Journal of Applied Psychology 2018
Meta-analytic and primary investigations of the role of followers in ratings of leadership behavior in organizations.
Abstract
= 172,494) and found meaningful relations between follower individual differences (e.g., gender, personality) and ratings of their leaders' behaviors (e.g., transformational leadership, abusive supervision). In Study 2, we conducted a primary study to estimate the extent to which actual leader behaviors or differences in follower perceptions of those behaviors account for these relations. Results suggest that follower perceptions and measurement error explain almost the same or more variance in follower ratings than do actual leader behaviors. In addition, other findings imply that relations between some follower characteristics (e.g., gender, neuroticism) and leadership ratings are likely to be due to perceptual differences associated with these follower characteristics. However, actual leader behaviors also appear to play a role, such that leaders tend to behave differently toward followers who possess high or low levels of certain characteristics (e.g., agreeableness). Taken together, this two-study investigation provides evidence that follower individual differences are related to ratings of leader behaviors and, thus, deserve more attention within leadership theory and research. (PsycINFO Database Record
- DOI
- 10.1037/apl0000345
- Sources
- openalex