Leader Attributes, Behavior, and Leadership Outcomes: From Implicit Leadership Theory and Self-Comp

Abstract

This research aims to enrich the understanding of implicit leadership theories (ILT) by investigating how leaders may incorporate multiple sets of attributes in their leadership self-schemas and how these attributes may affect leadership effectiveness. In contrast to the traditional ILT research that only focuses on leader-specific attributes, we propose and differentiate leader-specific (i.e., attributes that specifically describe a typical leader in the organization), follower-specific (i.e., attributes that specifically describe a typical follower), and common attributes (i.e., attributes that are viewed to be possessed by both leaders and followers). Drawing upon implicit theories and self-complexity perspectives, we hypothesize that follower-specific traits could contribute uniquely in predicting follower perceived leader behaviors (i.e., Initiating Structure and Consideration) and in turn leadership effectiveness variables. Three empirical studies were conducted to examine these ideas. Results from the first two survey studies (Study 1, 2; N1 = 211, N2 = 205) identified these three sets of attributes. Further, a three-wave field study with 200 leader-follower dyadic responses (Study 3; N3 = 200) was conducted to examine the predicting effects of attributes. Results demonstrated that leader’s follower-specific attributes are positively related to follower perceived leader considerate behavior, which further increases follower job satisfaction, affective commitment towards the leader, and organizational citizenship behaviors above and beyond another two sets of attributes. Moreover, leader-specific attributes are positively associated with leader structural behavior when another two groups of attributes were controlled. These findings have important implications for the implicit works and management practices.