Abstract
The aim of the current study was to examine the HEXACO personality traits in relation to followers’ preference for charismatic, relationship-oriented, and task-oriented leadership. Based on the similarity perspective, we expected followers high on Honesty-Humility, Extraversion, and Openness to Experience to prefer a charismatic leader, and those followers high on conscientiousness and low on Openness to Experience to prefer a task-oriented leader. In addition, from a need fulfillment perspective, we expected followers high on Emotionality to prefer a task- and a relationship-oriented leader. We examined these expectations using paper vignette methodology in a sample of 272 undergraduates. The results showed that most participants preferred a relationship-oriented leader over a charismatic or task-oriented leader. In addition, we found support for all our hypotheses, with the exception of the relations between Honesty-Humility and preference for charismatic leadership, and Conscientiousness and preference for task-oriented leadership. Our findings contribute to the nomological network of the role of follower characteristics in the leader-follower relationship. Implications and suggestions for research on charismatic leadership are provided.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 253-265 |
| Number of pages | 13 |
| Journal | Journal of Business and Psychology |
| Volume | 36 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| Early online date | 23 Dec 2019 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Apr 2021 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2019, The Author(s).
Copyright:
Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
Keywords
- Big Five
- Charismatic leadership
- HEXACO
- Leadership
- Preference for leadership