Wartime Leadership as a Bridge Over Troubled Waters: A Representative Bureaucracy Perspective on Ethnically Homogeneous and Heterogeneous Schools
通过比较以色列犹太与阿拉伯学生/教职工构成的同质与混合学校在2023年10月7日爆发战争后的挑战，发现两类学校均面临人员短缺等五大问题，但混合学校还面临维护敏感性和促进包容等身份相关挑战，揭示了战时如何触发代表性行为。
ABSTRACT The representative bureaucracy literature asserts that minority personnel in public organizations can promote their social group either through their own behavior or by influencing other staff members or focal citizens. However, these phenomena have not been examined in wartime settings in ethnically homogeneous and heterogeneous organizations. Through the qualitative paradigm, we compare ethnically homogeneous schools (with only Jewish or Arab students and staff) and ethnically mixed schools (comprising Jewish and Arab students and/or staff) in Israel regarding the challenges they faced during the Israel‐Hamas war that erupted on October 7, 2023. We reveal that both types of organizations faced five main challenges: staff shortages, maintaining routine, providing emotional support, ensuring safety, and offering ad‐hoc solutions. However, two identity‐related themes emerged only in ethnically heterogeneous schools: maintaining sensitivity to diverse populations and promoting values of tolerance and inclusion. The study highlights how wartime serves as a mechanism for triggering representational behavior.