Followers’ HEXACO personality traits and preference for charismatic, relationship-oriented, and task-oriented leadership

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 Expe...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of business and psychology Vol. 36; no. 2; pp. 253 - 265
Main Authors Breevaart, Kimberley, de Vries, Reinout E.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published New York Springer US 01.04.2021
Springer Nature B.V
Subjects
Behavioral Science and Psychology
Business and Management
Community and Environmental Psychology
Industrial and Organizational Psychology
Leadership
Management styles
Original Paper
Personality and Social Psychology
Personality traits
Psychology
Social Sciences
HEXACO
Big Five
Leadership
Charismatic leadership
Preference for leadership
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Summary: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.
ISSN:0889-3268
1573-353X
DOI:10.1007/s10869-019-09671-6