Leadership Role Occupancy Research Articles

Dynamics in the heritability of leadership role occupancy: Evidence from a three-wave twin sample

Studies show that genetics matter in who becomes a leader. However, we know little about the dynamic properties of the heritability of leadership emergence or how genetics might interact with environmental conditions to shape leadership emergence. We track leadership role occupancy at three time points among a cohort of 1,079 Danish twin pairs over ten years. Our results suggest that genetics matter less when the cohort is young and increase over time as the cohort grows older. We argue that labor market entry costs coupled with free access to education constrain the effect of genetics in the cohort during early adulthood, suggesting differing effects of the environment on genetic expression as the cohort ages. Sorting based on individual predisposition towards leadership likely strengthens as the cohort grows older and gains labor market experience. This result implies that we should not view the effect of genes on leadership role occupancy as static and that environmental experiences could disproportionately affect critical early leadership advancement. Our study reinforces calls to consider dynamic properties such as gene x environment interactions to advance our broader understanding of leadership’s biology.

Leadership Role Occupancy and Leader Self-Views Across 20 Years: Implications for Leader Development

Despite the recognized importance of leader development as a lifelong process, it remains unclear whether adolescents who engage in leadership will continue to do so into adulthood. Moreover, to what extent does leadership role occupancy facilitate internalizing future leader self-views? Conversely, to what extent does internalizing leader self-views facilitate future leadership role occupancy? The current paper examines these questions across three epochs of the lifespan (i.e., adolescence, early adulthood, and mid-adulthood) with a quasilongitudinal design. Drawing from a prospective database of 107 participants spanning over 26 years, we test within and between system effects of the leader experience processing system (i.e., leadership roles at ages 17, 29, and 38) and the leader self-view system (i.e., general self-concept at age 12, leader self-efficacy at age 17, and leader identity at ages 29 and 38). Structural equation modeling results support consistency in both systems, with more support for consistency in the leader self-view system. In addition, both systems mediate the other over time, suggesting a dynamic interplay whereby leaders integrate and build on leadership experiences in a process we call spontaneous leader development. Contrary to theory, we only found evidence for bi-directional relationships between systems in adolescence and early adulthood; in mid-adulthood at age 38, leader identity informed leadership roles but not vice versa. Implications of these findings for leader development theory are discussed.

We (All) Want You? Perceived Military Leadership Potential and Actual Leadership Role Occupancy in Working Life: A Longitudinal Study of a Swedish Cohort

One of the main tasks of the armed forces is to recruit and select future soldiers and to identify potential officers. However, these procedures may have a wider societal impact beyond the borders of the military organization itself. This study aims to examine how compatible assessments of military leadership potential are with those in the labor market. Using longitudinal data concerning a large cohort of Swedish males who underwent mustering during the early 1970s, we analyzed the association between officer suitability assessments and managerial role occupancy at age 50 to 55, while controlling for socio-demographic factors in childhood and adulthood. We found a high level of predictability, whereby those who were ranked highest were four times more likely to hold managerial positions than those with the lowest ranking. Results are discussed in relation to perceptions about leadership skills and possible institutional isomorphism between the armed forces and other societal organizations.

The work-to-home crossover of leadership role occupancy: Examining how leadership role occupancy influences spouses’ sleep loss and obesity.

The work-to-home crossover of leadership role occupancy: Examining how leadership role occupancy influences spouses’ sleep loss and obesity.

The Effects of Early-Career Unemployment Scarring on Future Leadership Role Occupancy

The Effects of Early-Career Unemployment Scarring on Future Leadership Role Occupancy

Early family socioeconomic status and later leadership role occupancy: A multisource lifespan study

SummaryWe investigate the indirect effects of socioeconomic status, both at birth and at age 5, on the likelihood of holding a formal leadership position 26 years later via two sequential mechanisms: children's self‐control at age 10 and adolescents' psychological well‐being at age 16. We test this model using multisource data from the British Cohort Study, an ongoing research project studying individuals born in England, Scotland, and Wales in the week of April 5–11, 1970. The data were collected at five different time points, from birth through early adulthood. Results show that the cumulative effects of early socioeconomic status predict children's self‐control at age 10, and self‐control in turn predicts a higher likelihood of leadership role occupancy at age 26 via psychological well‐being at age 16. The findings of the current study illustrate how a range of individual and family factors measured across the lifespan predict leadership role occupancy, with implications for better understanding how socioeconomic adversity and privilege enhance individuals' likelihood of becoming leaders early in their careers.

