Through Different Perspectives on Leadership: … 6...Theory to Implicit Leadership Theories Heiko ... resulted in 17 categories of leadership traits and behaviors ... critical behavioral

Fall and Winter 2012 Volume 10, Number 2

Journal of Organizational Learning and Leadership 68

Through Different Perspectives on Leadership: Comparing the Full Range Leadership

Theory to Implicit Leadership Theories

Heiko Verlage

Jens Rowold

TU Dortmund University

Jan Schilling

University of Applied Administrative Sciences Hannover, Germany

Abstract

According to constructivist tradition, leadership is understood as a phenomenon of subjective

perception. With this in mind, we compared empirical theories of leadership with subjective

leadership theories (Phillips & Lord, 1986; Calder, 1977). A sample of leaders' superiors and

followers (N = 694) answered the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire which is associated to

the Full Range of Leadership Theory (FRLT, Avolio & Bass, 1991). Additionally, the participants

gave insight into their implicit leadership theories by answering open questions. The analysis of

implicit leadership theories resulted in 17 categories of leadership traits and behaviors which are

not covered by the FRLT. Some new categories show significant correlations with leadership

outcome measures. In this regard the new categories explain unique variance beyond the

dimensions of the FRLT. The results, limitations and implications are discussed.

"Leadership researchers may find that certain aspects of leadership are commonly understood or

inferred (as indicated by their presence in implicit leadership theories) that are not taken

into account in current theories and models of leadership. The study of implicit theories can

provide clues that will help in the development of explicit theories to understand the

phenomenon called leadership." (Offermann, Kennedy, & Wirtz, 1994, p. 45).

The full range of leadership theory (FRLT; Avolio & Bass, 1991; House, 1977; Burns, 1978; Bass,

1985) is one of the best known exponents of the currently discussed neocharismatic leadership

theories. One of the theory’s central elements consists in the description of transformational

leadership: Leaders motivate their followers by, for example, presenting an appealing vision of

future, satisfying their followers’ needs or encouraging their creativity (Bass & Riggio, 2006).

Nevertheless, there is criticism of the leadership behavior styles as described within the theory. It has

been argued that the FRLT lacks some parts of the "full range", i.e. several important factors of

leadership may still have to be included (Antonakis & House, 2004; Yukl, 1999). Offermann, Kennedy

& Wirtz (1994) point out that the analysis of implicit leadership theories could lead to the

identification of additional leadership factors which have not yet been considered. The present

paper contributes to the discussion about identifying additional, important leadership factors.

The examination of implicit leadership theories (ILT) of leaders’ followers and supervisors results in

traits and behavior styles of leadership which correlate with measures of leadership effects. Overall,

the goal was to extend current thinking on leadership and to add additional elements to the

FRLT.



Review of Full Range of Leadership Research

The full range of leadership theory postulates five transformational and three transactional factors

of leadership. Additionally there is another factor which represents the absence of leadership (i.e.,

laissez-faire, Bass & Riggio, 2006).

The dimensions of transformational leadership are characterized by a high leadership efficacy and an

intensive activity of the leader (Judge & Piccolo, 2004). Inspirational motivation describes leader

behavior which is based on an optimistic and enthusiastic way of communicating a vision to the

followers. The job to be done should not be felt as an obligation but as a challenge. Idealized

influence (attributed) refers to the degree to which followers attribute positive traits (e.g. charisma) to

their leader. Idealized influence (behavior) represents a set of leadership behaviors which is based on

high ethical standards in combination with a distinct achievement motive. Intellectual stimulation

describes the leadership behavior a leader shows to involve followers in decision making processes.

The leader emphasizes innovation and creativity in this behavior mode particularly. If followers make

mistakes during the creative process of solving problems, they are not criticized in front of their

colleagues (Bass & Riggio, 2006). Individualized consideration means promoting the followers’

career development and meeting their individual needs.

Compared to the dimensions of transformational leadership, those of transactional leadership share

lower leadership efficacy. Among the transactional dimensions contingent reward is theoretically the

most effective one. It describes a more or less implicit contract between leader and follower, as, in

exchange for the work done by the follower, the leader promises a reward. This can consist in

material boni, but also in verbal praising. Active management-by-exception is the label of

leadership behavior which is shown by leaders who interfere only to prevent failure of their followers

or to avert deviations from designated standards. In contrast, management-by-exception passive

describes leaders who intervene after mistakes have occurred to limit possible damage (Rowold,

2005).

Many empirical studies have concluded that transformational leadership correlates with leadership

efficacy and follower satisfaction (Smith, Matkin, & Fritz, 2004; House & Aditya, 1997; Judge &

Piccolo, 2004; Rowold & Heinitz, 2007), around the globe and across organizational contexts (Bass

& Riggio, 2006).

Implicit Leadership Theories

The scientific construct of implicit theories (or naive theories) originates from the attribution

theory (Heider, 1944) and from the theory of personal constructs (Kelly, 1955). Both theories

focus on the subjective perception of everyday life. As the phenomenon of leadership also belongs

to everyday life, Eden & Leviatan (1975) and Calder (1977) introduced the construct of implicit

theories into leadership research (q.v. Hollander & Julian, 1969). Lührmann (2004) refers to this as

a cognitive, constructivist turnaround, because the basic principle of implicit leadership theories

clarifies that the way in which leaders and their performance are perceived depends on the

cognitive processing of the observer (Yammarino, Dionne, Chun, & Dansereau, 2005):

“[L]eadership is in the eye of the beholder” (Kenny, Blascovich, & Shaver, 1994, p. 409).

