Congruence between real and ideal leader. What matters more in today’s work world: ethical behavior of a leader or productivity?
Abstract
This paper draws from follower centric perspective and implicit leadership theories to explore factors that predict higher congruence between real and ideal leader in followers’ view. It also examines the impact of sociodemographic and organizational characteristics to the prediction of perceived congruence. 267 Lithuanian employees from private and public organizations participated in internet-based survey. Followers filled up a questionnaire about their direct middle supervisors: they rated fit between ideal and real leader, leader’s ethical behaviour and productivity of work unit. Results indicate that both ethical behaviour of a leader and productivity are important predictors of employees’ perceived congruence between real and ideal leader. However, ethical behaviour has significantly higher standardized beta coefficients in comparison with productivity in public sector organizations. Therefore, the context needs to be considered when making leaders’ selection and promotion decisions based on follower preferences. Important insights for leadership research are also discussed in the paper.
Keyword : congruence, real leader, ideal leader, ethical behaviour, productivity, perception
How to Cite
Stelmokienė, A., & Endriulaitienė, A. (2020). Congruence between real and ideal leader. What matters more in today’s work world: ethical behavior of a leader or productivity?. Business: Theory and Practice, 21(1), 184-191. https://doi.org/10.3846/btp.2020.11800
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
References
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Johns, G. (2006). The essential impact of context on organizational behavior. Academy of Management Review, 31(2), 386–408. https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.2006.20208687
Kaiser, R. B., Hogan, R., & Craig, S. B. (2008). Leadership and the fate of organizations. American Psychologist, 63(2), 96–110. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.63.2.96
Lang, J. W., Zettler, I., Ewen, C., & Hülsheger, U. R. (2012). Implicit motives, explicit traits, and task and contextual performance at work. Journal of Applied Psychology, 97(6), 1201–1217. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0029556
Levine, M. P., & Boaks, J. (2014). What does ethics have to do with leadership? Journal of Business Ethics, 124, 225–242. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-013-1807-y
Littrell, F. R. (2013). Explicit leader behaviour: A review of literature, theory development, and research project results. Journal of Management Development, 32(6), 567–605. https://doi.org/10.1108/JMD-04-2013-0053
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Lord, R. G. (1985). An information processing approach to social perceptions, leadership and behavioral measurement in organizations. Research in Organizational Behavior, 7, 87–128.
Meyers-Levy, J., & Loken, B. (2015). Revisiting gender differences: What we know and what lies ahead? Journal of Consumer Psychology, 25(1), 129–149. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcps.2014.06.003
Mount, M. K., & Scullen, S. E. (2001). Multisource feedback ratings: What do they really measure? In: M. London (Ed.), How people evaluate others in organizations (pp. 155–180). US: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Nichols, A. L., & Cottrell, C. A. (2014). What do people desire in their leaders? The role of leadership level on trait desirability. Leadership Quarterly, 25(7), 11–729. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2014.04.001
Oc, B., & Bashshur, M. R. (2013). Followership, leadership and social influence. Leadership Quarterly, 4(6), 919–934. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2013.10.006
Powell, G. N., & Butterfield, D. A. (2003). Gender, gender identity, and aspirations to top management. Women in Management Review, 18(1/2), 88–96. https://doi.org/10.1108/09649420310462361
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Shamir, B., & Kark, R. (2004). A single-item graphic scale for the measurement of organizational identification. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 77, 115–123. https://doi.org/10.1348/096317904322915946
Sparrow, P., & Cooper, C. (2014). Organizational effectiveness, people and performance: new challenges, new research agendas. Journal of Organizational Effectiveness: People and Performance, 1(1), 2–13. https://doi.org/10.1108/JOEPP-01-2014-0004
Starbuck, W. H., & Mezias, J. M. (1996). Opening Pandora’s box: studying the accuracy of managers’ perceptions. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 17, 99–117. https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1099-1379(199603)17:2<99::AID-JOB743>3.0.CO;2-2
Stelmokiene, A., & Endriulaitiene, A. (2015). An assessment of leadership effectiveness: psychological aspects (monograph). Lithuania: Versus Aureus, Vytautas Magnus University.
