Social Identity and Leadership Processes in Groups

Abstract

This chapter provides a critical and historical overview of the leadership research, and an overview of key components of the social identity perspective. It discusses the ways in which a focus on group membership, framed by the social identity perspective, can explain important aspects of leadership. The chapter describes the social identity analysis of leadership, including a description of the ways that prototypical leaders can protect their tenure through manipulation and control of the group's prototype. It discusses key empirical tests of the social identity analysis—these tests necessarily hinge on a demonstration that leadership processes become more prototype based with increasing group salience. Several direct and indirect tests from a number of laboratories and research groups around the world that provide support for the social identity analysis have been dealt in the chapter. It presents the results of about 25 independent samples from 16 different studies, and explores implications and extensions of the analysis in the context of the study of leadership.