Schilling (2001) defines implicit leadership theories as a subcategory of implicit theories which

refer to leaders and the process of leadership. This definition combines two aspects of implicit

leadership theories which had been treated separately in the past: The first aspect consists in



implicit leadership theories in the function of categorization processes. In this case, implicit

prototypes lead to the individual decision whether a person is perceived as a leader or not,

dependent on the perception of the observed person’s traits (Phillips & Lord, 1986; Lührmann,

2004; House & Aditya, 1997). The second aspect refers to the process of leadership itself: In this

context implicit leadership theories are patterns of explanation in regard to causes and effects of

leadership behavior and results (Kenny et al., 1994).

Implicit leadership theories “help to organize perceptions, permit reasonable predictions, and may

even specify appropriate behavioral reactions to others” (Phillips & Lord, 1986, p. 34), so they

function as cognitive simplifications in everyday leadership contexts. The possibility of a biased (i.e.,

scheme-congruent) perception of leadership is only one factor in how implicit leadership theories

may affect leadership processes. Additionally, implicit leadership theories themselves are part

of the dyadic leadership process: The better the behavior shown by a leader fits to the implicit

leadership theories of the followers, the more they evaluate their leader’s efficacy in his/her

favor, and furthermore a higher quality of the leader-member-exchange (LMX) can be observed

(Epitropaki & Martin, 2004; Schyns & Hansbrough, 2008).

This finding becomes even more important when one considers that many leaders do their job in

an international context, leading internationally composed teams. The question comes up whether

there exist cultural similarities and differences concerning implicit leadership theories. A well

known research activity in this field of science is the GLOBE study which was conducted in more

than 900 organizations worldwide (House, Hanges, Javidan, Dorfman, & Gupta, 2004). One of its

key results was the finding that charismatic leadership is seen as a good leadership style worldwide

and seems to be a solid component of implicit leadership theories held by leaders (Dickson, Den

Hartog, & Mitchelson, 2003; Den Hartog, House, Hanges, & Ruiz-Quintanilla, 1999; Steyrer,

Schiffinger, & Lang, 2007; Schilling, 2008).

To conclude, implicit leadership theories hold that leadership could be described as a phenomenon

of perception (Schilling, 2001). Consequently, a statement of requirements was formulated: “If

leadership resides, at least in part, in the minds of followers, then it is imperative to discover what

followers are thinking“ (Lord & Emrich, 2001, p. 551), because we need to know more about the

construction of leadership perception so that we can finally learn about leadership itself.

Exploratory Research Objectives

In the past years a few studies have been published examining both the FRLT and the concept of

implicit leadership theories. In most cases the studies were seeking to answer the question whether

charismatic/transformational leadership is an international leadership ideal (e.g. Den Hartog et al.,

1999). These and other studies examining the FRLT and implicit leadership theories in

combination are still few and far between. Utilizing implicit leadership theories, the goal of the

present paper is to contribute to the examination and further development of the FRLT.

Given the overall goal (i.e., to examine and extend the FRLT), we plan to formulate explorative

research objectives (c.f. Früh, 2001) instead of hypotheses. First, Yukl (1999) argues the FRLT

discounted critical behavioral patterns of leadership. The analysis of implicit leadership theories may

help to identify leadership behaviors and leaders’ traits that are individually perceived as being

important to the process of leadership. The collective structure of the data to be examined leads to

inferences that exceed the individual level of analysis. Thus, the first explorative research objective

consists in the following question: Do any components of implicit leadership theories exist that are not



already taken into account by the FRLT (Research objective 1)?

If the first research objective turns out to be answered positively, the question arises whether

the identified components of implicit leadership theories are relevant to organizational

effectiveness. More specifically, do they add significant, unique variance to account for leadership

outcome criteria (Research objective 2)?

Methods

For the purpose of the present study, a 360°-feedback survey was utilized in various German

profit and non-profit organizations. The participating organizations were heterogeneous:

telecommunications enterprises and call center service providers took part in this study as well

as research facilities, schools and other kinds of organization. The goal of the 360°-feedback

survey was to provide managers with feedback about their respective individual leadership

strengths and weaknesses and thus to promote their development. Executive managers, their

subordinates, supervisors and peers were asked to fill out the survey. The survey focused on

managers’ leadership behavior (MLQ, see below).

Sample

A data set included N = 694 persons. Hereof, N = 544 (78.4 %) persons belong to the group

of the managers’ subordinates and N = 150 (21.6 %) to the group of the managers’

supervisors. There were 51.4 % male and 48.6 % female executive managers. Due to

concerns of anonymity of the subordinates and supervisors, additional demographic

characteristics were not available.

Survey: Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ)

The standard instrument to measure the dimensions of the FRLT is the Multifactor Leadership

Questionnaire (Bass & Avolio, 1992). The theoretically intended (Avolio & Bass, 1991) nine-

dimensional factor structure has been confirmed in Anglo-American countries (e.g. Antonakis,

Avolio, & Sivasubramaniam, 2003; Bass & Riggio, 2006) as well as in Germany (Rowold &

Rohmann, 2009; Rowold & Rohmann, 2008).

