Self–other agreement in empowering leadership: Relationships with leader effectiveness and subordinates' job satisfaction and turnover intention

We investigated the effect of self–other agreement in empowering leadership on leader effectiveness, job satisfaction, and turnover intention using a sample of 50 Norwegian municipal leaders (46 for leader effectiveness) and 168 (158) of their subordinates. The findings indicated that considering both self and subordinate ratings of empowering leadership was useful in predicting the outcome variables. In particular, subordinates of over-estimators reported lower job satisfaction and higher turnover intention. Moreover, leaders who underestimated their leadership were perceived as more effective by their superiors. For agreement (i.e., leader's self-ratings were in agreement with subordinates' ratings) the relationship between empowering leadership and leader effectiveness was curvilinear with an inverted U shape. Agreement in ratings of empowering leadership was not found to be related to subordinates' job satisfaction and turnover intention. The implications of these findings are discussed.     

Leader behaviors and career derailment potential: A multi-analytic method examination of rating source and self–other agreement

Based on extensive research that views leadership as a multi-faceted phenomenon, we examined how the relationships between task-oriented and relationship-oriented leader behaviors and career derailment potential vary by observer perspective. We present findings using three different analytical techniques: random coefficient modeling (RCM), relative weight analysis (RWA), and polynomial regression (PR). RCM findings suggest that self-, direct report, peer, and supervisor ratings of leader behaviors differ and are associated with career derailment potential. RWA results indicate that self-ratings matter the least, whereas peer ratings of leader behaviors typically matter the most in predicting career derailment potential. PR analyses indicate that career derailment potential is lowest when self-ratings are lower than other ratings of leader behaviors and/or when self–other ratings converge on higher, rather than lower, ratings of leader behaviors. Implications for leadership and self–other agreement research and professional practice are discussed.     

The Relationship between Styles of Creativity and Managerial Skills Assessment

This study examined the relationships between creativity style, as measured by the Kirton Adaption Innovation Inventory (KAI) and the self and other ratings on a 360- degree feedback instrument, the Management Skills Profile (MSP) among US managers. Results indicated that self-reports of the use of managerial skills were related to the individual manager's creativity style, but the ratings by others were not. Adaptive managers, as defined by the KAI, were more likely to underrate themselves, while self-ratings of innovative managers tended to concur with the ratings of others. Implications for helping managers understand discrepancies in self and others' ratings as a function of creativity style in a developmental context and directions for future research are discussed.     

Personality predictors of leadership styles and the self–other agreement problem

Whereas it has been acknowledged that personality plays an important role in leader emergence and effectiveness, most studies have shown weak relations between personality and leadership styles. In this study, it is argued that one of the reasons for this lack of association may lie in the low level of self–other agreement among leaders and subordinates. In this study both leader- and subordinate ratings of leader personality and leadership styles are employed to inspect the relations between HEXACO Honesty–Humility, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness on the one hand and Ethical, Charismatic, Supportive, and Task-oriented leadership on the other. Using an instrumental variable procedure, strong direct effects of Honesty–Humility on Ethical leadership, Extraversion on Charismatic leadership, Agreeableness on Supportive leadership, and Conscientiousness on Task-oriented leadership were observed. The results imply that the relatively weak relations between personality and leadership styles in previous studies are mainly due to relatively low levels of self–other agreement.     

Leadership Styles as Predictors of Self‐reported and Observed Workplace Bullying

The connection between leadership or management style, on the one hand, and perceptions of bullying, on the other, has received little attention within bullying research. Hence, the aim of this study is to examine the relationship between subordinates' ratings of their immediate superiors' behaviours, and both perceived exposure and claims of observations of bullying at work. Based on a sampling process which emphasized randomness and representativeness, the responses from 5288 respondents in Great Britain taking part in a nationwide study on psychosocial issues at work were included in the analysis. Bullying correlated with all four leadership styles measured. Yet, ‘non‐contingent punishment’ emerged as the strongest predictor of self‐perceived exposure to bullying, while autocratic leadership was the strongest predictor of observed bullying. Hence, while observers particularly associate bullying with autocratic or tyrannical leader behaviour, targets relate bullying more to non‐contingent punishment, i.e. an unpredictable style of leadership, where punishment is meted out or delivered on leaders' own terms, independent of the behaviour of subordinates. In addition, laissez‐faire leadership emerged as a predictor of self‐reported as well as observed bullying. Thus, leadership styles seem to play an important but complex role in the bullying process.     

