Examining Lab Leadership and Management Practices That Foster A Climate For Research Ethics

This study tested the hypothesis that the leadership and management practices of principal investigators (PIs) foster important research workplace outcomes. The practices examined were those commonly overlooked by investigators referred to a remediation training program for research misconduct or persistent research noncompliance. Furthermore, these leadership and management practices are prevalent among research exemplars—investigators nominated by their colleagues as outstanding in research productivity and integrity.

In a sample of post-doctoral biomedical researchers (N=570), we examined the leadership and management practices of PIs as predictors of perceptions of climate for research ethics, job satisfaction, and productivity. The study provided validity evidence for our newly developed leadership scale and identified which dimensions of PIs behavior are associated with which workplace outcomes. Because research labs in the U.S. are multi-cultural, we also tested whether the relationships between leadership practices and climate, productivity, and job satisfaction are moderated by whether the post-doctoral researchers are born in the U.S. or internationally. The study also established the validity of a short measure of climate for research ethics in research teams. Both measures will be useful for future research and for practical interventions aimed at giving PIs feedback on their leadership.

Solomon, E. D., English, T., Wroblewski, M., DuBois, J. M., & Antes, A. L. (2022). Assessing the climate for research ethics in labs: Development and validation of a brief measure. Accountability in Research, 29(1), 2-17. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33517782/