Implicit Leadership Theories: Think Leader, Think Effective?

By B. Schyns, Jan Schilling. 2011

138 citations recorded by the source corpus.

In general, although research into leadership acknowledges negative aspects of leadership, research into implicit leadership theories lags behind in this respect. Most implicit leadership theories research implies that the image of a leader in general reflects an effective leader. However, recent results in leadership research as well as headlines and reports in the popular press cast doubt on this assumption. This article reports a qualitative study, focusing on general implicit leadership theories rather than effective images of leaders. The analysis of 349 statements results in 15 categories that describe leaders in general. The results imply that implicit leadership theories are composed of both effective and ineffective attributes. The study challenges previous assumptions on the effectiveness implied in implicit leadership theories.

Subfields: Gender Studies, Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management, Social Psychology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/5fde033d4236045e3909db5358199e6f19b45cb8

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In Gender Studies

In Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management

In Social Psychology

Citations in the corpus

When and how health‐oriented leadership relates to employee well‐being—The role of expectations, self‐care, and LMX (2021, background): “Furthermore, images of ideal and typical leaders can differ as can expectations regarding positive and negative leader attributes, that is how leaders should not be (e.g., Junker et al., 2011; Van Quaquebeke et al., 2014; Schyns & Schilling, 2011).”
Romancing leadership: Past, present, and future ☆ (2011, background): “…traits such as sensitivity, dedication, tyranny , charisma, attractiveness, masculinity, intelligence, and strength (Offerman, Kennedy, & Wirtz, 1994) including both effective and ineffective characteristics (Schyns & Schilling, 2011), followers are frequently portrayed as passive and dependent.”
Teaching implicit leadership theories to develop leaders and leadership : how and why it can make a difference (2011, background): “398 SeptemberAcademy of Management Learning & Education reaction toward that person (Kenney, SchwartzKenney, & Blascovich, 1996; Schyns & Schilling, 2011).”