Leaders in Isolation: Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Engineers’ Leadership Identities

Abstract

Strong leadership has been required during the COVID-19 pandemic to protect public health and ease the adaptation to living “remotely.” This study explores whether and how COVID-19 has impacted engineers’ leadership identities through the lens of Relational Leadership Theory. From qualitative survey responses, leadership identity was found to be both strengthened and weakened, as well as both changed and not changed by Relational, Structural, and Personal Agency factors. The quantitative data showed that women, racialized people, and internationally trained engineers were more likely to be affected by the pandemic in some way than male, white, or Canadian trained engineers. Implications for engineering educators include the importance of teaching students about structural barriers to leadership and ways to support the leadership development of students who are returning to in-person learning with transformed leadership identities.