Showing Leadership by Not Showing Your Face: An Anonymous Leadership Effect

SAGE Open

Diana M. Grace¹ 

关键词: social psychology;    experimental psychology;    psychology;    social sciences;    leadership;    organizational behavior;    management;    industrial/organizational psychology;    applied psychology;   

DOI  :  10.1177/2158244014567476

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Sage Journals

【 摘 要 】

We examined experimentally whether a person unknown to potential followers could be seen as showing leadership. Based on the social identity analyses of leadership, we predicted that would-be leaders pursuing group-oriented goals would be seen as showing leadership to a greater degree when they were anonymous than when they were identified. We predicted this pattern would reverse when would-be leaders pursued personal, self-oriented goals. Support for this hypothesis was found for all but the most highly identified group members. For extremely highly identified group members, a would-be leader’s pursuit of group-oriented goals was all that mattered to produce relatively high levels of leadership perceptions. For all other participants, an anonymous, in comparison with an identifiable, group-motivated target was seen as showing relatively high levels of leadership. These data provide support for the social identity analysis of leadership, and help explain otherwise counter-intuitive and naturalistic observations of followership of anonymous leaders.

【 授权许可】

CC BY