Rowold’s (2004) German translation of the MLQ-5X was utilized in the present study. It was

administered to the participants as a paper and pencil questionnaire and consists of 45 items.

Hereof, 36 items form (in groups of 4 items each) the nine FRLT scales described above which

constitute the following three categories of leadership styles: transformational leadership

(inspirational motivation, idealized influence [attributed], idealized influence [behavior], intellectual

stimulation, individualized consideration), transactional leadership (contingent reward, active

management-by-exception, management-by-exception passive) and laissez-faire. The remaining

items form three outcome scales named extra effort (3 items), effectiveness (4 items) and satisfaction

(2 items). The participants answer the items via a five-point Likert scale (not at all – once in a while

– sometimes – fairly often – frequently, if not always).

Additionally, there are three items attached to the questionnaire which are formulated as open

questions, i.e. they are presented without standardized response options: What are two or three

things that would help this leader be more effective? One thing that gets in the way of this leader's

effectiveness is... What I admire most about his/her leadership is...



Although these open items are not part of the MLQ in a theoretical perspective, they were added by

Bass & Avolio (2002) to its commercially distributed version, because the open items were useful

for executive development. In the context of the present study, these items were used for

gathering implicit leadership theories. While the items are focused at a specific leader on the

individual level, the aggregated answers (i.e. across the subjects in this study) to these questions

reveal common thinking and everyday beliefs concerning (effective) leadership. In the present study

we analyzed the data of (a) the managers’ subordinates and (b) of the managers’ supervisors.

The managers themselves did not have the chance to enter qualitative data. Finally, the inclusion of

data from the colleagues’ perspective would not be in line with the majority of leadership research as

they are typically not concerned with their peer’s leadership.

Applied Methods of Qualitative Data Analysis

Within the present study, Mayring's (1994) principle of qualitative data analysis was used in

combination with quantitative statistical methods. First, the participants’ answers had to be made

anonymous. Names of persons and organizations were removed from the data. In the same

procedural step we excluded answers which did not deliver any content (i.e. if there was nothing more

than e.g. “????”, “No answer”, “I don’t know” etc.). The result consisted in what we defined as

qualitative raw data that was to be inspected in the course of analysis.

The second procedural step included different kinds of qualitative content analysis. Mayring (2003)

defines three different basic types of qualitative content analysis. We made use of two of them:

summarizing and structuring content analysis. The summarizing type describes the process of

reducing and abstracting qualitative data so that the result is less bulky but still contains the

essential pieces of information of the original data. The structuring type of content analysis is

used to examine certain aspects of qualitative data material. Developing a category system

inductively means arranging data in categories which arise gradually during the process of analysis.

The opposite method is to apply a category system deductively, i.e. using a given category

system for the analysis right from the start (Mayring, 2000).

We began the actual content analysis using the summarizing type first. Before the start, a codebook

was written which contained explicit rules for summarizing to provide a systematic approach for

processing the given qualitative data. The codebook defined the steps of analysis and their

sequence to ensure the maximum reduction in arbitrariness. In the course of the summarizing

content analysis the participants’ statements were paraphrased, i.e. those parts of each

statement which did not deliver much or any information were excluded while the relevant

elements were rephrased, shortened and unified to the same level of linguistic complexity. In

the same step the statements’ different units of meaning were identified and referred to as coding

units. The paraphrased coding units were semantically generalized to a medium level of abstraction.

Finally, we reduced the number of elements by excluding those coding units which were

unimportant in respect of the research objectives. The decision whether a coding unit had to be

excluded or not was made in reference to definite rules: Schilling (2001) formulated criteria of

implicit leadership theories of which two are applicable in the present study. After the wording

had been adjusted the criteria were used as rules to reduce the number of coding units. In each

case, the fulfillment of both criteria was required to exclude the respective coding unit: (1) Content

criterion regarding the research topic: Only those coding units are relevant to the subsequent analysis

which refer to the nature or functionality of leadership; (2) Pragmatic action-related criterion:

Coding units must refer to a greater or lesser extent directly to a leader’s actions to be relevant



for the present study.

Because of the huge amount of qualitative data, the steps of generalization and reduction took

place in parallel, as described by Schilling (2001). A practical insight into the process conducted in

summarizing content analysis is provided in Table 1 by showing an exemplary extract of the data

along with the different steps of the procedure. The output of the summarizing content analysis

was checked by the analyst and one additional research team member in order to test (a) whether

the paraphrases had been formulated adequately, (b) whether the generalizations did not change

the meanings of the paraphrased coding units, and (c) whether the exclusion of coding units

conformed to the rules (Schilling, 2006). The result of the summarizing content analysis consisted

in definite and distinct elements concerning leadership for subsequent analyses.

