Leaders’ charismatic communication can facilitate followers’ unethical behavior

Abstract

Previous research suggests that charismatic leadership can have negative consequences for followers if the leader has self-centric and self-aggrandizing intentions. With this research we suggest that charismatic leadership may also have a dark side for followers irrespective of the leader’s intentions. Two experimental studies show that participants exposed to charismatic communication were more likely to engage in unethical behavior than those in the control groups. Study 1 exposed participants to a video featuring either a charismatic speech or a non-charismatic speech. Participants who watched the charismatic speech were more likely to cheat in a subsequent performance task. Study 2 gave participants either a charismatic speech or a non-charismatic speech to read. Participants who received the charismatic speech were more likely to lie about their performance on a later task. Study 2 also showed that this effect occurred even when participants were forewarned about the effect. We conclude that charismatic leadership may carry risks for followers, independent of the leader’s intentions.