Transformational leadership and attachment

Attachment theory posits that the child's experiences with attachment figures (mostly parents) form the basis for an internal working model of self and others that can be either secure (others and self are perceived positively) or insecure (others or self are perceived negatively). In adulthood, these models are reflected in attachment styles which are manifested in various realms (e.g., romantic relationships). This article expands the conceptualization derived from attachment theory to the area of leadership. The arguments presented are anchored in the similarity found in the literature between characteristics of the secure attachment style and those of transformational leaders. The central hypothesis is that the style of transformational leadership will correlate positively with the secure attachment style. This hypothesis was examined in three studies conducted in officers' courses, using different sources of report in each study. In all three studies, significant correlations were found between secure attachment and transformational leadership. This new direction of research has important implications for the understanding of the personality and development processes of transformational leaders.     

Assessing the trait theory of leadership using self and observer ratings of personality: The mediating role of contributions to group success

The trait theory of leadership suggests that personality traits influence leader emergence and effectiveness. While initial empirical evidence supports this perspective, the majority of studies have examined the relationship between personality and leadership using self ratings of personality. We believe that this research may underestimate the relationship between personality and leadership. We propose that personality assessed using both self and observer ratings explains more variance in leadership than self ratings of personality alone. Results from 155 participants in leaderless group discussions supported this hypothesis. Further, relative weight analysis revealed that observer ratings of extraversion explained the largest percentage of variance in leadership, followed by self ratings of openness to experience and observer ratings of openness to experience. Results of two-stage least squares regression analysis showed that the relationship between personality and leadership was mediated by contributions to group success. The implications of these results and directions for future research are discussed.     

Impact of rater personality on transformational and transactional leadership ratings

This study addresses the role of rater personality in ratings of transformational and transactional leadership. In a naturalistic field study, we found that rater personality (i.e., agreeableness, openness, extraversion, and conscientiousness) was positively associated with ratings of transformational leadership, but significant rater personality effects were not found in an experimental study where leadership behavior was invariant. These results suggest that disagreements among raters about leaders' behaviors are not due solely to random error and may instead reflect true differences either in (a) the behaviors leaders exhibit toward individual followers or (b) personality-related differences between followers in attention to and recall of leadership behaviors. We also found that personality (of subordinates and peers) was not randomly distributed across leaders, though clustering effects were generally small. Practically, our results suggest that (a) individual reports of leadership may be better at predicting leadership outcomes than aggregated group reports – especially those related to individual attitudes and behaviors – though they are rarely used in the literature; (b) aggregation is complicated because rater personality is associated with leadership ratings and is not randomly distributed across leaders; and (c) corrections for measurement error based on inter-rater agreement may not be appropriate due to non-random unique rater variance.     

The role of personal values in the charismatic leadership of corporate managers: A model and preliminary field study

This study used multi-source field data collected in five organizations to examine linkages among managers' personal value system (i.e., intensity of openness to change, traditional, collectivistic work, self-transcendent, and self-enhancement values), charismatic leadership of managers, and three outcome measures. Two-hundred and eighteen managers provided self-reports of their personal values and ratings of their followers' extra effort and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). Nine-hundred and forty-five subordinates rated the focal managers' charismatic leadership. Superiors of the focal managers provided ratings of managerial performance 2 months after collecting the managers' and subordinates' ratings. Results indicated that traditional, collectivistic work, self-transcendent, and self-enhancement values related positively to charismatic leadership, which predicted managerial performance and followers' extra effort and OCB. Managerial performance moderated the relationships between leaders' values, charismatic leadership, and followers' outcomes.     

Tell us about your leadership style: A structured interview approach for assessing leadership behavior constructs

It is widely recognized that leadership behaviors drive leaders' success. But despite the importance of assessing leadership behavior for selection and development, current measurement practices are limited. This study contributes to the literature by examining the structured interview method as a potential approach to assess leadership behavior. To this end, we developed a structured interview measuring constructs from Yukl's (2012) leadership taxonomy. Supervisors in diverse positions participated in the interview as part of a leadership assessment program. Confirmatory factor analyses supported the assumption that leadership constructs could be assessed as distinct interview dimensions. Results further showed that interview ratings predicted a variety of leadership outcomes (supervisors' annual income, ratings of situational leader effectiveness, subordinates' well-being and affective organizational commitment) beyond other relevant predictors. Findings offer implications on how to identify leaders who have a positive impact on their subordinates, and they inform us about conceptual differences between leadership measures.     

