Implicit Leadership Theories: Prototypes for New Leaders

Followers' implicit leadership theories for new group leaders, including their prototypes of new-leader behavior, consist of organized expectations. If met, these expectations may afford a leader greater influence. Subjects' prototypes for new leaders were assessed by subjecting an 87 x 87 co-occurrence matrix of leader behaviors, based on subjects' similarity classifications, to hierarchical cluster analysis. At the proposed basic level of hierarchy (Rosch, 1978) were 16 categories of expectations for leader behavior, including giving ideas to the group, being responsible, and accepting others, which formed four abstract superordinate categories: learning the group's goals, taking charge, being a nice person, and being nervous. The results are discussed with relation to (a) the synthesis of the universal-trait and situation-contingent-behavior approaches for predicting leadership effectiveness, (b) cross-situational and cross-cultural comparisons of leader categorizations, (c) expectations for established leaders, and (d) leader selection and training.     

The role of within‐group agreement in understanding transformational leadership

Theories of transformational leadership imply that effective leaders should engage in a constellation of appropriate behaviours. Further, since an important component of transformational leadership is the leader's ability to create a consensus or a similar mindset among subordinates, attributions that the leader is transformational are likely to depend on both the leader's behaviours and the extent to which subordinates perceive the leader similarly. In the present study, these notions were tested using a multi‐source data set comprising 68 focal managers, 285 subordinates, 495 peers, and 68 supervisors. Results indicated that leaders who engage in higher levels of appropriate leader behaviours are more likely to have followers who agree in their perceptions of the leader. In addition, significant interactions were found between leader behaviours and agreement among subordinates, suggesting that agreement moderates the relationship between leader behaviours and attributions of transformational leadership style.     

A qualitative study of leader behaviors perceived to enable salesperson performance

Abstract

This study builds on and extends previous sales leadership research by exploring sales professionals’ perceptions of effective leadership behaviors. Semistructured interviews with both sales leaders and salespeople working in a global enterprise software company were examined through a qualitative analysis. Results indicated that participants believed sales leadership played an important role in influencing sales performance. When asked to describe specific sales leader behaviors that best enable salesperson performance, sales professionals – both sales leaders and salespeople – overwhelmingly referenced coaching, followed by collaborating, championing, and customer engaging. We define and describe these four key sales leader behaviors and identify four potential mediating variables (trust, confidence, optimism, and resilience), from which emerges a conceptual framework of sales leader behaviors perceived to enable salesperson performance. We examine these four key sales leader behaviors and mediators in the broader context of leadership theory, particularly transformational, servant, authentic, and adaptive leadership theories. The key contribution of this study is the identification of a set of leader behaviors that are likely to be especially effective in modern sales organizations given that they originated from the perceptions of sales professionals themselves.     

The Effect of Transformational and Transactional Leadership Perceptions on Feedback-Seeking Intentions

This paper explores the relationship between leadership style as operationalized by trans-formational/transactional leadership (Bass, 1985) and feedback-seeking behavior. Participants ( n = 132) were presented with a vignette describing either a transformational or a transactional leader. Leadership style (transformational leader) was significantly related to higher feedback-seeking intentions. Further, controlling for manipulated leadership style, participants' perceptions of leader consideration behaviors resulted in higher feedback-seeking intentions. These findings suggest that not only does exposure to a certain leader affect feedback-seeking behavior, but also perceptions of certain characteristics of a leader's behavior are important. These findings explain one potential mechanism through which transformational leaders might affect the development of their subordinates and raises interesting implications for leadership coaching.     

