Physiological Arousal During Video-coded Leader Behaviors and Leader Effectiveness

Abstract

Integrating human physiological data into research can lead to new and important insights for a number of fields, including behavioral leadership research. To date, the physiological correlates of specific leader behaviors and their links with important workplace outcomes have remained unexplored. Recent technological advancements, in the form of wristband sensors and compact high definition video cameras, offer the possibility to simultaneously capture physiological and behavioral data, unobtrusively and in real-time, during the everyday interactions between leaders and followers. In this study, for a sample of 45 leaders, we explore the association between various behaviors (using systematic video capture and coding during regular staff meetings) synchronized with fluctuations in their physiological arousal (using skin conductance). After controlling for the effects of gender and age, multi-level log-linear analyses showed significantly higher levels of arousal of the highly effective leaders when displaying relation-oriented and counterproductive behavior. We identify theoretical and practical implications of the findings and call for future studies to triangulate physiological markers, effectiveness scores and granular leader and follower behaviors, in various organizational contexts.