Leading for research excellence and integrity: A qualitative investigation of the relationship-building practices of exemplary principal investigators

ABSTRACT

We conducted semi-structured, telephone interviews with 52 federally funded researchers nominated as exemplars for their integrity and professional conduct, and their scientific achievements. The aim was to identify the practices they report utilizing to build respectful relationships in their teams. We found four practices, holding meetings, providing supervision and guidance, encouraging shared ownership, and expressing values, which were also important to performing high-quality, compliant research, were essential to fostering relationships. The most common practice described for building relationships was actively and deliberately cultivating a positive team environment. Additionally, exemplars described the need to lead by example, tailor their approach to the needs of individuals, address interpersonal conflict, and hire team members cautiously. We also identified practices the exemplars reported as important to managing the demands of their work and found that encouraging shared ownership and tailoring to individuals supported this goal. Additional strategies related to prioritization and planning, seeking advice, engaging in self-care, and managing emotional reactions. Finally, we identified priorities guiding the exemplars’ practices. Key priorities included providing outstanding mentoring, building collaborations and relationships, and engaging in discovery and innovation. Investigators require exceptional leadership skills but receive limited systematic leadership training. Addressing this gap would advance research excellence and integrity.

KEYWORDS:

• Leadership
• mentoring
• research environment
• research integrity
• responsible conduct of research

Acknowledgments

We gratefully recognize research assistants, Christina Arzate, Mary Quandt, and Rachel Hettleman, who made valuable contributions to this work. We also thank those who nominated researchers and our review panel. We also appreciate the support of the Professionalism and Integrity in Research Program (DuBois, Director), which allowed us to develop a project website and send the exemplars plaques.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National HumanGenome Research Institute (K01HG008990, Antes, PI), and inpart by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences(UL1TR002345).