Médicos Migrantes

Migrant Physicians' Leadership Styles in Managing Challenging Professional Situations

Citation (APA 7th Edition): Lazzaro-Salazar, M., & Graf, E. M. (2026). Migrant Physicians’ Leadership Styles in Managing Challenging Professional Situations. In (Mis) Understandings in Multicultural Communication: Implications for Second Language Classrooms and Professional Settings (pp. 37-54). Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland.

"Nearby Leaders" — How do migrant doctors lead without formal authority? A new book chapter explores how migrant physicians in Chile construct leadership identities to manage the challenges of adjusting to a new multicultural workplace.

Key Study Data:

Analyzed Corpus: In-depth interviews with 43 migrant physicians from three regions in Chile (Antofagasta, Maule, and Magallanes), collected between 2016 and 2020.

Workplace Dynamics: The study highlights how migrant physicians, despite lacking institutionally sanctioned roles of power, gain recognition through their emotional connections and "humane" relationships with patients, positioning themselves as "nearby leaders".

Key Finding: The analysis identifies two primary leadership styles—transformational and coach-like leadership—used by migrant doctors to navigate cultural tensions with local physicians. This demonstrates how they construct their professional legitimacy, medical ideologies, and understandings of their roles as care providers through narrative discourse.

👥 Authorship & Affiliation: Dr. Mariana Lazzaro-Salazar (Centro de Investigación de Estudios Avanzados del Maule - UCM, Chile) and Dr. Eva-Maria Graf (University of Klagenfurt, Austria).

Видео Médicos Migrantes канала Ecos Climate Change