Leadership Role Occupancy Research Articles

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.

Do leadership role occupancy and transformational leadership share the same genetic and environmental influences?

Using data collected from 107 pairs of identical and 89 pairs of fraternal female twins, this study examined the genetic and environmental associations between transformational leadership and leadership role occupancy. Results show that 78% of the covariance between the two leadership variables was attributable to overlapping genetic factors, while 22% of the covariance to overlapping environmental factors. In particular, 13% (2%) of the variance in leadership role occupancy was accounted for by the same genetic (environmental) factors related to transformational leadership. Unique sets of genetic and environmental variables, which are not associated with transformational leadership, explained 16% and 69% of the variance in leadership role occupancy, respectively. The results suggest that multiple manifestations of leadership (i.e., transformational leadership and leadership role occupancy) are differentially heritable. Although the association between these two variables is largely due to overlapping genetic rather than environmental factors, unique (i.e., non-overlapping) genetic and environmental influences still play an important role in impacting these leadership variables.

The influence of general mental ability, self-esteem and family socioeconomic status on leadership role occupancy and leader advancement: The moderating role of gender

We examined the influence of general mental ability, self-esteem and family socioeconomic status on leadership role occupancy and leader advancement (defined as the increase in supervisory scope via the number of employees supervised), as well as the moderating role of gender in these relationships. Using a nationally representative sample from the U.S. with 1747 working individuals across a time span of 10 years, we found that 1) self-esteem had a significant and positive influence on leadership role occupancy for both males and females and on leadership advancement in terms of supervisory scope over time for females; and 2) family socioeconomic status exerted an adverse effect on female leadership advancement. The influence of general mental ability on the two leadership variables was not significant for either males or females, but the difference in its effect on the initial status of supervisory scope for males and females was significant. These results suggest that self-esteem plays an important role in leadership role occupancy and leader advancement and that the influence of family socioeconomic status on leader advancement is contingent on gender.

Back to Persons: On Social-Cognitive Processes and Products of Leadership Development Experiences

We agree with McCall that experience is critical to successful leadership development. In this commentary, we stress that an analysis of experience is necessary, but insufficient, for understanding leadership development. What matters most is whether experiences become internalized. In that regard, McCall does not go far enough. He takes two conceptual steps on a path that naturally has three. At the outset, McCall (2010) notes that the heritability of interindividual differences in leadership is minimal—about 30% for the trait ‘‘leadership role occupancy.’’ This empirical result motivates a highly valuable Step #1: A step away from a ‘‘fixed personal factors’’ approach to leadership. Having turned away from fixed qualities of persons, McCall moves to the logical alter-

Beyond genetic explanations for leadership: The moderating role of the social environment

Leadership role occupancy has recently been shown to have a genetic basis. We extend prior research by examining the moderating effects of the social environment during adolescence on the genetic influences on leadership role occupancy at work. Utilizing a sample of male twins (89 pairs of identical and 54 pairs of fraternal twins, with a mean age of 36.5 years), we found that genetic influences are weaker for those reared in enriched environments (i.e., higher family socioeconomic status, higher perceived parental support, and lower perceived conflict with parents). For those twins who had relatively poorer social environments, genetic influences on leadership role occupancy are significantly greater. These results have important implications for early interventions on leadership development inside and outside organizations.

RETRACTED: Early life experiences as determinants of leadership role occupancy: The importance of parental influence and rule breaking behavior

The limited behavioral genetics research reported in the leadership literature has not investigated the degree to which early life experiences predict future emergence into leadership roles. This is the first study to focus on parenting style and early life experiences of rule breaking, and their relationships to leadership roles assumed in adulthood, while controlling for genetic and personality contributions. Using a sample ofmale twins reared together,we found that authoritative parenting practices was negatively related to modest and serious rule breaking, while being positively related to emergence in leadership roles into adulthood. We also found that modest rule breakingbehaviorpositivelypredicted thenumberof leadership roles takenonby individuals,while serious rule breaking negatively predicted the number of leadership roles. Implications for future leadership research and practice are discussed. © 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Effects of Personality on Individual Earnings: Leadership Role Occupancy as a Mediator

Purpose The purpose of this study was to investigate the direct and indirect effects of personality characteristics on individual earnings and to examine a person’s leadership role occupancy as the potential mediator in the personality–earnings relationship.

Developmental and genetic determinants of leadership role occupancy among women.

The genetic and developmental influences on leadership role occupancy were investigated using a sample of 178 fraternal and 214 identical female twins. Two general developmental factors were identified, one involving formal work experiences and the other a family experiences factor hypothesized to influence whether women move into positions of leadership in organizations. Results indicated that 32% of the variance in leadership role occupancy was associated with heritability. The 2 developmental factors also showed significant correlations with leadership role occupancy. However, after genetic factors were partialed out, only the work experience factor was significantly related to leadership role occupancy. Results are discussed in terms of prior life events and experiences that may trigger leadership development and the limitations of this study.

The determinants of leadership role occupancy: Genetic and personality factors

This study investigated the influence of genetic factor and personality on leadership role occupancy among a sample of male twins. Identical twins ( n = 238) who share 100% of their genetic background were compared with fraternal twins ( n = 188) who are expected to share only 50% of their genetic background. Results indicated that 30% of the variance in leadership role occupancy could be accounted for by genetic factor, while non-shared (or non-common) environmental factor accounted for the remaining variance in leadership role occupancy. Genetic influences also contributed to personality variables known to be associated with leadership (i.e., social potency and achievement). Furthermore, the results indicated that the genetic influence on leadership role occupancy was associated with the genetic factors influencing the personality variables, but there was no definitive evidence whether these personality variables partially mediated the relationship between genetic factor and leadership. Results are discussed in terms of the implications for leader selection and training.