Values predicting leader performance in the U.S. Army Reserve Officer Training Corps Assessment Center: evidence for a personality-mediated model

The notion that leaders' values and motives influence their effectiveness is an old one. Little is known, however, about the role of values and motives on the ratings of leadership in assessment center settings. The present study examined the interrelationships between motives and values, personality, and rated leadership performance in a military assessment center designed for Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) cadets. We examined power and affiliation, two value orientations found to predict leadership effectiveness as measured by managerial/leader performance in McClelland and Burnham's leader motive pattern (LMP). We expand on past research using the LMP by studying its utility in an assessment center setting and by positing that the personality factor of extraversion acts a mediator of the values–leadership linkage. Analyses revealed that extraversion completely mediated the relationship between affiliation and cadet leadership assessment, and extraversion partially mediated the relationship between power and cadet leadership assessment. Our results are discussed along with implications of the present study and directions for future research.     

Leadership to Overcome Resistance to Change

Abstract

The thoughtful behavior analysis of organizational leadership and resistance to change by Goltz and Hietapelto (2002) inspired this follow-up article. Goltz and Hietapelto propose that organizational power is determined by the magnitude, frequency, and quantity of consequences under a person's control, and that people resist change when their consequence control is threatened. This presentation extends the Goltz and Hietapelto article by describing 14 distinctions between management and leadership, and offering 16 guidelines for effective leadership that involve more than consequence control. Thus, while managers obtain their influence by controlling other peoples' consequences, leaders go beyond consequence control to benefit the behaviors and attitudes of their colleagues and coworkers. The leadership guidelines are founded on behavioral research and are relevant and practical for any organizational employee, even those who have only minimal influence on the meaningful consequences of their own and others' work life.     

A review,analysis, and extension of peer-leader feedback agreement: Contrasting group aggregate agreement vs. self-other agreement using entity analytics and visualization

In reviewing peer-leader feedback within Multi-Source Feedback programs, the group aggregate agreement (GAA) method is contrasted with self-other agreement (SOA). Past research (Markham, Smith, et al., 2014) has demonstrated convergence problems with GAA for groups of peer raters. To evaluate dyadic convergence, we used the Benchmarks data to investigate two derailment factors (Building & Mending Relationships and Interpersonal Problems) for 4607 peers describing 1505 focal respondents. For high-agreement dyads, the r_total = ? 0.66** with 88% of the combined variance and covariance based on dyadic averages converging as whole units. Only 50% of all dyads demonstrated this type of high convergence. For low agreement dyads, the matching correlation (r_total = ? 0.56**) was almost exclusively a function of within-dyad divergence with only 4% stemming from between-dyad sources. Research implications for evaluating SOA under these agreement conditions are highlighted. Practitioner applications for using an entity-based visualization of dyads also are prototyped and discussed.     

A review of the effectiveness of empowering leadership

Based on a review of empirical literature on empowering leadership, given incongruent and mixed results, the current work suggests reconsidering the effectiveness of empowering leadership. We propose a framework for examining the effectiveness of empowering leadership that considers: 1) feasibility of non-linear main effects of empowering leadership on work-related outcomes, 2) possibility of reverse causation between empowering leadership and work-related outcomes, 3) potential contradictory mediating mechanisms through which empowering leadership influences work-related outcomes, 4) consideration of boundary conditions which could alter the relationships between empowering leadership and work-related outcomes, and 5) consideration of levels-of-analysis and multilevel issues in empowering leadership. Our framework considers the multifaceted nature of empowering leadership and offers a guiding tool for advancing future research in this area.     

The value of virtue in the upper echelons: A multisource examination of executive character strengths and performance

Previous research on upper echelon (i.e., top-level) executives has focused on how character flaws or lapses in ethical judgment lead to detrimental outcomes. Research is lacking that specifically examines whether character strengths that are reflected in the behaviors of top-level executives are related to positive outcomes. Therefore, this study examined behavioral manifestations of the character strengths of integrity, bravery, perspective, and social intelligence as influences on executive performance in the context of top-level executive leadership of for-profit and not-for profit organizations. Using matched-report data from 191 top-level, U.S. executives' direct reports and bosses and board members, this study found positive relationships between direct reports' ratings of executive integrity, bravery, and social intelligence and bosses' and board members' ratings of executive performance. These character strengths each accounted for variance in executive performance above and beyond direct reports' ratings of executives' developing and empowering behaviors and other control variables. Among the character strengths examined, integrity was found to have the most contribution in explaining variance in executive performance via relative weight analysis. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.     

