Senior police leadership: does rank matter?

This paper examines the leadership of police officers in the top levels or ranks of an Australian police organization. The sample consisted of 480 senior police who recorded the frequency of leadership behaviors of the person they directly report to via the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire. Multi‐regression was used to identify predictors of the leadership outcomes of leader effectiveness and extra effort. The study found that each rank of senior officers had unique sets of leadership behaviors that influence the perception of leader effectiveness and motivation to exert extra effort. The Stratified System Theory was used to explore why each rank had unique combinations of predictors. Finally, the paper discusses the multilevel issues of leadership and the importance of considering rank in relation to leadership at the senior levels of police organizations.