaluated by their supervisors as having stronger potential to become crisis leaders. Lower levels of subordinate identification with the team strengthened the transformational leadership to trust association and the indirect effect of perceived transformational leadership on supervisory evaluations of subordinate crisis leader potential (through subordinate trust in the leader). Originality/value Evaluating leader development, in terms of crisis leader potential, in an extreme context using a process model - to understand the interplay of individual-focused transformational leadership and trust given the moderating effect of team identification - is a key strength of the current study.