Rewriting the Narrative: The Relationship Between Trauma, Leadership Identity, and Workplace Satisfaction

Trauma is widely recognized for its devastating psychological effects, yet emerging research suggests that it can also fuel significant personal and professional growth. Most studies examining trauma in a professional context primarily focus on workplace-induced trauma, rather than exploring how personal trauma outside of work or other leadership roles influences an individual’s behavior and abilities within those professional settings. This study examined the relationship between past traumatic experiences, leadership identity, and workplace satisfaction, using the Social Identity Model of Identity Change (SIMIC; Haslam et al., 2021) as a theoretical framework. SIMIC asserts that identity transformation occurs through maintaining or acquiring social group memberships, which can facilitate well-being and resilience. Applying this model, this study examined whether individuals who have experienced higher levels of past trauma are more likely to adopt a transformational leadership style, develop greater workplace satisfaction, greater resilience in their leadership, and greater empathy towards their professional relationships. The research method employed a Qualtrics survey distributed to the Chapman University Alumni Association LinkedIn Group, the Panther Network Alumni Discussion Group, and Chapman SONA, leveraging psychological scales which measured the degree of exposure to past trauma, leadership style, empathy, workplace satisfaction, and resilience. Inconsistent with the hypotheses, there was no evidence that higher levels of past trauma are correlated with a transformational leadership style, greater workplace satisfaction, greater resilience in leadership, or greater empathy towards coworkers. These findings highlight the need for future research to explore the relationship between leadership identity and workplace satisfaction, focusing on the impact of personal trauma or adverse experiences brought into the workplace, rather than limiting the scope to trauma caused in the workplace itself.