TY - JOUR
T1 - Seeing is not believing
T2 - Leader humility, hypocrisy, and their impact on followers' behaviors
AU - Bharanitharan, Darren K.
AU - Lowe, Kevin B.
AU - Bahmannia, Somayeh
AU - Chen, Zhen Xiong
AU - Cui, Lin
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2020
PY - 2021/4
Y1 - 2021/4
N2 - Challenging the prevailing consensus that leader humility is uniformly beneficial we investigate circumstances where leader humility behaviors are positively perceived and yet negatively received due to attributions of impression management. Arising from potential inconsistencies in perceptions and attributions, we argue that followers may evaluate leader humility behavioral displays as either genuine or hypocritical. We conducted two studies, in different contexts, to test followers' reactions to leader humility displays. In Study 1 (Confucian Asian cluster), we used a survey methodology to test our theoretical model. Due to the validity problems with our instrumental variables, we were unable to draw conclusions from the results of study 1. In Study 2 (Anglo cluster), we used a scenario-based experimental design. While the hypothesized mediating effect via perceptions of leader hypocrisy was not supported by the results, we found support for the hypothesis that the interaction of leader humility and impression management positively influenced hypocrisy.
AB - Challenging the prevailing consensus that leader humility is uniformly beneficial we investigate circumstances where leader humility behaviors are positively perceived and yet negatively received due to attributions of impression management. Arising from potential inconsistencies in perceptions and attributions, we argue that followers may evaluate leader humility behavioral displays as either genuine or hypocritical. We conducted two studies, in different contexts, to test followers' reactions to leader humility displays. In Study 1 (Confucian Asian cluster), we used a survey methodology to test our theoretical model. Due to the validity problems with our instrumental variables, we were unable to draw conclusions from the results of study 1. In Study 2 (Anglo cluster), we used a scenario-based experimental design. While the hypothesized mediating effect via perceptions of leader hypocrisy was not supported by the results, we found support for the hypothesis that the interaction of leader humility and impression management positively influenced hypocrisy.
KW - Humility
KW - Hypocrisy
KW - Impression management
KW - Workplace deviance
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85088976785&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.leaqua.2020.101440
DO - 10.1016/j.leaqua.2020.101440
M3 - Article
SN - 1048-9843
VL - 32
JO - Leadership Quarterly
JF - Leadership Quarterly
IS - 2
M1 - 101440
ER -