Categorizing Data

After the summarizing content analysis had been finished, we used its results to conduct a

structuring content analysis. The identified coding units had to be arranged in a category system. In

consideration of the first research objective, we followed a deductive approach and used a category

system that consisted in the nine aspects of leadership as postulated by the FRLT. Again, a

codebook was written at the beginning. It explained the coding process and contained short

descriptions of the nine leadership categories (together with their codes a1 – a9). The

descriptions were similar to the ones written by Avolio, Bass & Jung (1999). To guarantee a

categorization process that was conducted as closely as possible to the theoretical assumptions

of the FRLT, the codebook contained the corresponding MLQ items as model examples for each

leadership category. Concerning the categorization process, the codebook explicitly

suggested that the reader should perceive each category as distinct dimensions. Consequently,

coding units which meant exactly the opposite of a particular category description, had also to be

assigned to this very category, if both coding unit and category dealt with the same basic aspect

of leadership: If there was a coding unit like e.g. to offer opportunities to communicate, it had to be

aligned to the ninth category (laissez-faire), because this aspect of leadership deals (among other

issues) with leadership behavior of (not) staying in contact to followers.

Additional to the nine FRLT-categories there was a category (coded as a10) for miscellaneous

content, i.e. for coding units which did not fit into the nine theoretical categories. Table 2 shows an

example of coding units which were assigned to different

categories.

Intercoder Reliability

A comparison between the experimenter’s coding outcomes and the results of a coding assistant

was drawn to control the categorization process quality. For this purpose, Früh (2001) states that

30-50 coding units should be re-coded at a minimum, but he recommends an amount of 200-300

coding units. A stratified random sample of the participants was drawn consisting of 15

supervisors and 55 subordinates. This sample was the source of 251 coding units out of the entire

qualitative data.

The coding assistant was blind to the research objectives. She was trained to use the written code

book and to handle the deductive categorization process via software. Subsequently, and

independently of the experimenter, she conducted the deductive structuring content analysis by

re-coding the coding units of the drawn sample.



Inductive structuring content analysis: Emerging categories

The category system of the applied deductive structuring content analysis contained a category

for miscellaneous content as aforementioned (a10). To organize the heterogeneous content of

this category we conducted an inductive structuring content analysis for the above-named

category. As done in the processes of the prior content analyses, a codebook was written to

define the actions to be executed (e.g. repeated control steps). After the inductive categorization

had been completed, the coding team was requested to discuss the coding units’ allocation to the

developed categories (while adhering to the code book) and to think through these new

categories themselves. The team discussions at the end of the analysis processes led to the final

state of the category systems for each one of the inductive content analyses.

Linking the New Categories to Assessed Manager’s Parameter Values

Concerning the attempt to validate the new categories of the inductive categorization process,

neither the rated managers nor the participants were available to generate data. Consequently,

we had to switch to an indirect way of generating the necessary data: To evaluate the

managers’ parameter values regarding the new categories, a frequency-based approach was

used: The more a manager was described by raters/coding units (coded as miscellaneous in the

first deductive categorization) which had been assigned to a certain new category (within the

inductive categorization), the higher we estimated his or her parameter value regarding this

special new category. To account for the fact that there were different numbers of raters per

manager, neither absolute nor relative quantities were adequate to describe the managers’

parameter values. Instead, we used a bipolar four point Likert scale. It consisted of the points very

low, low, high, very high. There was an additional point called unclear. An instruction was written

to guide the experimenters through the process of analysis. In particular, the instruction explained

how to use the aforementioned scale: If there was more than one rater whose coding units indicated

a certain level of parameter value regarding a certain new category, the respective manager was

graded as very high / very low in terms of this category. If there was only one rater whose coding

units indicated a certain level of parameter value regarding a certain new category, the respective

manager was (only) graded as high / low in terms of this category. If there was not any information

about the parameter value of a particular new category, the respective manager had to be graded as

unclear regarding this new category. In case of (inter- or intra-individual) contradictions the

instruction told the experimenter to code the managers’ parameter values in accordance with the

opinion held by the majority of the ratings. If a majority did not exist, the respective category had to

be graded as unclear. After this process of generating data had been finished, two members of the

research team checked the entire new data material for mistakes due to the possibility of incorrect

scale use.

Results

The total volume of quantitative data originating from the MLQ includes 8.4 % missing data. We

did not exclude single participants due to high amounts of missing data, because we did not want to

reduce the extent of the qualitative data artificially.

The means, standard deviations and Cronbach’s alpha coefficients of the MLQ scales are

presented in Table 3. Obviously, the alpha coefficients are very heterogeneous and are ranging

from α = .12 (satisfaction) to α = .90 (laissez-faire). According to conventions, we excluded the



MLQ outcome scale satisfaction from further analyses, because its alpha coefficient was below α =

.50 in both of the participant groups. The MLQ outcome scale effectiveness also shows a low alpha

coefficient. In the supervisors’ participant group the coefficient (α = .47) is below the

aforementioned limit. Nevertheless, scales with less than four items often have low reliabilities

(especially in sample sizes below N = 500), and should not be excluded from further analyses

(Cortina, 1993; Charter, 2003).

Considering the qualitative data, there was a possible maximum of 2082 statements (694

participants multiplied by 3 open questions). In 22 cases a question remained completely

unanswered (1.1 % of the possible maximum). 467 (22.7 %) of the actual 2060 answers were

excluded because of lacking informative content. The remaining 1593 statements entered the

process of the summarizing content analysis where they were split into 2688 coding units. Hereof

156 coding units (5.8 %) were excluded due to not meeting the defined criteria of implicit

leadership theories. On average each supervisor introduced 4.66 coding units to the subsequently

conducted structuring content analyses, while the subordinates produced 3.37 coding units on

average (see Table 4).

