Abstract
In a sample of 70 leader-follower dyads, this study examines the separate and interactive effects of the leaders’ implicit needs for power, achievement, and affiliation on leadership behaviors and outcomes. Results show that whereas the need for achievement was marginally associated with follower-rated passive leadership, the need for affiliation was significantly related to ratings of the leaders’ concern for the needs of their followers. Analyzing motive combinations in terms of interactive effects and accounting for the growing evidence on the value of affiliative concerns in leadership, we assumed the need for affiliation would channel the interplay among the needs for power and achievement in such a way that the leaders would become more effective in leading others. As expected, based on high need for achievement, the followers were more satisfied with their jobs and with their leaders and perceived more transformational leadership behavior if power-motivated leaders equally had a high need for affiliation. Moreover, the leaders indicated higher career success when this was the case. However, in indicators of followers’ performance, the three-way interaction among the needs for power, achievement, and affiliation did not account for additional variance.
Highlights
In the field of leadership research, a motivational approach has had a long tradition
We analyzed whether any systematic variation between those in the final sample and those who were excluded might distort the results of the main analyses
The analyses showed that the three-way interaction between need for power (nPow), nAch, and need for affiliation (nAff) did significantly account for additional variance in both satisfaction indicators (Table 2)
Summary
In the field of leadership research, a motivational approach has had a long tradition. Apart from studying explicit motivational constructs such as the leader’s motivation to lead (Chan and Drasgow, 2001), scholars have been interested in the impact that implicit motivational processes exert on leaders’ effectiveness. The growing body of research in this field acknowledges that leaders’ implicit motives play an important role in corporate and political leadership (Winter, 2010). Studies on leaders’ motive dispositions have revealed changes concerning the value of certain implicit motives, but have accounted for methodological refinements. Research has generally assumed that implicit motives simultaneously influence a person’s behavior (McClelland, 1992). To analyze this combined impact, scholars have usually clustered these motives into dichotomous typological patterns based on pre-defined cut-off
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