Semantic Determinants of Civil Servants’ Representations of the Modern Russian Leader

The article analyzes the results of a study of the semantic determinants of civil servants’ representations of a modern Russian leader. The relevance of the research is determined, on the one hand, by the function of social representations of the modern Russian leader in mediating managerial and organizational interactions, and, on the other hand, by the significant influence of semantic determinants on the formation of images of the leader in the minds of all participants in these interactions, which are value-based including career orientations. The diagnostic tools used were the methods of career anchors by E. Shein, adapted by V.A. Chiker and V.E. Vinokurova, and the author’s questionnaire to study ideas about the psychological characteristics of modern Russian leaders. A comparative analysis of the factor structure of the ideas about the leader was carried out in the subgroups identified depending on the level of severity of orientations towards service, management, challenge and entrepreneurship. It is established that the similarity in the content and structure of the research participants’ ideas about the modern Russian leader is related to their belonging to the same professional group and the similarity of experience in managerial and organizational interactions, and the differences are determined, on the one hand, by the level of expression of a particular career orientation, and on the other hand, by the personal importance of service, management, challenge and entrepreneurship for the study participants. It is revealed that the differences in the content and structure of the highlighted images of a modern Russian leader are defined by the predominance of respondents’ focus on the value of service, management, challenge or entrepreneurship. It is shown that some personal and activity characteristics are interpreted as significant for a leader in the aspect of several career orientations at once, while others are realized in relation to one or another career orientation as invariant.

1. Abul’khanova K.A. (2002) Sotsial’noye myshleniye lichnosti [Social thinking of the individual]. Sovremennaya psikhologiya: sostoyaniye i perspektivy issledovaniy. Moscow: Institut psikhologii RAN. Part 3. P. 88–103.

2. Asad M.M., Sherwani F., Asad M.E. (2014) Distinctiveness and Characteristic of Competent Manager and Leader in This Advanced Epoch. New York Science Journal. Vol. 7. Is. 4. P. 17–20.

3. Barnard Ch. (2009) The Functions of the Executive. Moscow, Chelyabinsk: Sotsium, IRISEN.

4. Chirkovskaya E.G. (2023) Predstavleniya rukovoditeley gosudarstvennoy sfery ob upravlencheskoy uspeshnosti [Public sector leaders’ perceptions of managerial success]. Lichnost’: resursy i potentsial. No. 1–2 (17–18). P. 209–213.

5. Cook S. (2009) The Effective Manager. Management Skills for High Performance. Cambridgeshire: IT Governance Publishing.

6. Emel’yanova T.P. (2016) Sotsial’nyye predstavleniya: istoriya, teoriya i empiricheskiye issledovaniya [Social representations: History, theory, and empirical research]. Moscow: Institut psikhologii RAN.

7. Ermolaev V.V. (2017) The Coherence between Ideal and Real Images of Heads of the Interior Affairs as an Attractiveness Factor of the Police Service. Uchenyye zapiski Krymskogo federal’nogo universiteta imeni V. I. Vernadskogo. Sotsiologiya. Pedagogika. Psikhologiya. Vol. 3(69). No. 1. P. 24–33.

8. Iancu I., Hanţă A. (2010) Social Representations of Happiness. Journal of Media Research. Is. 7. P. 12–38.

9. Ilynykh S.A. (2009) Gender Stereotypes and Gender Perceptions in Organizational Culture: On an Example on Small Business. Vestnik Tambovskogo universiteta. Seriya: Gumanitarnyye nauki. No. 10(78). P. 332–338.

10. Ivanova O.V., Malenova A.Yu. (2024) Personal Portrait of a Manager and His Features in the Representation of Business Company Managers: Human-Centered Model. Zhiznennyye trayektorii lichnosti v sovremennom mire: sotsial’nyy i individual’nyy kontekst: Sbornik statey II Mezhdunarodnoy nauchno-prakticheskoy konferentsii. Kostroma: KGU. P. 126–130.

