OLSEN, J; Butar, I; Gahan, P
(Centre for Workplace Leadership, The University of Melbourne, 2016)
Frontline managers are responsible for the supervision of non-managerial employees and overseeing day-to-day operations in general. They are often directly involved in employee recruitment, training, and performance management and are critical to implementing practices and innovations that enhance productivity (Ahmed, Shields, White, & Wilbert, 2010; Brewer, 2005; Kraut, Pedigo, McKenna, & Dunnette, 1989; Purcell & Hutchinson, 2007; Risher, 2010). Frontline managers in the service industry are no exception, and should receive more attention as the service industry expands.
We therefore designed a research study based in a large organisation in the food service industry. Through this study, we sought to understand what factors relate to the important concepts of leader identity and leadership self-efficacy at the frontline. We first provide some background on these concepts, as well as a number of potential determinants. We then describe the methodology of our study, followed by the findings and their implications.