Abstract
We investigate whether individual differences predict perceptions of leadership patterns during teamwork. Building on information processing theories, we show that team members’ individual cognitive schemas regarding the distribution of leadership in teams, leadership structure schemas, predict the centralization of individual perceptions of team leadership. Team members’ individual perceptions of communication network centralization partially mediates, and team member’s affective motivation to lead moderates this relationship. Our results indicate that leadership structure schemas, as well as motivation to lead, affect perceived patterns of interpersonal communication as well as the centralization of the individually perceived team leadership structure.
Highlights
We investigate whether individual differences predict perceptions of leadership patterns during teamwork
In line with recent theoretical developments applying the concept of implicit leadership theories (ILTs) to the development of informal leadership structures in teams (DeRue & Ashford, 2010; Scott et al, 2018), we propose that cognitive schemas regarding the distribution of leadership in teams, or leadership structure schemas (LSS; DeRue & Ashford, 2010), affect the way individuals perceive shared leadership in their own team and their own interpersonal communication network
The aim of this article was the identification of relatively stable individual differences that impact the perceived dispersion of communication and leadership in one’s own team
Summary
We investigate whether individual differences predict perceptions of leadership patterns during teamwork. In line with recent theoretical developments applying the concept of implicit leadership theories (ILTs) to the development of informal leadership structures in teams (DeRue & Ashford, 2010; Scott et al, 2018), we propose that cognitive schemas regarding the distribution of leadership in teams, or leadership structure schemas (LSS; DeRue & Ashford, 2010), affect the way individuals perceive shared leadership in their own team and their own interpersonal communication network. Our study contributes to leadership and team research in multiple ways: First, it demonstrates the necessity of including rater attributes such as cognitive schemas and perspectives regarding leadership into research on shared and informal leadership in teams It shows that these individual ILTs or cognitive leadership schemas are not limited to dyadic interpersonal relationships such as leader–follower relations, and apply to how leadership manifests as within-team patterns. We test our hypotheses with mixed models with repeated measurements of individual perceptions of team members across the timespan of the collaboration
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