From Ideal to Real: Attachment Orientations Guide Preference for an Autonomous Leadership Style.

Dritjon Gruda,Konstantinos Kafetsios

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2022.728343

Abstract

Autonomy is a key characteristic of attachment relations that varies as a function of attachment orientations and is also a key personality characteristic of leadership perceptions. In the presented research, we reasoned that the relationship between attachment and autonomy-related preference for specific leaders and leadership behavior would be a function of individuals’ insecure attachment strategies. We tested our hypotheses in two studies. Study 1 used Multiple Indicators Multiple Causes (MIMIC) modeling to test expectations based on a cross-sectional design, while Study 2 utilized a vignette-based experimental design. We find that anxious individuals attributed less positive evaluations to an autonomous leadership style (Study 1), while avoidant persons attributed higher leader competence to an autonomous leader description (Study 2). Compared to less anxious participants, highly anxious participants attributed lower competence to the autonomous leader description. By examining how individual differences in attachment orientations can indirectly influence the ideal leader categorization process, the present set of studies lends support to the importance of attachment orientations and related working models in leader perception and contribute to the literature on leader-follower fit. Using a survey and experimental approach, we examine how followers’ attachment schemas can shape the leader influence process, specifically concerning a preference for an autonomous leadership style.

Highlights

Individuals form mental representations of desired leadership attributes and behavior they would like to see in their leaders which form the foundation of implicit leadership theories (ILTs; Cronshaw and Lord, 1987)
We propose that perceptions of leaders who exhibit higher autonomy characteristics are associated with followers’ avoidant and anxious attachment orientations in theoretically meaningful ways
We argue that characteristics such as self-reliance and autonomy do not form part of anxiously individuals’ ideal leader prototype, resulting in a lower preference for such a leadership style: H2: Higher anxious attachment orientation is associated with a lower preference for and less positive attributions to an autonomous leadership style

Summary

Introduction

Individuals form mental representations of desired leadership attributes and behavior they would like to see in their leaders which form the foundation of implicit leadership theories (ILTs; Cronshaw and Lord, 1987). One of ILTs’ key functions is the easing of cognitive load by automatically and effortlessly matching perceived leader traits to the already held ideal ILTs, which, in turn, shape both preferred and non-preferred leader attributions (Schyns and Schilling, 2010). The present set of studies examined how individual differences in followers’ attachment orientations, varying on the avoidance and anxiety dimensions, indirectly influence preferred leader characteristics. Autonomous leadership constitutes one of several attributes of an ideal leader prototype (House et al, 2004) and adult attachment orientations are suited to account for followers’ idealized and preferred leadership mental images (Gruda and Kafetsios, 2020). The present set of studies add to the understanding of socio-cognitive processes relatied to followers’ attachment orientations (Harms, 2011) and, leader-follower fit (Epitropaki et al, 2013)

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