Examining How Leadership Role Occupancy Influences Both Leaders’ and Spouses’ Sleep Loss and Obesity

Drawing on work-family crossover research, the leadership role occupancy literature and self-regulation theory, we investigated not only how leadership role occupancy may affect job occupants’ obesity but also how its influences may crossover to shape their spouses’ obesity. Adopting a programmatic approach with three panel datasets from the US, UK, and Australia, we found that occupying a leadership role was positively related to job demands, which in turn was positively related to job occupants’ loss of sleep and obesity. Moreover, the crossover influences of job demand were also revealed: they were positively associated with spouses’ loss of sleep and obesity. Our research enriches leadership role occupancy research by offering a new crossover perspective and contributes to work-family research by highlighting the importance of holding a leadership position as an antecedent of the crossover effect of job demands.

Opening the black box: Uncovering the leader trait paradigm through machine learning

Understanding the traits that define a leader is a perennial quest. An ongoing debate surrounds the complexity required to unravel the leader trait paradigm. With the advancement of machine learning, scholars are now better equipped to model leadership as an outcome of complex patterns in traits. However, interpreting those models is often harder. In this paper, we guide researchers in the application of machine learning techniques to uncover complex relationships. Specifically, we demonstrate how applying machine learning can help to assess the complexity of a relationship and show techniques that help interpret the outcomes of “black box” machine learning algorithms. While demonstrating techniques to uncover complex relationships, we are using the Big Five Inventory and need for cognition to predict leadership role occupancy. Among our sample (n = 3385), we find that the leader trait paradigm can benefit from modeling complexity beyond linear effects and generate several interpretable results.

Broadening our Sight: Integrating Research Methods to Mitigate the Dichotomy of Women and Leadership

A host of research demonstrates that despite the increase in women’s participation in the labour force, women continue to experience stereotypical backlash, particularly as they enter leadership ranks. Warner, Ellmann, & Boesch (2018) describe women’s leadership advancement as “an uneven and imperfect revolution” (para. 10) given the disillusion between women in executive roles and women in the workforce more generally. While there are many reasons that women are underrepresented in leadership, the popular press has tended argue that it is an individual rather than systemic problem (e.g., internal barriers to advancement, not leaning in) and many discussions focus on increasing the number of women in leadership roles as an outcome, rather than as an input to creating inclusive workplaces (Arnold & Loughlin, 2019). While these may be contributors to the lack of leadership advancement for women, several other factors (i.e., individual, couple, contextual, organizational, and societal) may also contribute to upholding traditional beliefs regarding women’s lack of leadership advancement. In our proposed symposium, through six papers, we aim to “broaden our sight” on women in leadership by drawing on theoretical, quantitative, and qualitative research approaches to examine these factors. We will explore potential avenues for diminishing the dichotomous nature of women and leadership, thus allowing both men and women to participate without being constrained by gender role stereotypes (Mercer, Loughlin, & Arnold, 2019). Gendered Performance Pressure, Work Demands, Control and Their Role in Leader Wellbeing Presenter: Corinne McNally; Saint Mary's U., Canada Presenter: Catherine Loughlin; St. Mary's U. Measuring Leadership-Specific Stereotype Threat Susceptibility Presenter: Stephanie Gilbert; St. Mary's U. Chronic Stereotype Threat and Leadership Aspirations Presenter: Amanda J. Hancock; Memorial U. of Newfoundland Presenter: Megan Marie Walsh; U. of Saskatchewan Presenter: Erica Carleton; U. of Saskatchewan Overqualified, Yet Excluded? Gender and Context in Incivility Experiences of Overqualified Employees Presenter: Vanessa Myers; Saint Mary's U., Canada Presenter: Dana Kabat-Farr; Rowe School of Business, Dalhousie U. Presenter: Camilla M. Holmvall; Saint Mary’s U. Presenter: Fran McKee-Ryan; U. of Nevada, Reno Presenter: Benjamin M. Walsh; Grand Valley State U. Relative Subjective Spousal Status – How Spouses Impact Leadership Role Occupancy Presenter: Alyson Byrne; Memorial U. of Newfoundland Presenter: Anika Cloutier; Smith School of Business, Queen's U. Presenter: Julian Barling; Queen's U. How Leaders Can ‘Walk the Diversity Talk’: The Promise of Diversity-Specific Leadership Presenter: Shasanka Chalise; PhD Candidate, Memorial U., NL, Canada Presenter: Danielle Mercer; Acadia U. Presenter: Cara-Lynn Scheuer; Coastal Carolina U. Presenter: Corinne McNally; Saint Mary's U., Canada Presenter: Catherine Loughlin; St. Mary's U. Presenter: Kara Anne Arnold; Memorial U. of Newfoundland

When the Dark Shines: The Role of Dark Personality Traits in Leadership Role Occupancy and Hiring Decisions in a Collectivistic Culture

