ORCID Profile
0000-0001-6294-7257
Current Organisations
KU Leuven
,
Leading Insights; expertise centre on leadership development within KU Leuven
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Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 17-12-2022
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 08-0100
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 03-2021
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 08-2017
DOI: 10.1016/J.JSAMS.2016.11.024
Abstract: Researchers have argued that leadership is one of the most important determinants of team effectiveness. The present study examined the extent to which the perceived quality of athlete leadership was related to the effectiveness of elite sports teams. Three professional football teams (N=135) participated in our study during the preparation phase for the Australian 2016 season. Players and coaching staff were asked to assess players' leadership quality in four leadership roles (as task, motivational, social, and external leader) via an online survey. The leadership quality in each of these roles was then calculated in a social network analysis by averaging the indegree centralities of the three best leaders in that particular role. Participants also rated their team's performance and its functioning on multiple indicators. As hypothesized, the team with the highest-quality athlete leadership on each of the four leadership roles excelled in all indicators of team effectiveness. More specifically, athletes in this team had a stronger shared sense of the team's purpose, they were more highly committed to realizing the team's goals, and they had a greater confidence in their team's abilities than athletes in the other teams. Moreover, this team demonstrated a higher task-involving and a lower ego-involving climate, and excelled on all measures of performance. High-quality athlete leadership is positively related to team effectiveness. Given the importance of high-quality athlete leadership, the study highlights the need for well-designed empirically-based leadership development programs.
Publisher: Routledge
Date: 04-08-2021
Publisher: Center for Open Science
Date: 07-09-2022
Abstract: Not applicable to this chapter
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 15-04-2024
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 15-11-2018
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 11-2020
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 21-12-2015
DOI: 10.1111/SMS.12603
Abstract: The present research examines the impact of leaders' confidence in their team on the team confidence and performance of their teammates. In an experiment involving newly assembled soccer teams, we manipulated the team confidence expressed by the team leader (high vs neutral vs low) and assessed team members' responses and performance as they unfolded during a competition (i.e., in a first baseline session and a second test session). Our findings pointed to team confidence contagion such that when the leader had expressed high (rather than neutral or low) team confidence, team members perceived their team to be more efficacious and were more confident in the team's ability to win. Moreover, leaders' team confidence affected in idual and team performance such that teams led by a highly confident leader performed better than those led by a less confident leader. Finally, the results supported a hypothesized mediational model in showing that the effect of leaders' confidence on team members' team confidence and performance was mediated by the leader's perceived identity leadership and members' team identification. In conclusion, the findings of this experiment suggest that leaders' team confidence can enhance members' team confidence and performance by fostering members' identification with the team.
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 27-10-2020
DOI: 10.1080/17461391.2019.1680736
Abstract: Overtraining, exhaustion, and burnout are widely recognized problems amongst elite athletes. The present research addresses this issue by exploring the extent to which high-quality athlete leadership is associated with elite athletes' health and burnout. Participants (120 male athletes from three top- ision Australian football teams) were asked to rate the quality of each of their teammates in four different leadership roles (i.e. as task and motivational leaders on the field and as social and external leaders off the field), and also to indicate their identification with their team as well as their self-reported health and burnout. Findings indicated that (a)
Publisher: Center for Open Science
Date: 05-10-2023
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 11-2021
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 15-01-2020
DOI: 10.1111/SMS.13620
Abstract: An emerging body of evidence indicates that, in addition to the coach, athlete leaders within a team are vital for a sports team's success. Sports teams are therefore keen to know which attributes are distinctly characteristic of high-quality leaders on and off the field. The present study aims to shed more light on this question. A wide variety of traits and leadership behaviors was assessed in a s le of 776 athletes, stratified across gender, competitive level, and four sports. The leadership quality of each of the athletes (ie, as task, motivational, social, and external leader) was determined on the basis of the perceptions of teammates using social network analysis. Findings revealed that leadership behaviors outweighed personality traits in distinguishing high-quality leaders from others on and off the field. Providing identity leadership that creates, embodies, advances, and embeds a collective sense of "us" in their teams was found to be a particularly important leadership behavior that characterized high-quality leaders both on and off the field. The fact that leadership behaviors were important predictors of high-quality athlete leadership (and more important predictors than traits) suggests that leaders are not just born, but can also be made. Our findings therefore highlight the clear need for leadership development programs to target the behaviors that we identified as important predictors of leadership.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 03-06-2022
DOI: 10.1186/S12966-022-01297-X
Abstract: With a rapidly ageing society, healthy ageing has become a key challenge. Engagement in physical activity, and particularly walking, is a key strategy that contributes to healthy ageing amongst older adults. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the efficacy of a group walking program for older adults that incorporates the 5R Shared Leadership Program (5R S ). By implementing a structure of shared leadership and strengthening peer leaders’ identity leadership, 5R S aims to cultivate a shared social identity amongst participants, which has in other contexts been associated with greater performance and well-being. A cluster randomised controlled trial was conducted to test the efficacy of the 5R S group walking program on group identification, group cohesion, walking activity, and well-being, compared to a regular group walking program for older adults. Nineteen older adult walking groups (i.e., the clusters N = 503 M age = 69.23 years, SD = 6.68) all participated in a 12-week structured group walking program. Nine walking groups ( n = 304) were randomly assigned to the intervention in which participants received the 5R S program in addition to regular group walking. 5R S was successful in strengthening the identity leadership qualities of the appointed peer leaders. Multilevel regressions showed that 5R S succeeded in increasing group cohesion and walking activity to a greater extent than a regular group walking program, while participants’ group identification and well-being increased to a similar extent in both conditions. Furthermore, structural equation modelling revealed that group identification mediated the impact of peer leaders’ identity leadership on group cohesion and well-being (but not walking activity). By harnessing the capacity of the group and its peer leaders, the 5R S program offers a promising intervention to engage older adults in physical activity. The study was retrospectively registered as clinical trial on 9 September 2021 ( NCT05038423 ).
