PhD defense: Alexander M. Sandvik

On Friday 16 December 2011, Alexander Madsen Sandvik will hold a trial lecture on a prescribed topic, and defend his thesis for the PhD degree at NHH.

12.12.2011 - Red

Prescribed topic for the trial lecture:
The issue of motivation in leadership research

Time of the trial lecture:
11:15 in Karl Borch's Auditorium, NHH

Title of the thesis:
Leadership of knowledge workers

Time and place for the defense:
13:15 in Karl Borch's Auditorium, NHH

Members of the evaluation committee:
Professor Marcus Selart, NHH, chair
Associate Professor Hilde Hetland, University of Bergen
Associate Professor Ronald F. Piccolo, Roy E. Crummer Graduate School of Business at Rollins College

Supervising committee:
Professor William Brochs-Haukedal, NHH, principal supervisor
Professor Øyvind Martinsen, BI Norwegian Business School

Abstract:
The purpose of this thesis is to contribute to the understanding of leadership of knowledge workers. The thesis identifies key characteristics that distinguish knowledge work from other kinds of work and provides a proposed definition that covers most of the existing key knowledge work characteristics and thus enables researchers to identify and measure it.

Another important contribution is the proposed conceptual framework to better understand effective leadership of knowledge workers. The empirical study reports that self-leadership and knowledge work mediate the link between transformational leadership and knowledge worker performance.

Another important finding is that respondents who are relatively high in knowledge work report higher work performance when they perceive their nearest leader as transformational. The main results from the exploratory case study reveal that it is possible to achieve both high levels of intrinsic motivation and goal alignment. The results also show that high levels of individual interest lead to high intrinsic motivation, and combined with clear organizational goals, these activities influence organizational performance.

The conclusion of this thesis is that research on leadership of knowledge workers has lacked a clear definition and an empirically measurable concept of knowledge work. This has led to little empirical research on effective leadership of knowledge workers. This thesis can contribute to resolving some of the confusion in the literature, and the proposed conceptual framework highlights the most important theories and approaches for future research. In general, the thesis suggests that the involvement of followers and the role of autonomy are important predictors of leadership effectiveness and should be further addressed in future research.

The trial lecture and thesis defense will be open to the public. Copies of the thesis will be available from: [email protected]