Charisma Is Contagious: The Effect of Leaders’ Charisma on Observers’ Affect1

Two studies were conducted to test the hypothesis that charismatic leadership, characterized by nonverbal expressiveness and immediacy, would lead via emotional contagion to the imitation of the leader's nonverbal behavior. In Study I, charismatic leaders were college students whose performance of a simulated campaign speech included more smiles, more intense smiles, and longer and more frequent visual attention to the audience. Observers showed higher levels of all 4 relevant behaviors while watching charismatic leaders. In Study 2, college student participants watched more and less charismatic excerpts selected from President Clinton's and ex‐President Bush's responses during their first 1992 televised debate. Comparing the same behaviors, there was a similar pattern to Study I for responses to the Clinton excerpts, and an almost reversed pattern for the Bush excerpts. The overall results support an emotional contagion effect of charismatic leadership when the leader exhibits truly charismatic behavior.     

The Impact of Leadership Style on Global Management Practices1

A study was conducted to explore the impact of differences in leadership style on the practice of global leadership and management. Data were collected from 391 senior managers from a global organization and 1,701 of their direct reports, 358 straight-line supervisors, and 266 dotted-line supervisors. ANOVA results indicate that transformational leaders were rated significantly higher on all behaviors by their direct reports than were transactional leaders. Straight-line supervisors rated transformational leaders significantly higher on managing change- and relationship-management behaviors, whereas dotted-line supervisors rated transformational leaders higher on learning orientation. Finally, transformational leaders were significantly more self-aware (greater congruence in self vs. direct reports' average ratings) regarding the practice of these behaviors. implications for future research are discussed.     

Women's access to managerial positions: an experimental study of leadership styles and gender

This study attempts to test one of the explanations of the scarce representation of women in managerial positions, specifically the one advanced by "role congruity theory of prejudice toward female leaders" (Eagly & Karau, 2002), which appeals to the fact that women get unfavorable evaluations if they adopt male-stereotypical leadership styles. One-hundred and thirty-six undergraduate students participated in an experiment with a 2 (Male-stereotypical vs. Female-stereotypical leadership style) x 2 (Male vs. Female leader) design. Dependent variables were leader's competence, efficacy, and evaluation in a series of traits. It was found that, regardless of sex, the leaders were considered more competent and efficient, and were evaluated more favorably, when they adopted stereotypically feminine leadership styles. Implications of these findings for women's underrepresentation as leaders in management top positions worldwide are discussed.     

Visibility and evaluation of female and male leaders

Visibility and evaluation of female and male leaders were assessed as a function of follower sex, performance level, and rater sex by having subjects view videotapes of interacting triads. Subjects identified persons exhibiting leadership behaviors as leaders regardless of experimental condition. Performance level had significant main effects on six of seven leader evaluation measures, with leaders of high-performing groups being rated more leaderlike, dominant, intelligent, competent, industrious, and supportive. Although female leaders were equally visible and were evaluated the same as male leaders, the probability of continued success was seen as lower for groups with female leaders of all-female or all-male followers. Results were interpreted as an indication that relevant behavioral data can mitigate stereotypic perceptions and evaluations in the individual case, but that current evaluations of female leaders may fail to generalize to future performance expectancies.     

Footsteps I would like to follow? How gender quotas affect the acceptance of women leaders as role models and inspirations for leadership

This research examines how the method of selecting women leaders affects other women's leadership interest. The results of three experiments (N = 1,015) indicated that only when women leaders were selected due to merit, not quota-based policies, did they boost female participants’ interest in a leadership position. These reactions were mediated by perceptions of the woman leader's deservingness of her position (Studies 1–3) and consequent acceptance as a role model (Studies 2 and 3). Accordingly, success information validating quota-based selected leaders’ competence provided a boost in leadership interest equal to that of merit-based selected leaders (Study 2). For male participants, quota but not merit-based selected women leaders lowered interest in leadership due to their pessimistic assessment of the probability of being selected (Study 1). These results suggest that a wise implementation of quota regulations includes validating women's competence so they are perceived as deserving of their leader roles and can thus serve as inspiring role models.     

