Leadership In Times Of Uncertainty: Recent Findings,Debates, And Potential Future Research Directions

This paper reviews current debates and findings surrounding leadership in times of uncertainty as framed by the social identity theory of leadership. The past decade has witnessed reinvigorated social psychological research on leadership by focusing on the identity function of leadership, as well as group‐based and prototype‐based influences. This line of research overwhelmingly confirms that group prototypical leaders are preferred over less prototypical leaders. Integrating uncertainty‐identity theory, recent evidence illustrates self‐conceptual uncertainty can strengthen or weaken/negate the prototypical leader advantage. This novel line of research also demonstrates how and when uncertainty can alter perceptions of and preferences for different, and sometimes ‘nasty’ leaders—contradicting contemporary organizational behavior and leadership theories, which argue that people (almost always) prefer transformational, charismatic, or authentic leaders.