Uhl-Bien, M., Riggio, R. E., Lowe, K. B., & Carsten, M. K. (2014). Followership theory: A review and research agenda. Leadership Quarterly, 25, 83–104. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2013.11.007
Yukl, G. (2012). Effective leadership behavior: What we know and what questions need more attention. Academy of Management Perspectives, (November), 66–85. https://doi.org/10.5465/amp.2012.0088
Banutu-Gomez, M. B. (2004). Great leaders teach exemplary followership and serve as servant leaders. Journal of American Academy of Business, 4(1/2), 143–151.
Bastardoz, N., & Van Vugt, M. (2019). The nature of followership: Evolutionary analysis and review. The Leadership Quarterly, 30(1), 81–95. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2018.09.004
Behrendt, P., Matz, S., & Goritz, A. S. (2017). An integrative model of leadership behaviour. Leadership Quarterly, 28, 229–244. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2016.08.002
Brown, M. E., Trevino, L. K., & Harrison, D. A. (2005). Ethical leadership: A social learning perspective for construct development and testing. Organizational Behaviour and Human Decision Processes, 97, 117–134. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.obhdp.2005.03.002
Carsten, M. K., Bligh, M. C., Kohles, J. C., Wing-Yan Lau, V. (2019). A follower-centric approach to the 2016 US presidential election: Candidate rhetoric and follower attributions of charisma and effectiveness. Leadership, 15(2), 179–204. https://doi.org/10.1177/1742715018817930
Chamorro-Premuzic, T., & Furnham, A. (2010). The psychology of personnel selection. New York: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511819308
Ciulla, J. B. (1995). Leadership ethics: Mapping the territory. Business Ethics Quarterly, 5(1), 5–28. https://doi.org/10.2307/3857269
Ciulla, J. B. (2005). The state of leadership ethics and the work that lies before us. Business Ethics: A European Review, 14(4), 323–335. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8608.2005.00414.x
Ciulla J. B. (2012) Ethics effectiveness: The nature of good leadership. In: D. V. Day & Antonakis, J. (Eds.), The nature of leadership (2nd ed.) (pp. 508–540). Los Angeles, CA: Sage.
Correll, S. J. (2004). Constraints into preferences: Gender, status and emerging career aspirations. American Sociological Review, 69(1), 93–113. https://doi.org/10.1177/000312240406900106
Day, D. V., Fleenor, J. W., Atwater, L. E., Sturm, R. E., & McKee, R. A. (2014). Advances in leader and leadership development: A review of 25years of research and theory. Leadership Quarterly, 25(1), 63–82. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2013.11.004
Dinh, J. E., & Lord, R. G. (2012). Implications of dispositional and process views of traits for individual difference research in leadership. Leadership Quarterly, 23(4), 651–669. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2012.03.003
Dinh, J. E., Lord, R. G., Gardner, W. L., Meuser, J. D., Liden, R. C., & Hu, J. (2014). Leadership theory and research in the new millennium: Current theoretical trends and changing perspectives. Leadership Quarterly, 25(1), 36–62. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2013.11.005
Duehr, E. E., & Bono, J. E. (2006). Men, women, and managers: Are stereotypes finally changing? Personnel Psychology, 59, 815–846. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1744-6570.2006.00055.x
Eisenbeiss, S. A. (2012). Re-thinking ethical leadership: an interdisciplinary integrative approach. Leadership Quarterly, 23, 791–808. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2012.03.001
Eisenbeiss, S. A., & Giessner, S. R. (2012). The emergence and maintenance of ethical leadership in organizations. A question of embeddedness? Journal of Personnel Psychology, 11(1), 7–19. https://doi.org/10.1027/1866-5888/a000055
Endriulaitiene, A., Stelmokiene, A., Minelgaite-Snaebjornsson, I., & Littrell, F. R. (2016). Ideal leader in the perception of employees from Lithuanian health care. Management of Organizations: Systematic Research, 75, 57–69. https://doi.org/10.7220/MOSR.2335.8750.2016.75.4
Hooijberg, R., & Choi, J. (2001). The impact of organizational characteristics on leadership effectiveness models: an examination of leadership in a private and a public sector organization. Administration and Society, 33(4), 403–431. https://doi.org/10.1177/0095399701334002