11. Jodelet D. (1984) Représentations sociales: phénomènes, concept et théorie. In: Moscovici S. (ed.) Psychologie sociale. Paris: PUF. P. 357–378.

12. Karaszewski R., Drewniak R. (2021) The Leading Traits of the Modern Corporate Leader: Comparing Survey Results from 2008 and 2018. Energies. Vol. 14. Is. 23. DOI: 10.3390/en14237926

13. Kibal’chenko I.A., Eksakusto T.V. (2019) Modern Students’ Mental Representations of Success. International Journal of Cognitive Research in Science, Engineering and Education (IJCRSEE). Vol. 7. Is. 1. P. 1–13. DOI: 10.5937/ijcrsee1901001K

14. Kim E.Sh. (2018) Tsennostnyye oriyentatsii rukovoditeley biznes-organizatsiy v strukture upravlencheskoy deyatel’nosti: sotsiologicheskiy aspekt [Value orientations of managers of business organizations in the structure of managerial activity: The sociological aspect]. Sotsiologiya. No. 2. P. 179–184.

15. Korablin S.I. (2007) Osobennosti predstavleniya o rukovoditele v gruppakh s razlichnym urovnem sotsial’nopsikhologicheskogo razvitiya [Features of the representation of a leader in groups with different levels of socio-psychological development]. Territoriya nauki. No. 1. P. 126–132.

16. Korneeva T.V. (2015) Interconnection of Value Orientations with Emotional and Semantic Representations of Teenagers about themselves and a Friend. Vestnik MGPU. Seriya: Pedagogika i psikhologiya. No. 2 (32). P. 37–47.

17. Lukšík I., Guillaume M. (2018) Representations of Love in the Early Stages of Love. Human affairs. Is. 28. P. 271–284. DOI: 10.1515/humaff-2018-0022

18. Merzlyakova S.V., Golubeva M.G., Bibarsova N.V. (2020) The Interrelation of Students’ Ideas about Fatherhood with Gender, Age and Structure of Valuable Orientations. Obrazovanie i nauka. Vol. 22. No. 8. P. 162–188. DOI: 10.17853/1994-5639-2020-8-162-188

19. Mlyavaya N.V., Polyanok O.V. (2022) Predstavleniye pokoleniya Z ob ideal’nom rukovoditele [Generation Z’s vision of the ideal leader]. Ural’skaya gornaya shkola — regionam. Materialy mezhdunarodnoy nauchnoprakticheskoy konferentsii. Ekaterinburg: UGGU. P. 486–487.

20. Mustafaeva E.M. (2015) The Associative Method in the Diagnosis of Perceptions of Subordinates about the Management Styles of the British and Russian Chiefs. Rossiyskiy psikhologicheskiy zhurnal. Vol. 12. No. 4. P. 193–202. DOI: 10.21702/rpj.2015.4.16

21. Mustafina L.Sh. (2020) A Person in the World of Moral Values: The Structure of Social Ideas about Conscience among Believers and Unbelieving Adolescents. Razvitiye cheloveka v sovremennom mire. No. 4. P. 36–43.

22. Novikov M.M. (2013) The Image of Ideal Leader as Seen by Employees of State and Commercial Enterprises. Izvestiya Smolenskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. No. 1 (21). P. 412–417.

23. Osintseva A.V. (2007) Sluzhebnoye vzaimodeystviye i psikhologicheskiy obraz rukovoditelya [Office interaction and the psychological image of the head]. Psikhopedagogika v pravookhranitel’nykh organakh. No. 3 (30). P. 5–8.

