Purpose: To compare two transformational leadership instruments, Bass’s Full Range Leadership Model and its instrument Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire with the Transformational Leadership Scale proposed by Rafferty and Griffin (2004), using empirical evidence from a single sample.

Methodology: The sample includes participants from different levels of the Estonian Defence Forces’ military hierarchy (N = 2570). The structures of the Transformational Leadership Scale and Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire were examined with exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, while other methods were used to compare the two instruments.

Findings: The Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire is statistically significantly better at predicting outcome variables like satisfaction with leader, effectiveness, and extra effort; however, the Transformational Leadership Scale did predict outcome variables at a sufficient level.

Research & Practical Limitations/Implications: The current research contributes to the validation of the Transformational Leadership Scale proposed by Rafferty and Griffin (2004). The results indicated that the Transformational Leadership Scale is a valuable research tool to study transformational leadership; however, some subscales require further development. Moreover, we may conclude that there is a difference between subsamples – e.g. between commanders and conscripts – that describe outcome variables using the Transformational Leadership Scale as a transformational leadership instrument.

Originality/value: There is very limited research that compares different transformational leadership instruments.

Purpose: We propose and test a new leadership model. Our model is an extension of the leaderplex model which proposes that leader cognitive and social complexities are linked with leader effec tiveness indirectly, in a mediation scheme, through behavioral complexity. We enhance the leader plex model with a leader’s degree of managerial discretion as the moderator of the links in this mediation format.

Methodology: We test our model with a moderated mediation approach (Baron-Kenny four-step procedure and Preacher-Hayes bootstrapping methods).

Findings: We use results of interviews with top leaders in Poland and demonstrate that a leader’s managerial discretion is a moderator affecting the mediation scheme assumed in the leaderplex model.

Limitations: The sample size is only 29 leaders. To preserve the respondents’ anonymity, their opinions were evaluated by only one researcher who interviewed them directly. The results may be country specific (Poland).

Originality: We define new boundary conditions for the leaderplex model by showing importance of a leader’s real position (managerial discretion) in an organization. Specifically, we show that the nature of the relationships between the variables of interest will change when a leader operates in one physical environment (e.g., high managerial discretion) rather than another (e.g., low managerial discretion).

Purpose: Since the higher education environment has become highly competitive, the application of marketing principles to the education environment becomes increasingly evident. In order to attract new students and continue business, the institutional brand also gains on importance. Considering the scant literature on the influence of the perceptions of service quality dimensions on brand equity in general and higher education in particular, this exploratory study seeks to determine whether the SERVPERF dimensions of service quality make significant influencers of the overall brand equity of select (South African) universities, and whether the overall service quality significantly influences the overall brand equity.

Design: The authors conducted a survey among a judgmental sample of 400 students from two selected university campuses, using the SERVPERF scale. The data were analyzed with inferential statistical methods, such as multiple regression analysis, with the help of SPSS.

Findings: Tangibles and Empathy were significant and positive influencers of the students’ perception of the institutions’ overall brand equity and the overall service quality as a significant predictor of the overall brand equity. It also became evident that the overall service quality has a significant and positive influence on the overall brand equity when it comes to the students’ perceptions of the surveyed universities.

Implications: Tangibles and Empathy must be closely monitored and carefully managed, while the important role that service quality plays in the overall sense in increasing brand equity perceptions implies that – in the branding efforts of higher education institutions – management and leadership should pay particular attention to offering high levels of service quality to increase the value of their brands.

Research limitations: Only two campuses from one public higher education institution in South Africa was included in the survey, thus any generalization of the research findings must be circumspect.

Originality/value: Management and leadership of higher education institutions must know the service quality dimensions which promote the brand of the institution and manage them to promote a positive image of the institution since these are the dimensions of quality emphasized by the students.

Purpose: The aim of the pilot study was to fnd out whether the perception of candidates for leadership positions differs along with the gender of the candidate in Poland.

Methodology: In order to answer the question, the author has conducted a preliminary experiment on 50 MBA students, which were experienced in recruitment. Two identical CVs were randomly distributed among the participants, with either a male or female version of the CV. Basing on the provided information, respondents were to decide on among others hireability, likeability and offered income to the given candidate.

Findings: The experiment revealed that the female candidate for the CEO position was perceived and evaluated differently than the male candidate. Thus, the experiment indicated that gender inequality may already appear at the phase of recruitment for higher positions.

Originality: The presented study analyzed perceptions of experienced recruiters, which may suggest that such behaviors and patters may be repeated in a non-laboratory environment.

Limitations: A limitation of the pilot study is the low number of participants and therefore further research should be conducted.

Purpose: Sixty-five HR general managers representing companies from a variety of industries took
part in the research that we conducted between April and October 2013. They had identified leadership
development as the most significant factor in the growth of the top firms in Poland’s economy.
We have conducted in-depth interviews to understand the perception of the leadership concept.
We have found that they tend to focus on the following dimensions of leadership: conveying
a vision, inspiring, being charismatic, being credible, being able to manage others, and having good
interpersonal skills.

Research limitations and implications: The main limitation of the research is that it does not allow
for generalization of findings on perceived dimensionality of leadership on larger population of HR
Executives. Our findings imply that leadership development will soon be a strong priority among
HR teams of 500 largest companies, but several dimensions are not present in their description of
leadership.

Originality/value: Our paper makes three contributions to the literature. We have developed a managerial
attention view of the firm by surveying senior HR executives. CEOs, CFOs, and top management
teams tend to be subject of studies in this theoretical tradition more often than HR executives,
Another contribution is the use of mixed methods that is rather rare yet offering vast opportunities
for triangulation and knowledge building in the discipline. Our third contribution is that we applied
a standard scale of the multidimensional leadership concept.