Leadership climate, attitudes, and evidence-based management behavior

Abstract

There is a huge gap between knowing and doing in organizations. Why do organizations find it so difficult to bridge the gap between practice and research? evidence-based management is an approach that tries to bridge this gap. To really grow and develop evidence-based management, we must better understand attitudes towards it and how the business context (inclusive of leaders, teams, etc.) encourages evidence-based practice. I introduce a theoretical framework that explains how social norms in an organization mediate between leadership climate and individual employees' intentions to implement evidence-based practice. The framework builds on the Theory of Planned Behavior, with elements from Self-Determination Theory and Sense-Making Theory. This study has resulted in novel, validated scales to measure the evidence-based management process, both on the individual and on the team level. While the study results did not fully support the multilevel, mediated model, they did add support to the individual-level model. Subgroup findings suggest that managers' behaviors are driven more by perceived requirements, while nonmanagers are more driven by their appeal to evidence-based practice.

Organizational interventions focusing on enhancing the leadership climate to foster evidence-based practice should aim for strengthening the perception that "evidence-based is the way we work in this organization" rather than focusing on individual employees' attitudes toward evidence-based practice. These interventions should be different for managers and nonmanagers.