Cohen’s kappa was calculated to check the quality of the deductive structuring content analysis.

This coefficient, as used in the present study, expresses the degree of congruence between the coding

outcomes of the experimenter and his research assistant concerning the drawn stratified sample of

the qualitative data. Kappa coefficients of K ~ .60 are commonly considered as good, K ~ .75 as

very good (Graham & Naglieri, 2003). For the deductive categorization a kappa coefficient of K = .77

was calculated, indicating a very good coding quality.

Descriptive Statistics

The first deductive categorization was about assigning the 2532 available coding units to the nine

categories as taken from the FRLT leadership dimensions, while the tenth category (miscellaneous,

a10) was reserved for not categorizable coding units. The descriptive statistics show the

extensiveness of the miscellaneous category in both of the participant groups in a clear way: 327

coding units (46.8 %) originating from the supervisors’ group and 687 coding units (37.5 %) from

the subordinates’ group included content differing qualitatively from the FRLT categories and had

to be coded as miscellaneous.

Big differences stand out in analyzing the frequencies of the FRLT codes a1-a9 (see Table 5 and

Figure 1). The issues of the FRLT categories idealized influence (attributed), individualized

consideration, and laissez-faire were broached most frequently by the participants. In contrast,

contingent reward, management-by-exception active and passive show very low occurrence.

Results and Further Analyses of the Inductive Categorizations

The miscellaneous category (a10) of the first deductive structuring content analysis contained a total

sum of 1014 coding units. These were sorted within the process of the inductive structuring content

analysis. The categorization led to 19 different categories aside the FRLT. We decided that a

category should consist of at least 15 coding units to be relevant for subsequent analyses.

According to this criterion, we excluded the category creativity and the comparatively unspecific

category performing leadership tasks, because each of them contained only six coding units. A

total of 3 coding units represented single deviant meanings and could not be assigned to any of



the other categories. They were also not considered in the continued course of this study. To

present the final 17 new categories together with their main contents we refer to Schilling’s (2006)

recommendation of using concept maps for visualizing results of qualitative content analyses (see

Figure 2). Additionally, Table 6 offers an overview of the categories which emerged and the

number of assigned coding units.

Validating the New Categories

The process of generating the managers’ parameter values regarding the new categories required

1785 scaling trials (105 managers multiplied by 17 categories). This approach resulted in many

missing values. According to the rules of the written instructions, the applied principle of

generating data led to leaving parameter values unclear if the qualitative data did not clearly indicate

a single point of the scale we used. In 1250 (70 %) scaling trials we assigned unclear parameter

values to the managers while 535 (30 %) parameter values were non-ambiguous in terms of the

written guidelines. Among the 105 managers there was 1 person (0.95 %) whose parameter

values were all identified as unclear. Regarding the other 104 managers (99.05 %) the scaling

process resulted in at least one non-ambiguous parameter value per person (M = 5.08, SD = 2.66).

We used multidimensional scaling (MDS) to analyze the generated data. Janssen & Laatz (2007)

recommend this method particularly in cases of explorative studies; it is especially regarded as

useful in the field of management research (Wrona, 2008). First we calculated the rank

correlations (Spearman’s rho) between the managers’ parameter values [in the newly emerged

categories and their MLQ factor scores (averaged about each manager’s raters), as presented in

Table 7. The results were used as input into an ordinally scaled MDS. The standard quality

criterion for MDS analyses is called stress, expressing the mismatch between the coordinate

configuration of the MDS and the ranking of the similarities. According to conventions presented by

Bortz & Döring (2006), the resulting two-dimensional scaling proves to be of a moderate quality

(stress = 0.17). An additional criterion for the adequacy of the MDS results is the extent of explained

variance (RSQ, R²). Although no definite thresholds for acceptable RSQs exist, most authors agree

that the MDS should be within the range RSQ ≥ .60 (Malhotra, 2002) to RSQ ≥ .90 (Lieven, 2009).

The RSQ coefficient of the resulting two-dimensional scaling meets these requirements (RSQ =

.86).

While analyzing the results of the MDS (see Figure 3) it is not obligatory to interpret the dimensions

themselves (e.g., Ekman, 1954). In an ordinally-scaled MDS it is more important to interpret the

relations of the shown constructs to each other than to the dimensions. The entire structure of the

two-dimensionally positioned constructs looks slightly rhomboid. This indicates a multitude of

only weak correlations which, consequently, result in big distances between most of the shown

constructs. The structure mainly consists of three clusters. Most factors of transformational

leadership are located close to each other because of high intercorrelations. The outcome scales

extra effort and effectiveness can be found among these dimensions, too. In contrast, the factors of

transactional leadership are comparatively scattered: Contingent reward is positioned closest to the

transformational constructs, while management-by-exception passive is between contingent reward

and laissez-faire. Active management-by-exception is integrated into another accumulation

consisting of stress resistance, emotional self-control, encouraging team spirit, cooperation and

conflict management as well as efficient communication & meetings. These categories allow an

effective functioning of the leader in cooperation with the followers even in situations of stress,

conflicts, problems and mistakes.



