Leadership, Passion and Performance: A Study of Job Creation Projects during the Recession
| Author | Pankaj C. Patel,Joakim Wincent,Sara Thorgren |
| Published date | 01 April 2015 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8551.12092 |
| Date | 01 April 2015 |
Leadership, Passion and Performance:
A Study of Job Creation Projects during
the Recession
Pankaj C. Patel, Sara Thorgren1and Joakim Wincent1,2
Ball State University, Miller College of Business, 2000 W. University Ave, Muncie, IN 47306, USA, and
1Luleå University of Technology, Entrepreneurship and Innovation, 971 87 Luleå, and 2Hanken School of
Economics, FI-001 01 Helsinki, Finland
Corresponding author email: joakim.wincent@ltu.se
In the aftermath of the economic recession that began in 2008, governmental bodies have
been assisting private sector companies to create jobs. To increase financial performance
under greater economic uncertainty and liquidity constraints, this study proposes that a
leader’s type of passion could explain why some project leaders who receive government
funding succeed in creating jobs whereas others do not. Harmonious passion, a voluntary
but not overpowering urge to engage in an activity, leads to higher job creation, espe-
cially under greater environmental complexity. Obsessive passion, an uncontrollable
urge to engage in an activity, also leads to higher job creation, particularly under
increasing environmental dynamism. Using survey data from 105 European Union pro-
jects and archival data on job creation from the EU funding agency, we find support for
the proposed framework. The findings provide a basis for acknowledging the relevance of
a leader’s passion for environmental adaptation.
Introduction
Leadership in the context of global crisis is an
issue of significant importance (Chau et al., 2012).
During the 2008 economic crisis, governments
worldwide began funding private sector initiatives
to mitigate liquidity crunch and promote eco-
nomic growth. The USA’s stimulus of $1.338 tril-
lion and the European Union’s (EU’s) stimulus of
€200 billion were central to controlling further
decline. The effectiveness of such stimulus pro-
grammes geared toward creating jobs, however, is
increasingly called into question. Although
numerous factors could impact relative differ-
ences in the success among entities receiving
stimulus funds, the present study highlights that
factors relating to the leader and the environment
may explain why some leaders enhance perfor-
mance in the face of economic adversity whereas
others do not. We suggest that a leader’s passion
may be one factor that could play a key role in
pursuing strategic actions and making strategic
decisions when economic decline calls for diffi-
dence. Passion is defined as ‘a strong inclination
toward an activity that people like, that they find
important, and in which they invest time and
energy’ (Vallerand et al., 2003, p. 756). Among
the many leadership qualities, passion is essential
to mitigating significant challenges and develop-
ing novel solutions (Baum and Locke, 2004;
Baum, Locke and Smith, 2001; Cardon et al.,
2009). Focusing on industry practitioners, Glasser
et al. (2012) found that passion was the key driver
of growth during tough economic times.
In announcing EU project funding during the
global crisis, policy makers emphasized that
This study is part of a project funded by the Swedish
Research Council, the Swedish Council for Working Life
and Social Research and Handelsbanken’s Research
Foundations. We thank the three anonymous reviewers
for their helpful comments.
© 2015 British Academy of Management. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd, 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4
2DQ, UK and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA, 02148, USA.
British Journal of Management, Vol. 26, 211–224 (2015)
DOI: 10.1111/1467-8551.12092
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