Hoyt, C. L., & Burnette, J. L. (2013). Gender bias in leader evaluations: merging Implicit theories and Role congruity perspectives. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 39(10), 1306–1319. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167213493643
Hoyt, C. L., Price, T. L., & Poatsy, L. (2013). The social role theory of unethical leadership. Leadership Quarterly, 24, 712–723. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2013.07.001
Johns, G. (2006). The essential impact of context on organizational behavior. Academy of Management Review, 31(2), 386–408. https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.2006.20208687
Kaiser, R. B., Hogan, R., & Craig, S. B. (2008). Leadership and the fate of organizations. American Psychologist, 63(2), 96–110. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.63.2.96
Lang, J. W., Zettler, I., Ewen, C., & Hülsheger, U. R. (2012). Implicit motives, explicit traits, and task and contextual performance at work. Journal of Applied Psychology, 97(6), 1201–1217. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0029556
Levine, M. P., & Boaks, J. (2014). What does ethics have to do with leadership? Journal of Business Ethics, 124, 225–242. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-013-1807-y
Littrell, F. R. (2013). Explicit leader behaviour: A review of literature, theory development, and research project results. Journal of Management Development, 32(6), 567–605. https://doi.org/10.1108/JMD-04-2013-0053
Lord, R. G., Brown, D. J., & Freiberg, S. J. (1999). Understanding the dynamics of leadership: the role of follower self-concepts in the leader/follower relationship. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 78(3), 167–203. https://doi.org/10.1006/obhd.1999.2832
Lord, R. G. (1985). An information processing approach to social perceptions, leadership and behavioral measurement in organizations. Research in Organizational Behavior, 7, 87–128.
Meyers-Levy, J., & Loken, B. (2015). Revisiting gender differences: What we know and what lies ahead? Journal of Consumer Psychology, 25(1), 129–149. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcps.2014.06.003
Mount, M. K., & Scullen, S. E. (2001). Multisource feedback ratings: What do they really measure? In: M. London (Ed.), How people evaluate others in organizations (pp. 155–180). US: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Nichols, A. L., & Cottrell, C. A. (2014). What do people desire in their leaders? The role of leadership level on trait desirability. Leadership Quarterly, 25(7), 11–729. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2014.04.001
Oc, B., & Bashshur, M. R. (2013). Followership, leadership and social influence. Leadership Quarterly, 4(6), 919–934. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2013.10.006
Powell, G. N., & Butterfield, D. A. (2003). Gender, gender identity, and aspirations to top management. Women in Management Review, 18(1/2), 88–96. https://doi.org/10.1108/09649420310462361
Rudman, L. A., & Kiliansky, S. E. (2010). Implicit and explicit attitudes toward female authority. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 26(11), 1315–1328. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167200263001
Shamir, B., & Kark, R. (2004). A single-item graphic scale for the measurement of organizational identification. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 77, 115–123. https://doi.org/10.1348/096317904322915946
Sparrow, P., & Cooper, C. (2014). Organizational effectiveness, people and performance: new challenges, new research agendas. Journal of Organizational Effectiveness: People and Performance, 1(1), 2–13. https://doi.org/10.1108/JOEPP-01-2014-0004
Starbuck, W. H., & Mezias, J. M. (1996). Opening Pandora’s box: studying the accuracy of managers’ perceptions. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 17, 99–117. https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1099-1379(199603)17:2<99::AID-JOB743>3.0.CO;2-2
Stelmokiene, A., & Endriulaitiene, A. (2015). An assessment of leadership effectiveness: psychological aspects (monograph). Lithuania: Versus Aureus, Vytautas Magnus University.
Uhl-Bien, M., Riggio, R. E., Lowe, K. B., & Carsten, M. K. (2014). Followership theory: A review and research agenda. Leadership Quarterly, 25, 83–104. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2013.11.007
Yukl, G. (2012). Effective leadership behavior: What we know and what questions need more attention. Academy of Management Perspectives, (November), 66–85. https://doi.org/10.5465/amp.2012.0088