Abstract
Adopting a cognitive and follower-centric approach to charismatic leadership, we hypothesized that followers show lower levels of cognitive effort, reflected in superficial processing of factually correct information when listening to and viewing a charismatic leader. We conducted two experiments, using a 2 (charismatic versus neutral) × 2 (female versus male leader) between-subjects design and videos of trained actors delivering a speech. We examined the effects of leader charisma on (1a) followers’ ability to detect factually false information, (1b) accuracy to remember information from the leader (study 1, N = 100), (2a) the persuasiveness of factual messages, (2b) followers’ prosocial behavior and (2c) the mediating effect of the leader's persuasiveness on followers’ prosocial behavior (study 2, N = 140). We did not find support for the effect of leader charisma on detecting false information, the persuasiveness of messages, or increased prosocial behavior among followers. We found an effect of leader charisma on memory. Participants recognized fewer messages in the charismatic compared to the neutral leader conditions. Exploratory analyses provided mixed results for an interaction effect of leader charisma and sex on detecting and remembering false information. Our studies offer first insights into the cognitive outcomes of the charismatic signaling process.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 101656 |
| Pages (from-to) | 1-18 |
| Number of pages | 18 |
| Journal | Leadership Quarterly |
| Volume | 34 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| Early online date | 10 Nov 2022 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Jun 2023 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:We did, however, find support for our hypothesized main effect of leader charisma on memory for information presented by the leader. Hypothesis 1b is supported by the data. Participants in the charismatic leader condition correctly identified factual information that was or was not presented by the leader less often than participants in the neutral leader condition. Our results suggest an effect of leader charisma on participants' ability to recognize statements presented by a charismatic leader. This finding supports our argument that followers of charismatic leaders reduce their cognitive effort when processing factually neutral information provided by the leader. Accordingly, participants might have processed the information in the charismatic leader condition superficially. In line with the minimal cognitive effort hypothesis, we propose that this prevented participants from in-depth cognitive processing of the factual and emotionally neutral statements presented by the charismatic leaders and increased the difficulty of identifying whether the information was or was not part of the speech during the task.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Author(s)
Funding
We did, however, find support for our hypothesized main effect of leader charisma on memory for information presented by the leader. Hypothesis 1b is supported by the data. Participants in the charismatic leader condition correctly identified factual information that was or was not presented by the leader less often than participants in the neutral leader condition. Our results suggest an effect of leader charisma on participants' ability to recognize statements presented by a charismatic leader. This finding supports our argument that followers of charismatic leaders reduce their cognitive effort when processing factually neutral information provided by the leader. Accordingly, participants might have processed the information in the charismatic leader condition superficially. In line with the minimal cognitive effort hypothesis, we propose that this prevented participants from in-depth cognitive processing of the factual and emotionally neutral statements presented by the charismatic leaders and increased the difficulty of identifying whether the information was or was not part of the speech during the task.
Keywords
- Charisma
- Cognitive effort
- Followership
- Information processing
- Leadership