The content of the third main accumulation (self-reflection in respect of leadership behavior &

prioritizing role of leadership, humor & joy, practical self-management as well as team-mindedness &

willingness to collaborate) appears to be quite heterogeneous, but in contrast to the aforementioned

accumulation, these elements have in common that they refer more to the leader’s character and

less to the leader’s function in the followers’ context. Consequently, the adjacently positioned

category perfectionism & focusing on details is in line with this accumulation. The last named

category forms the intersection to a low-density combination implying the categories delegating

trustfully, administrative activity & long-term planning as well as experience and specialized

knowledge. They represent leadership behaviors and traits which play an important role in the day-

to-day work of leaders and describe the essence of leadership in a very basal way.

Interestingly, the distance between the new category rhetoric, ability to communicate & social

competence and the factors of transformational leadership, respectively, was small. The category

dominance, tyranny & intolerance is positioned as a peculiar outsider and seems to be antipodal

to the factors of transformational leadership. This constellation is obviously caused by strikingly

negative correlations between the new category dominance, tyranny & intolerance and all

transformational leadership styles plus contingent reward (see Table 7)

As shown in Table 7, there are some significant correlations between the managers’ parameter values

regarding the new categories and the outcome scales effectiveness and extra effort measured by the

MLQ. According to this there is a coherence between the ability to practice efficient communication

& meetings and the perceived leadership effectiveness (ρ = .34). Regarding the willingness for extra

effort we found a positive correlation with the new category rhetoric, ability to communicate & social

competence (ρ = .61) while the category dominance, tyranny & intolerance shows a negative

correlation (ρ = - .46). Additionally, we want to point to the negative correlation between practical self-

management and extra effort (ρ = -.32).

Regression analyses were conducted to determine if variance in criteria of effective leadership could be

explained by the new categories. For a conservative test, stepwise regression was applied: In the first

step, the transactional leadership scales and laissez-faire were utilized to explain variance in the criteria

of effective leadership (i.e. extra effort and effectiveness), respectively. Next, transformational

leadership was utilized in the second step. Finally, in the third step, it was tested whether the new

categories explained incremental variance in the criteria of effective leadership, over and above

transactional and transformational leadership scales and laissez-faire. Table 8 displays the

unstandardized and standardized regression coefficients.

Transactional leadership and laissez-faire explained 58% of variance in extra effort, and 73% in

effectiveness, respectively. In the second step, transformational leadership accounted for 12%

additional variance in extra effort and for 8% additional variance in effectiveness. The new leadership

categories explained 3% of incremental variance in both extra effort and effectiveness. All these

incremental amounts of variance were significant (p ≤ .01). Apparently, the new categories of

leadership account for variances in criteria of leadership effectiveness that were hitherto untapped by

the FRLT.

Discussion

The present study aimed at identifying effective leadership styles that are not included in the FRLT, the

current most dominant leadership theory. Interestingly, 17 categories of leadership were extracted from

an extensive data set.



The first research objective implied an examination of implicit leadership theories to identify aspects

of leadership which have not hitherto been covered by the FRLT. In the deductive structuring

content analysis more than a third of the coding units could not be assigned to one of the nine FRLT

categories, but had to be assigned to the miscellaneous category. This is a clear indication of the

high number of different leadership aspects which can be identified in implicit leadership theories.

Finally, 17 new categories of leadership behavior and traits resulted from an inductive structuring

content analysis. An MDS indicated that these new categories were distinct from the nine well-

established MLQ subscales.

Several of these new leadership styles correlated with outcome measures of the MLQ. This is true

for the new categories efficient communication & meetings and rhetoric, ability to communicate & social

competence as well as dominance, tyranny & intolerance and practical self-management. Counter-

intuitively, the last named category correlates negatively with the MLQ outcome scale extra effort.

This result remains unclear until further research is conducted.

Comparing the findings of this study with other findings we would especially like to point to a study

reported by Sims & Lorenzi (1992). The authors describe research on prototypical

characterizations of good and poor managers (as described by managers). Among Sims &

Lorenzi’s (1992) results are some characterizations which are similar to 7 of the 17 new

categories found in the present study. Each of the new categories administrative activity & long-

term planning, assertiveness & insistence, perfectionism & focusing on details, delegating trustfully,

humor & joy as well as rhetoric, ability to communicate & social competence and team-mindedness &

willingness to collaborate have one to two equivalents in Sims and Lorenzi's study. Furthermore,

these authors presented the category of self-management. This can be associated with the new

categories practical self-management and self-reflection in respect of leadership behavior &

prioritizing role of leadership in the present study.

The FRLT has often been criticized for not considering certain aspects of leadership.

Yukl (1999) states the FRLT lacked task behaviors (like clarifying and planning) and relations

behaviors (like team building). Antonakis et al. (2003) point to the fact that the FRLT does not

contain a construct of strategic leadership. The absence of these leadership aspects results in the

necessity of assigning the respective coding units to the new categories efficient communication

& meetings (clarifying), administrative activity & longterm planning (planning, strategic leadership)

and encouraging team spirit, cooperation and conflict management (team building). According to

Antonakis et al. (2003) , the authors of the FRLT wanted to limit the range of leadership aspects

covered, because this limitation allowed them to examine the leadership aspects involved more

intensively. We think this view should be reconsidered, given the fact that in the present study a

large part of the participants’ statements could not be assigned to any of the FRLT dimensions.

For instance, Antonakis & House (2004) postulate the construct instrumental leadership and

explicitly discuss it as an extension of the FRLT. This construct adds four new dimensions to the

FRLT (among them the already named dimension of strategic leadership). With the goal of

complementing the FRLT in mind, this approach should be considered positively.