Attribution of Influence and Charisma to the Leader: The Romance of Leadership Revisited1

This study examined the impact of performance outcomes, leadership type, leader behaviors, and observers' general belief in the importance of leadership on attributions of influence and charisma to a leader. Subjects (N= 549) read 24 versions of an organizational vignette representing all possible combinations of two performance levels, two leadership roles, and six leader behavior conditions, and were asked to evaluate the leader's level of causal influence and charisma. Results supported and extended Meindl's (1990) claim that observers' tendency to romanticize the role of a specific leader is affected by the group performance outcomes and by observers' general beliefs in the importance of leadership in organizations. The results further suggested that more influence may be attributed to a prototypical leadership role than to a less prototypical role. However, information about leader behaviors did not affect the attributions of influence and charisma to the leader. These results are discussed with reference to Conger and Kanungo's (1987) attributional theory of charismatic leadership and leadership categorization theory (Lord, 1985).     

Male or Female Athletic Director? Exploring Perceptions of Leader Effectiveness and a (Potential) Female Leadership Advantage with Intercollegiate Athletic Directors

We investigated whether transformational leadership was associated with more positive perceptions of outcomes among intercollegiate athletic directors in the U.S. Also, we examined whether leader gender influenced perceptions of participants, and if there was an interaction between leadership style and leader gender in predicting organizational outcomes. Division I and II male participants (n?=?99) evaluated either a male or female transactional or transformational leader on extra effort, satisfaction, and effectiveness. MANOVA and post hoc analyses were used in our evaluation. Findings indicated transformational leadership was related to more positive organizational outcomes, that there was no difference between male and female leaders on attaining these outcomes, and that there was no interaction between leadership style and leader gender.     

Identifying emergent leaders from verbal and nonverbal communications.

Subject/observers were accurate in identifying emergent leadership hierarchies on four leadership dimensions when provided records of target groups' meetings containing only verbal communications, only nonverbal communications, or both types of behavior. With knowledge of participation rates controlled by covariance, the subject/observers' accuracy scores retained significance in three of the information conditions demonstrating the presence of verbal and nonverbal leadership cues independent of participation rates. The value of verbal and nonverbal communications to identifying leaders varied with the type of leadership hierarchy being identified. The findings are presumed to hold for leader selection as well. The author proposes that the question of why a group member has emerged to fulfill a leadership role in a group be studied from the point of view of group members' selecting leaders or permitting emergence rather than leaders emitting behaviors.     

The effects of leader illegitimacy on leaders' and subordinates' responses to relinquishing power decisions

This research examined how leader illegitimacy affects leaders' and subordinates' responses to relinquishing power decisions. The processes underlying responses to leader illegitimacy and relinquishing power were also examined. Across four studies, participants were placed in leader roles (Studies 1a/1b) or subordinate roles (Studies 2a/2b) in an online competition. In Studies 1a/1b, participants assigned a leadership role learned, via a leadership skills test, that their leadership was illegitimate or legitimate. By contrast, in Studies 2a/2b, participants assigned a subordinate role were confronted with either an illegitimate leader who retained their power after performing poorly or a legitimate leader who received the leader role after a poor‐performing leader had relinquished their power. Results demonstrated that leaders who felt they did not belong in their leadership role relinquished more power when their leadership was illegitimate (vs. legitimate) and subordinates who felt less in control and greater anger supported illegitimate (vs. legitimate) leaders less.     

Why Do High Self‐Monitors Emerge as Leaders in Small Groups? A Comparative Analysis of the Behaviors of High Versus Low Self‐Monitors1

The current study examined the relationship between self‐monitoring and leader emergence focusing on the specific observable behaviors that differentiate high and low self‐monitors in small decision groups. Consistent with previous research, high self‐monitors were more likely to emerge as leaders than were low self‐monitors. Further, observational ratings of task‐oriented and relationship‐oriented leader behaviors made by trained raters blind to the purpose of the study indicated that high self‐monitors emerged as leaders by engaging in significantly more task‐oriented leader behaviors. In contrast, no differences were found in relationship‐oriented leader behaviors between high and low self‐monitors. The findings are discussed in the context of behavioral approaches to the study of leadership and research on self‐monitoring. Implications for research on leader emergence, group process, and research methods are also provided, along with directions for future research.     

