Abstract
The aim of this study was to understand how individuals with a paradoxical leadership identity respond to threats to that identity. To this end, we conducted a qualitative study, through interviews with 44 leaders of a Brazilian credit cooperative. After performing a content analysis, we identified five coping responses, which we coded as “Abandoning the identity”, “Defending the identity”, Discrediting threatenings”, “Changing the meaning of the identity” and “Relativizing the relevance of the threat”. The study concludes that the choice of the type of coping strategy is crucial for the preservation or reformulation of the individual’s paradoxical leadership identity.
Keywords:
Paradoxical leadership; Identity threat; Coping responses