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INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PUBLIC LEADERSHIP : The role of power-addiction and maladaptive denial in the US federal COVID-19 response
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Purpose – Given the substantial resources of the United States, the failure of the American federal response to
coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been both tragic and avoidable. The authors frame this response as
an artifact of power-addiction among administration officials and examine the US federal response to the
COVID-19 pandemic through the lens of maladaptive denial by government officials, including
President Trump.
Design/methodology/approach – The authors use qualitative research methods for this study by analyzing
key events, public statements by administration officials from multiple credible media reports and US federal
government websites. The authors analyzed these data using Weidner and Purohit’s (2009) model describing
maladaptive denial in organizations and power-addiction among leaders.
Findings – The authors’ analysis identifies maladaptive denial – and the concomitant power-addiction – as
significantly contributing to the Trump administration’s failed response to COVID-19. Maladaptive denial and
power-addiction characterized Trump as a candidate and for the three years of his presidency preceding the
COVID-19 crisis. Whatever normative “guardrails” or checks and balances existed in the American system to
restrict the administration’s behavior before the crisis were ill-equipped to significantly prevent or alter the
failed federal response to the pandemic.
Originality/value – The article applies the model of maladaptive denial in organizations (Weidner and
Purohit, 2009) to the public sector, and explores the lengths to which power-addicted leaders and regimes can
violate the public’s trust in institutions in a crisis, even in the US, a liberal democracy characterized by freedom
of political expression. While organizations and change initiatives may fail for a variety of reasons, this case
revealed the extent to which maladaptive denial can permeate a government – or any organization – and its
response to a crisis.
NONE
Text
ENGLISH
EMERALD INSIGHT
2021
ENGLAND
ILMU PEMERINTAHAN
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APA Citation
C. Ken Weidner II. (2021).INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PUBLIC LEADERSHIP : The role of power-addiction and
maladaptive denial in the US
federal COVID-19 response.(Electronic Thesis or Dissertation). Retrieved from https://localhost/etd