Promoting leadership behaviors in low performance-self-esteem women in task-oriented mixed-sex dyads1

Methods for promoting leadership behaviors in low performance-self-esteem women were explored in two studies. Female undergraduates were paired with male peers who had either very similar or much higher scores on the Performance-Self-Esteem Scale. The mixed-sex dyads in Study 1 were given either no leader, chance-based leader, or ability-based leader instructions. Study 2 included only the latter two conditions and allowed subjects preparation time between leader appointment and the dyadic interaction. All leader appointments were given to the female dyad member. Members' influence was measured by verbal interaction counts, decision outcome scores, and members' ratings. Both leader conditions were successful in promoting female leadership behavior in Study 2, as measured by verbal interactions, but neither was successful in Study 1. Results indicated that Study 2 females exercised a helpful leadership style and that Study 2 males were satisfied with their partners' role in the interaction.     

Gender makes the difference: The moderating role of leader gender on the relationship between leadership styles and subordinate performance

Using a predominantly male research and development (R&D) sample and a predominantly female customer service personnel sample, we investigated how authoritarian and benevolent leadership styles interact with leader gender to influence subordinate performance (i.e., task performance, citizenship behavior, and creativity). Our research extends role congruity theory (Eagly & Karau, 2002) by adopting  and  attribution principles to offer a more comprehensive framework for explaining how leader gender affects the impact of leadership styles on subordinate performance. Our results suggest that the negative relationship between authoritarian leadership and subordinate performance is stronger for female than for male leaders and that the positive relationship between benevolent leadership and subordinate performance is stronger for male than for female leaders. Accordingly, in addition to leaders’ engaging in gender-role congruent behaviors, a useful strategy is to adopt behaviors that are perceived as a positive deviation from their gender role.     

Sex of leader,leader behavior,and subordinate satisfaction

A 2×2×2 factorial design was employed to examine the influence of instructed leadership style, sex of leader, and sex of followers on leader behavior, subordinate satisfaction, and productivity in a simple task. In general, male and female leaders were equally able and equally willing to display autocratic and democratic leadership styles if so instructed. Similarly, leader sex did not have a significant influence on subordinate satisfaction or productivity either by itself or in interaction with leadership style or follower sex.     

Followers' unclear demands during the COVID-19 pandemic can undermine leaders' well-being: A moderated mediation model from an entrapment perspective

Although effective leaders are important for reducing employee stress during the COVID-19, limited studies have examined how follower behaviors can influence leader stress and well-being during the COVID-19. This study draws on defeat-entrapment theory to examine how followers' unclear demands during the COVID-19 consequently impact leaders' psychological states and well-being. We conducted a three-wave time-lagged investigation with a sample of 281 leaders in the United Kingdom and found that followers' unclear demands could generate feelings of entrapment in leaders, leading to decreased levels of well-being outcomes in leaders. Importantly, we found that leaders who have higher levels of leadership responsibility during the COVID-19 are likely to feel trapped by followers' unclear demands. They are also likely to face higher levels of feelings of entrapment and impaired well-being compared with leaders who have lower levels of leadership responsibility. We discuss the implications for theories and practices, as well as directions for future research.     

Facilitative Style,Individual Innovation,and Emergent Leadership in Problem Solving Groups

ABSTRACT This study responded to an issue raised in a recent review of leadership research regarding the lack of available data concerning leader characteristics and management of creative work groups. Specifically, the effects of facilitative leadership style and individual creative contributions on emergent leadership were assessed in an initially leaderless creative problem solving situation. Participants were 34 university security officers who were divided into four groups to play Island Commission. At the end of the session, participants rated each other on facilitative style, innovative contribution, and leadership behavior. Both independent variables made a significant contribution to perceptions of leadership (R = .82, p < .0001). Results are discussed in terms of leadership theory, and implications for personnel selection, training, and development of creative problem solving teams.