With regard to criterion validity, it could be demonstrated that the new categories accounted for

incremental and unique variance in the MLQ outcome scales extra effort and effectiveness, over

and above the nine dimensions of the FRLT. Thus, the new categories of leadership are not only

relevant from a theoretical perspective, but also for practitioners. Consequently, the new categories

seem to be organizationally relevant and should be considered for further investigation.



Sample and Generalizability

Consisting of 694 participants, the sample size is large enough to deliver results of interest.

Nevertheless, the proportions of the group sizes are not equal: Many more subordinates were

involved in the study compared to the number of supervisors. This turned out due to the

hierarchical organizational structures and could not be changed without varying the basic study

design.

The participants worked in different German profit and non-profit organizations. Consequently, the

results can be generalized to various organizations in Germany. Cause for concern about the

representativeness might arise from the fact that we had to delete almost one quarter of the

participants’ statements due to lacks of informative content. If one considers that the statements

were given as answers to open questions which were asked after the participants had already

answered the 45 items of the MLQ, this does not seem to be unusual.

Limitations and Directions for Future Research

With regard to the research objectives, this study was conducted exploratively. Consequently, all

results are to be regarded as preliminary and descriptive findings (Früh, 2001). Smith et al. (2004)

point out that there are differences between implicit leadership theories of men and women. Thus,

men have similar implicit leadership theories for male and female leaders while women associate

active leadership behavior more to prototypical female than to prototypical male leaders (Maher,

1997). Because of matters of anonymity we cannot form any conclusions in the present study

about sex-related differences.

While the reliability coefficient of the outcome scale effectiveness was not critical in the

subordinates’ participant group, it was insufficient in the supervisors’ participant group. Nevertheless we

decided to keep this scale, because the coefficient barely missed α ≥ .50 - according to Lienert &

Raatz (1998) a minimum for group comparisons - and the comparability of the results would have

suffered from another scale exclusion. Originally, the MLQ was not designed for supervisors

assessing managers who are in a hierarchically lower position. This could have caused the low

alpha coefficients of the supervisors’ participant group compared to the subordinates.

The present study mixes traits and behaviors within the new categories of leadership, but in the

long term of leadership research, traits and behaviors should be analyzed separately. Yukl (2002)

criticizes the fact that many theoretical models of leadership still confound traits and behavior. A clear

conceptual separation of behavior and traits makes very good sense on account of the resulting clear-

cut interpretations and non-ambiguous options for a professional human resource management.

In conclusion, the findings of this study give cause for optimism that the analysis of implicit leadership

theories may prove useful to enhance leadership theories and practice.

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Table 1.

Example of the Summarizing Content Analysis Process, from Raw Data to Generalized and

Reduced Coding Units

Raw data

Paraphrases

(incl. identification of the

coding units)

Generalizing & Reduction

Answer to the first

question:

“Being more often on

the spot, giving

insight into her tasks,

so you can show more

understanding for

each other.”

to be on the spot to be present in the team

to give insight into one’s tasks to keep one’s work

transparent for employees

Answer to the second

question:

“Competitors from

other departments

who grant her nothing,

and loafers who do

nothing else but to

denounce”

Competitors [excluded]

Loafers [excluded]



Table 2.

Exemplary View of Coded Coding Units within the First Deductive

Structuring Content Analysis

Coding Unit Code

Consistent e2

To treat all employees equally e3

Leadership on a par with employees e10

To be geared to ethical values e3

To want to control all situations e7

Note. e2 = idealized influence (attributed); e3 = idealized influence (behavior); e7 = active

management-by-exception; e10 = miscellaneous.



Table 3

Descriptive Statistics and Reliability Coefficients of the MLQ Scales for each

Participant Group

Scale

Super-

visors

Subordinates

M SD Α M SD α

IM 2.00 0.74 .68 2.27 0.94 .73

IIa 2.62 0.67 .62 2.61 0.81 .61

IIb 2.49 0.65 .52 2.54 0.79 .55

IS 2.64 0.67 .81 2.76 0.79 .80

IC 2.65 0.66 .56 2.54 0.80 .51

CR 2.84 0.65 .72 2.95 0.74 .75

AMbE 2.69 0.74 .75 2.80 0.75 .69

MbEP 1.56 1.05 .83 1.59 1.22 .85

LF 1.51 1.09 .88 1.47 1.23 .90

EEF 2.39 0.71 .58 2.46 0.84 .62

EFF 2.66 0.69 .47 2.76 0.74 .57

SAT 2.57 0.93 .12 2.52 1.00 .12

Note. IM = inspirational motivation; IIa = idealized influence (attributed); IIb

= idealized influence (behavior); IS = intellectual stimulation; IC =

individualized consideration; CR = contingent reward; AMbE = active

management-by-exception; MbEP = manage-ment-by-exception passive; LF

= laissez-faire; EEF = extra effort; EFF = effectiveness; SAT = satisfaction.



Table 4

Descriptive Statistics of the Summarizing Content Analysis

Total

SV (%)

SO (%)

Ø per participant

SV SO

Amount of valid

statements 1593 405 (25.4) 1188 (74.5) 2.70 2.19

Amount of valid

coding units 2532 699 (27.6) 1833 (72.4) 4.66 3.37

Note. SV = supervisors; SO = subordinates.



