Followership Resilience in Administrative Structures: A New Perspective

Abstract

The study explores followership resilience in three Bulgarian municipalities. Its purpose is twofold: first, to draw the attention of researchers and managers on followership resilience, and second, to explore proactivity and trust as factors of followership re­silience in administrative structures. The study is based on a qualitative approach, and uses a combi­nation of two research strategies – exploratory and descriptive. Data is collected through semi-struc­tured interviews with a sample of 35 municipal em­ployees (10.2% from the general population). Follow­ership resilience is analyzed by means of followers’ psychological readiness to participate in the deci­sion-making process and to trust superiors. Four types of followers are identified and strengths and weaknesses of each type are discussed. The prefer­ence of the majority of interviewees (69%) to follow instructions and not to trust leaders is interpreted. It is concluded that the formula for successful fol­lowership resilience in terms of proactivity and trust involves achieving balance and coherence.