Two studies investigated the role of the Dark Triad traits (i.e., narcissism, psychopathy, and Machiavellianism), conscientiousness, and intelligence on leadership role occupancy and hiring decisions in Indonesian culture, which is a collectivist culture. Study 1 used generalized linear model to examine two groups of participants with (i.e., school principals) and without (i.e., teachers) significant leadership responsibilities by controlling for participant grouping by school. The results indicated that, in comparison with teachers, school principals had significantly higher narcissism and conscientiousness and lower psychopathy and intelligence. In Study 2, video recordings of simulated job interviews of 133 undergraduates were evaluated by 133 professional recruiters. Interviewee narcissism was the only significant positive predictor for hiring decision. Both studies provide consistent evidence that narcissism is a significant positive factor in both leadership role occupancy and hiring decision in a collectivist culture.

Is being a leader a mixed blessing? A dual‐pathway model linking leadership role occupancy to well‐being

SummaryRecent leadership research has drawn greater attention to how the well‐being of leaders influences leadership behaviors, follower performance and well‐being, and overall leadership effectiveness. Yet little attention has been paid to the relationship between occupying leadership positions and job incumbents' well‐being. This research addresses this question by developing and testing a dual‐pathway model. Our model proposes that incumbency in leadership positions is positively related to high levels of both job demands and job control, whereas job demands and job control have offsetting effects on well‐being. Results based on a longitudinal sample revealed that employees who transitioned from nonleadership positions to leadership roles showed trajectories of increasing job demands and job control, whereas such trends were weaker among those who remained in nonleadership positions. Findings from three additional samples generally demonstrated that leadership role occupancy was indirectly related to various indices of psychological and physiological well‐being through job demands and job control. Because the signs of the indirect effects through job demands and job control differed in expected ways, the overall relationship between leadership role occupancy and the well‐being outcomes was generally small and nonsignificant. We discuss research and practical implications of our framework and findings for organizations, employees, and leaders.

Core self-evaluations mediate the association between leaders' facial appearance and their professional success: Adults' and children's perceptions

Although the link between facial appearance and success is well established, the mechanisms responsible for this association have remained elusive. Evolutionary theory suggests that perceived leadership characteristics should be important for men's self-concept. Drawing on implicit leadership theory and evolutionary perspectives, we therefore examined the associations between first impressions based on facial appearance, core self-evaluations (CSEs), leadership role occupancy, and career success among a sample of working men. In Study 1, we found that CSEs mediated the relationship between individuals' facial appearance and measures of their success as leaders. In Study 2, we replicated these results using children's ratings of facial appearance, thus suggesting that basic properties of the targets' faces communicated their leadership ability more than the perceivers' life experience or acquired knowledge. These results suggest that people may use facial appearance as a diagnostic tool to determine the leadership ability of others.

Persistent exposure to poverty during childhood limits later leader emergence.

Increasing attention is being paid to the question of why some people emerge as leaders, and we investigated the effects of persistent exposure to poverty during childhood on later leadership role occupancy. We hypothesized that exposure to poverty would limit later leadership role occupancy through the indirect effects of the quality of schooling and personal mastery, and that gender would moderate the effects of exposure to poverty and personal mastery. Using the National Longitudinal Study of Youth provided multiwave and multisource data for a sample of 4,536 (1,533 leaders; 3,003 nonleaders). Both school quality and personal mastery mediated the effects of family poverty status on later leadership role occupancy. Although gender did not moderate the effects of poverty on leadership role occupancy, the indirect effects of early exposure to poverty on leadership role occupancy through personal mastery were moderated by gender. Conceptual and practical implications of these findings are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record

Childhood general cognitive ability predicts leadership role occupancy across life: Evidence from 17,000 cohort study participants

Research in the leadership literature has not yet identified links between childhood general cognitive ability and leadership potential in adulthood. We tested whether early cognitive ability contributed to leadership role occupancy across four decades in a sample of 17,000 working individuals from two representative British cohorts. On average a 1 standard deviation increase in cognitive ability predicted a 6.2 percentage point higher probability of leadership role occupancy. In Study 1, adjusted models showed that 37.3% of high cognitive ability children (+1SD) occupied leadership positions compared to 25.4% of low cognitive ability (−1SD) children and this gap was even more pronounced in Study 2 (27.8% vs. 15.1%). Cognitive ability showed a graded association with the number of employees supervised in both studies and educational attainment partially explained the cognitive ability–leadership association. The results suggest that early individual differences in childhood general cognitive ability may profoundly shape trajectories of leadership across working life.