Seeing eye to eye: A meta-analysis of self-other agreement of leadership

The agreement between a leader's self-rating of leadership and ratings from the leader's subordinates, peers, and superiors (i.e., self-other agreement) is critical to understanding leadership, but questions remain regarding the extent to which leaders are aware of their behaviors. This meta-analysis investigates whether leader-observer agreement is influenced by type of observer and type of leadership. First, we examined the convergence (i.e., correlation) between leader- and observer-ratings along several dimensions of leadership (e.g., initiating structure, consideration, contingent reward, and transformational leadership). Our results indicated that leader-observer correlations were generally moderate and of similar magnitudes for task- and relation-oriented behaviors (with the exception of a strong correlation for contingent reward). Next, we compared leaders' and observers' mean-level ratings (i.e., Cohen's d), and found that leaders generally reported lower or similar levels of task-oriented behaviors but higher levels of relation-oriented behaviors. Last, several variables (e.g., sampling method and study purpose) moderated leader-observer convergence. Implications of these findings for research, theory, and practice are discussed.     

To whom does transformational leadership matter more? An examination of neurotic and introverted followers and their organizational citizenship behavior

Despite the massive amount of transformational leadership research, the role of followers has not been well-examined in the transformational leadership literature. To understand how leader–follower interactions influence follower organizational citizenship behavior (OCB), we examined the cross-level interactions between transformational leadership and two follower personality traits (neuroticism and extraversion). Using a sample of 215 leaders and 1284 followers, results showed that follower neuroticism moderated the relationships between transformational leadership and organizational citizenship behavior directed toward other individuals (OCB-I) and toward the organization (OCB-O), such that relationships were stronger for those high in neuroticism. Further, follower extraversion moderated the relationships between transformational leadership and OCB-I and OCB-O, such that relationships were stronger for those low in extraversion. Therefore, the inspirational and developmental nature of transformational leaders can offset follower neuroticism and introversion and guide these employees to perform more OCB despite their tendencies to worry, lack confidence, and be shy and withdrawn.     

Ethics,character, and authentic transformational leadership behavior

The morality of transformational leadership has been sharply questioned, particularly by libertarians, “grass roots” theorists, and organizational development consultants. This paper argues that to be truly transformational, leadership must be grounded in moral foundations. The four components of authentic transformational leadership (idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, and individualized consideration) are contrasted with their counterfeits in dissembling pseudo-transformational leadership on the basis of (1) the moral character of the leaders and their concerns for self and others; (2) the ethical values embedded in the leaders' vision, articulation, and program, which followers can embrace or reject; and (3) the morality of the processes of social ethical choices and action in which the leaders and followers engage and collectively pursue.The literature on transformational leadership is linked to the long-standing literature on virtue and moral character, as exemplified by Socratic and Confucian typologies. It is related as well to the major themes of the modern Western ethical agenda: liberty, utility, and distributive justice Deception, sophistry, and pretense are examined alongside issues of transcendence, agency, trust, striving for congruence in values, cooperative action, power, persuasion, and corporate governance to establish the strategic and moral foundations of authentic transformational leadership.     

At the crux of dyadic leadership: Self–other agreement of leaders and direct reports — Analyzing 360-degree feedback

The purpose of this research is to investigate the use of dyads instead of whole rating groups for analyzing 360° feedback. A Center for Creative Leadership sample of direct subordinates was matched with their focal leaders (J = 4810 dyads). Two CCL Benchmark scales (Building & Mending Relationships and Problems with Interpersonal Relationships) were used to determine if this dyadic pairing produced high self–other agreement (SOA). Using Within and Between Analysis (WABA), results suggest the viability of detecting unitary, whole dyadic effects only under specific boundary conditions. Other conditions produced highly dispersed dyadic results. Thus, dyadic convergence is not a universal phenomenon in these data. Tying the dyadic results back to the original rater group's consistency as reported in Markham, Smith et al. (2014), those rater groups with high internal agreement form clearer dyadic pairings when compared to rater groups that were moderate or low in agreement. Implications and future directions are discussed.     

Beauty is in the in-group of the beholded: Intergroup differences in the perceived attractiveness of leaders

Physical attractiveness is most commonly presumed to be an exogenous characteristic that influences people's feelings, perceptions, and behavior across myriad types of relationships. We investigate the opposite prediction in which feelings toward other people influence the perceptions of others' attractiveness. Focusing specifically on subordinates' perceptions of leaders of in-groups and out-groups, we examine whether group membership moderates familiarity in relation to ratings of physical attractiveness. Studies 1 and 2 show that subordinates rate the leaders of their in-groups as significantly more physically attractive than comparably familiar out-group leaders. Our findings have relevance for understanding the interactive roles of physical attractiveness within contemporary organizational environments and help to account for variance in interpersonal perceptions on the basis of group membership. In contrast with research traditions that treat physical attractiveness as a static trait, our findings highlight the importance of group membership as a lens for perceiving familiar leaders' physical attractiveness.