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A study of follower's personality, implicit leadership perceptions, and leadership ratings
Author(s) -
Salter Charles R.,
Green Mark,
Ree Malcolm,
CarmodyBubb Meghan,
Duncan Phyllis A.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
journal of leadership studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.219
H-Index - 14
eISSN - 1935-262X
pISSN - 1935-2611
DOI - 10.1002/jls.20080
Subject(s) - transformational leadership , psychology , social psychology , leadership style , personality , transactional leadership , presidential system , respondent , perception , big five personality traits , politics , political science , neuroscience , law
This research was designed to test the theoretical relationship between personality, implicit leadership, and leadership style suggested in past studies. Specifically, it was designed to link traits from the five‐factor model of personality (the Big Five), by utilizing the International Personality Item Pool (IPIP), to a follower's perception of the leadership style of George W. Bush, based on Bass and Avolio's (1997) MLQ5X. A voluntary sample was taken consisting of undergraduate and graduate students from three universities in southern Texas in 2006, with a sample size of N = 303. Respondents who scored high in neuroticism rated the leader as less transformational than those who did not. Also, the ancillary variable good leadership had a positive effect on the respondent's ratings of the leader as a transformational leader, and as a less passive leader, than subjects who did not rate the leader as being a good leader. There was a significant relationship found between respondents' political party affiliation and their transformational and passive leadership ratings. Implications of these findings are discussed in terms of the Obama versus McCain presidential race.