24. Petrov K.G., Aleksandrova D.N. (2021) School Principals’ Views on the Model of a Modern Effective Head of a General Education Organization. Chelovek i obrazovanie. No. 3 (68). P. 21–27. DOI: 10.54884/S181570410019387-0

25. Pinto de Almeida Bizarria F., Lorenne Sampaio Barbosa F., Rayla de Araújo Silva A., Tais da Silva R., Ferreira da Silva G. (2022) Social Representations of Women Leaders from the Perspective of Plural Leadership. International Journal of Humanities Social Sciences and Education. Vol. 9. Is. 8. P. 88–103. DOI: 10.20431/2349-0381.0908009

26. Podzhidaeva A.Yu., Sebekin V.P., Baltabaev R.K. (2021) The Modern Image of the Russian Leader (Reconstruction of Social Views Based on Reading the Drawing Data). V poiskakh sotsial’noy istiny. Materialy III Mezhdunarodnoy nauchno-prakticheskoy konferentsii. Irkutsk: IGU. P. 428–433.

27. Raišienė A.G. (2014) Leadership and Managerial Competences in a Contemporary Organization from the Standpoint of Business Executives. Economics and Sociology. Vol. 7. Is. 3. P. 179–193. DOI: 10.14254/2071-789X.2014/7-3/14

28. Rubannikova E.A. (2023) Osobennosti predstavleniy zhenshchin-podchinennykh o sebe i zhenshchinerukovoditele kak trudnom partnëre obshcheniya [Features of female subordinates’ perceptions of themselves and a female supervisor as a difficult communication partner]. Nedelya nauki 2023. Sbornik tezisov. Rostovna-Donu — Taganrog: YuFU. P. 379–382.

29. Schelokova E.G. (2013) Valuable-Sense Priorities of Future Professionals with Different Career Orientations. Fundamental’nyye issledovaniya. No. 11. P. 788–794.

30. Selezneva E.V. (2017) Valuable Orientation towards Responsibility as Determinant of Personal and Professional Growth of Managerial Staff. Akmeologiya. No. 2(62). P. 66–72.

31. Selezneva E.V., Demidov S.A. (2023) The Modern Russian Leader in the Representations of Civil Servants. Upravlencheskoye konsul’tirovaniye. No. 9. P. 81–95. DOI: 10.22394/1726-1139-2023-9-81-95

32. Selezneva E.V., Demidov S.A. (2024a) Female and Male in the Civil Servants’ Representations of the Modern Russian Leader. Rossiyskiy sotsial’no-gumanitarnyy zhurnal. No. 1. DOI: 10.18384/2224-0209-2024-1-1415

33. Selezneva E.V., Demidov S.A. (2024b) Modern Russian Leader in the Representations of Civil Servants Holding Different Positions. Mir psikhologii. No. 1 (116). P. 109–125. DOI: 10.51944/20738528_2024_1_109

34. Şleahtiţchi M. (2018) Values, Leaders and Social Representations. Human and Social Studies. Vol. 7. Is. 3. P. 13–22. DOI: 10.2478/hssr-2018-0022

35. Tarasova L.E. (2016) Social Notions about the Welfare in the Dialogue of Civilizations. Vestnik Udmurtskogo universiteta. Seriya “Filosofiya. Psikhologiya. Pedagogika”. Vol. 26. No. 4. P. 100–106.

36. Tekhteleva N.V. (2023) Features of Gender Perceptions about Management Activities of Directors with Different Work Experience. Vestnik Samarskogo munitsipal’nogo instituta upravleniya. No. 3. P. 7–13.

37. Tulegenova D.D. (2025) Patriotism in the Views of Russian Youth: A Political and Psychological Analysis. Gosudarstvennoye upravleniye. Elektronnyy vestnik. No. 108. P. 148–159 . DOI: 10.55959/MSU2070-1381-108-2025-148-159

38. Yarina E.V. (2014) Theoretical Analysis of “Values” and “Valuable Orientations” Concepts. Uchenyye zapiski Orlovskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. No. 5(61). P. 160–162.

39. Zakharova L.N. Korobeynikova E.V. (2015) Personal Characteristics of Effective Managers in Organizational Cultures of Different Types. Psychology in Russia: State of the Art. Vol. 8. Is. 3. P. 69–83.