Who Leads More and Why? A Mediation Model from Gender to Leadership Role Occupancy

Previous research has shown that female leaders lead slightly more effective than male leaders. However, women are still underrepresented in higher management. In this study, we seek to contribute to a deeper understanding of this paradox by proposing and testing an innovative model that integrates different research streams on gender and leadership. Specifically, we propose power motivation and transformational leadership as two central yet opposing dynamics that underlie the relation between gender and leadership role occupancy. We tested this model in a sample of 256 employees. Results provided support for the proposed relations. These findings contribute to a more detailed and comprehensive understanding for central dynamics that link gender and leadership role occupancy. Moreover, they provide important insights for interventions that are targeted at reducing the gender gap in leadership. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these findings.

A mixed blessing? Dual mediating mechanisms in the relationship between dopamine transporter gene DAT1 and leadership role occupancy

Trait theories of leadership have documented the role of individual characteristics in affecting leadership. Twin studies have further revealed significant genetic effects on leadership role occupancy. In the era of genomics, the current research examines how a dopamine transporter gene, DAT1, is involved in genetic influences on leadership role occupancy. Study 1 found DAT1 10-repeat allele to negatively relate to proactive personality, which in turn was positively associated with leadership role occupancy. The negative indirect effect was significant, but the overall relationship between this gene and leadership was not. In addition to replicating Study 1's findings using a nationally representative sample, Study 2 revealed another countervailing mechanism: DAT1 was positively related to (moderate) rule breaking, which was positively associated with leadership role occupancy. Consistent findings across the two studies suggest that the pathways linking specific genes to leadership are complex and a middle-ground approach is needed in such multidisciplinary investigations.

Learning disability and leadership: Becoming an effective leader

This study investigates learning disability (LD) as an individual-differences variable predicting leadership emergence, role occupancy, and effectiveness. We hypothesize that individuals with LD are less likely to occupy leadership roles, and that informal group processes (leadership emergence) will mediate the relationship between LD and leadership role occupancy. We also hypothesized that, among leaders promoted and selected for leadership training, there would be a negative relationship between LD and effective leadership. We first checked for LD in a sample of 1076 soldiers, measuring cognitive ability with a geometric-analogies test as a control. Some months later, during the soldiers' basic training, we measured leadership emergence. We then identified those who were selected for leadership training, recording, and measuring their effectiveness according to supervisory and peer evaluations. Leadership emergence was found to mediate the negative relationship between LD and leadership role occupancy. There were no significant differences among leaders (n = 308) with and without LD in regard to leadership effectiveness. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Gender Differences in Leadership Role Occupancy: The Mediating Role of Power Motivation

Although the proportion of women in leadership positions has grown over the past decades, women are still underrepresented in leadership roles, which poses an ethical challenge to society at large but business in particular. Accordingly, a growing body of research has attempted to unravel the reasons for this inequality. Besides theoretical progress, a central goal of these studies is to inform measures targeted at increasing the share of women in leadership positions. Striving to contribute to these efforts and drawing on several theoretical approaches, the present study provides a contemporary examination of (a) whether women and men differ in their levels of power motivation and (b) whether potential gender differences in this motivation contribute to the unequal distribution of women and men in leadership positions. Results from four studies provide converging support for these assumptions. Specifically, we found that women consistently reported lower power motivation than men. This in turn mediated the link between gender and leadership role occupancy. These results were robust to several methodological variations including samples from different populations (i.e., student samples and large heterogeneous samples of employee), diverse operationalizations of power motivation and leadership role occupancy (self- and other ratings), and study design (cross-sectional and time-lagged designs). Implications for theory and practice, including ways to contribute to a more equal gender distribution in leadership positions, are discussed.

Mixed Blessing: Toward a Dual Pathway Model of Leadership Role Occupancy and Leaders' Well-Being

Drawing upon the job demand–control model, we examine two pathways—job demands and job control—through which occupying leadership positions is related to leaders’ well-being including both psycholo...

Born to lead? A twin design and genetic association study of leadership role occupancy

We address leadership emergence and the possibility that there is a partially innate predisposition to occupy a leadership role. Employing twin design methods on data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, we estimate the heritability of leadership role occupancy at 24%. Twin studies do not point to specific genes or neurological processes that might be involved. We therefore also conduct association analysis on the available genetic markers. The results show that leadership role occupancy is associated with rs4950, a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) residing on a neuronal acetylcholine receptor gene (CHRNB3). We replicate this family-based genetic association result on an independent sample in the Framingham Heart Study. This is the first study to identify a specific genotype associated with the tendency to occupy a leadership position. The results suggest that what determines whether an individual occupies a leadership position is the complex product of genetic and environmental influences, with a particular role for rs4950.