Leadership Now by Katz Israel;Eilam-Shamir Galit;Kark Ronit;Berson Yair;

Author:Katz, Israel;Eilam-Shamir, Galit;Kark, Ronit;Berson, Yair;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Emerald Publishing Limited
Published: 2018-09-04T00:00:00+00:00

FOLLOWERS’ SUSCEPTIBILITY TO CHARISMATIC INFLUENCE

Leader-centered theories of charismatic leadership (e.g., Bass, 1985; Conger & Kanungo, 1998; House, 1977) attribute the emergence of such leadership mainly to the traits and/or behaviors of the leader. In contrast, Meindl (1990, 1995) presents a follower-oriented view, according to which charismatic leadership emerges as a result of social psychological forces operating among followers, subordinates, and observers, rather than arising from the traits or behaviors of leaders or out of the interactions between followers and leaders. Meindl advances two explanations: the romance of leadership and social contagion, according to which the source of charismatic leadership is in the followers, not in the leaders. According to this rather radical perspective, it does not matter who occupies the leadership position. Leaders are irrelevant and interchangeable, and their behavior and traits should be removed from the explanation of charismatic leadership.

In contrast with both the dominant leader- centric view and Meindl’s follower-centric view, we maintain that the charismatic relationship emerges as a result of the interaction between leaders who display certain traits and behaviors and followers who have different levels of self-concept clarity and identity level orientations. We agree with Meindl that followers play a crucial role in the emergence of charismatic leadership, but we submit that this role centers on the type of leader they are likely to form a charismatic relationship with and on the type of relationship that develops.

The arguments presented in the previous section imply that followers with low self-concept clarity or a relational orientation will be susceptible to a different type of charismatic leader than followers with high self-concept clarity or a collective orientation. Followers with low self- concept clarity or a relational orientation will be more susceptible to the type of leader Howell (1988) calls “personalized” – namely, a leader who is motivated by a need to accumulate personal power and who employs tactics designed to increase followers’ identification with him or her. Such a leader is likely to be rejected by followers with high self-concept clarity or a collective orientation. These followers are likely to be susceptible to a socialized leader who seeks power for social purposes and emphasizes collective identity and collective values. In this section we refine and further articulate the rationale behind this expectation.

Followers with low self-concept clarity or a relational identity orientation seek direction and self-validation from their relationship with the leader. Such individuals are likely to be drawn to leaders who appear to be powerful or attractive, because a relationship with such leaders promises to provide them with a higher sense of clarity and self-esteem. Lord’s leader categorization theory is potentially relevant to the explanation of the emergence of charismatic leadership in the case of such individuals. According to this theory (Lord, 1985; Lord, Foti, & De Vader, 1984), most people from the same culture have a common set of categories that fit the image of what the typical leader is like. These categories describe the “prototypical” leader. Individuals store leadership prototypes inside their heads and use them to select and evaluate information about a particular leader.

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