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 10-2014
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 05-2021
Publisher: Routledge
Date: 14-10-2016
Publisher: American Psychological Association (APA)
Date: 03-2015
DOI: 10.1037/XAP0000033
Abstract: The present study examined the impact of athlete leaders' perceived confidence on their teammates' confidence and performance. Male basketball players (N = 102) participated in groups of 4. To manipulate leaders' team confidence, the appointed athlete leader of each newly formed basketball team (a confederate) expressed either high or low team confidence. The results revealed an effect of team confidence contagion such that team members had greater team confidence when the leader expressed high (rather than low) confidence in the team's success. Second, the present study sought to explain the mechanisms through which this contagion occurs. In line with the social identity approach to leadership, structural equation modeling demonstrated that this effect was partially mediated by team members' increased team identification. Third, findings indicated that when leaders expressed high team confidence, team members' performance increased during the test, but when leaders expressed low confidence, team members' performance decreased. Athlete leaders thus have the capacity to shape team members' confidence--and hence their performance--in both positive and negative ways. In particular, by showing that they believe in "our team," leaders are able not only to make "us" a psychological reality, but also to transform "us" into an effective operational unit.
Publisher: Center for Open Science
Date: 19-08-2017
Abstract: Objectives. Researchers have argued that leadership is one of the most important determinants of team effectiveness. The present study examined the extent to which the perceived quality of athlete leadership was related to the effectiveness of elite sports teams. Design. Three professional football teams (N = 135) participated in our study during the preparation phase for the Australian 2016 season.Methods. Players and coaching staff were asked to assess players’ leadership quality in four leadership roles (as task, motivational, social, and external leader) via an online survey. The leadership quality in each of these roles was then calculated in a social network analysis by averaging the indegree centralities of the three best leaders in that particular role. Participants also rated their team’s performance and its functioning on multiple indicators. Results. As hypothesized, the team with the highest-quality athlete leadership on each of the four leadership roles excelled in all indicators of team effectiveness. More specifically, athletes in this team had a stronger shared sense of the team’s purpose, they were more highly committed to realizing the team’s goals, and they had a greater confidence in their team’s abilities than athletes in the other teams. Moreover, this team demonstrated a higher task-involving and a lower ego-involving climate, and excelled on all measures of performance.Conclusions. High-quality athlete leadership is positively related to team effectiveness. Given the importance of high-quality athlete leadership, the study highlights the need for well-designed empirically-based leadership development programs.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 18-05-2018
DOI: 10.1111/JOOP.12223
Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Date: 14-01-2022
DOI: 10.1101/2022.01.13.475748
Abstract: The lateral plate mesoderm (LPM) is a transient embryonic tissue that gives rise to a erse range of mature cell types, including the cardiovascular system, the urogenital system, endoskeleton of the limbs, and mesenchyme of the gut. While the genetic processes that drive development of these tissues are well defined, the early cell fate choices underlying LPM development and specification are poorly understood. In this study, we utilize single-cell transcriptomics to define cell lineage specification during development of the anterior LPM and the forelimb field in the chicken embryo. We identify the molecular pathways directing differentiation of the aLPM towards a somatic or splanchnic cell fate, and subsequent emergence of the forelimb mesenchyme. We establish the first transcriptional atlas of progenitor, transitional and mature cell types throughout the early forelimb field and uncover the global signalling pathways which are active during LPM differentiation and forelimb initiation. Specification of the somatic and splanchnic LPM from undifferentiated mesoderm utilizes distinct signalling pathways and involves shared repression of early mesodermal markers, followed by activation of lineage-specific gene modules. We identify rapid activation of the transcription factor TWIST1 in the somatic LPM preceding activation of known limb initiation genes, such as TBX 5, which plays a likely role in epithelial-to-mesenchyme transition of the limb bud mesenchyme. Furthermore, development of the somatic LPM and limb is dependent on ectodermal BMP signalling, where BMP antagonism reduces expression of key somatic LPM and limb genes to inhibit formation of the limb bud mesenchyme. Together, these findings provide new insights into molecular mechanisms that drive fate cell choices during specification of the aLPM and forelimb initiation.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 16-05-2014
DOI: 10.1002/EJSP.2030
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 17-11-2021
Abstract: Do leaders who build a sense of shared social identity in their teams thereby protect them from the adverse effects of workplace stress? This is a question that the present paper explores by testing the hypothesis that identity leadership contributes to stronger team identification among employees and, through this, is associated with reduced burnout. We tested this model with unique datasets from the Global Identity Leadership Development (GILD) project with participants from all inhabited continents. We compared two datasets from 2016/2017 (n = 5290 20 countries) and 2020/2021 (n = 7294 28 countries) and found very similar levels of identity leadership, team identification and burnout across the five years. An inspection of the 2020/2021 data at the onset of and later in the COVID-19 pandemic showed stable identity leadership levels and slightly higher levels of both burnout and team identification. Supporting our hypotheses, we found almost identical indirect effects (2016/2017, b = −0.132 2020/2021, b = −0.133) across the five-year span in both datasets. Using a subset of n = 111 German participants surveyed over two waves, we found the indirect effect confirmed over time with identity leadership (at T1) predicting team identification and, in turn, burnout, three months later. Finally, we explored whether there could be a “too-much-of-a-good-thing” effect for identity leadership. Speaking against this, we found a u-shaped quadratic effect whereby ratings of identity leadership at the upper end of the distribution were related to even stronger team identification and a stronger indirect effect on reduced burnout.
Location: Belgium
No related grants have been discovered for Katrien Fransen.