Table 5

Descriptive Statistics about the Assignments of the Coding Units to the Categories within the

First Deductive Categorization (a1-a9)

SV SO Total

FRLT Categories absolut

e relative

absolut

e relative

absolut

e

relativ

e

a1: inspirational motivation 39 .11 62 .05 101 .07

a2: idealized influence (attributed) 137 .37 286 .25 423 .28

a3: idealized influence (behavior) 23 .06 77 .07 100 .07

a4: intellectual stimulation 21 .06 40 .04 61 .04

a5: individual consideration 81 .22 405 .35 486 .32

a6: contingent reward 6 .02 20 .02 26 .02

a7: active management-by-exception 11 .03 29 .03 40 .03

a8: management-by-exception passive 1 .00 4 .00 5 .00

a9: laissez-faire 53 .14 223 .20 276 .18

Absolute amount of e1-e9 in total: 372 1146 1518

Note. SV = supervisors; SO = subordinates.



Table 6

Overview of the Emerged Categories and the Amount of Assigned Coding Units

# Category Amount of

Coding Units

1. stress resistance 130

2. assertiveness & insistence 105

3. administrative activity & long-term planning 97

4. practical self-management 93

5. emotional self-control 84

6. delegating trustfully 77

7. efficient communication & meetings 67

8. encouraging team spirit, cooperation and conflict management 61

9. dominance, tyranny & intolerance 55

10. perfectionism & focusing on details 36

11. team-mindedness & willingness to collaborate 36

12. self-reflection in respect of leadership behavior & prioritizing

role of leadership

33

13. humor & joy 32

14. specialized knowledge 31

15. flexibility, spontaneity & pragmatism 27

16. rhetoric, ability to communicate & social competence 19

17. experience 16



Table 7

Rank Correlations (Spearman’s Rho) between the New Categories and the MLQ Factor

Scores

#1 #2 #3 #4 #5 #6 #7 #8 #9 #1

0

#1#

1

#1

2 #13

#1

4 #15

#1 -

#2 -.22 -

#3 -.25 .31 -

#4 .20 .26 .33 -

#5 .47* -.17 .30 .06 -

#6 .20 .21 .30 .25 .15 -

#7 -.01 .10 -.33 .32 -

.28 .24 -

#8 -.11 -.28 .39 .16 -

.18

.83*

* .32 -

#9 -.44 .71*

* .01 .00

-

.55 .01 .16

-

.13 -

#10 .74*

* .01 .03 .62 .35 -.41

-

.21

-

.50 -.41 -

#11 -.02 -.39

-

.75*

*

.34 .00 .32 .18 .00 -.65 -

.13 -

#12 .00 -.10 .34 .44 .64 -.67 .00 .50 -.79 .79 . -

#13 -.23 -.60* -.07 -.11 .54 -.03 -

.30

-

.31

-

.83*

-

.28 .67

-

.58 -

#14 .37 .28 -

.58* .51 .09 -.15

.64

*

-

.10 .34 .30 .37 .00 .15 -

#15 -.15 -.39 -.47 -.27 .00 -.27 -

.29 .30 .00

-

.47 .77

-

.50 .49 .00 -

#16 .10 -.30 -.16 .05 .24 .00 -

.54 .25 . .00 -.44 .

-

.87 . .87

#17 .65 1.00

** -.50 .47 .30 .

-

.50 . . .

-

1.0

0

. . .71 .

IM .09 -.16 .17 -.12 .22 .06 .23 .24 -

.40* .07 -.09 .01

-

.23

-

.35 .12

IIa .13 -.29* .00 -.04 .28 -.02 .23 .16

-

.62*

*

.01 .14 .14 .10 -

.28 .38

IIb -.04 -.25 .11 -.13 .18 -.16 .18 .07 -

.43* .15 .00

-

.01

-

.24

-

.38 .39

IS -.06 -.12 .21 .04 .38

* .04

.40

*

.36

*

-

.57*

*

-

.04 .05 .03 .08

-

.28 .21

IC .01 -.24 -.03 .03 .13 -.26 .00 .06 -

.63*.14 .05 .04 .23

-

.29 .38



*

CR .05 -.29 .00 -.06 .25 .15 .28 .33

-

.55*

*

-

.09 .20

-

.02 .18

-

.22 .35

AMb

E -.03 .04 .13 .11

-

.08 -.12 .13

-

.08 -.17 .15 -.01

-

.19

-

.17

-

.26 .05

MbE

P .11

-

.39*

*

.02 -.10 .24 .16 -

.24 .00 -.19

-

.05 .02 .22

.47

*

-

.01

-

.27

LF -.01 -.32* -.01 -.07 .16 .18 -

.28 .09 -.01

-

.14 .14 .18 .38 .05

-

.33

TF .02 -.24 .09 -.07 .25 -.10 .29 .17

-

.56*

*

-

.02 .04 .05

-

.03

-

.31

.49

*

TA .09 -.34* .11 -.04 .25 .21 .03 .16 -

.42*

-

.02 .09 .13 .42

-

.26

-

.24

EEF .04 -.28 -.02

-

.32

*

.22 -.05 .17 .18

-

.46*

*

-

.04 .09

-

.11 .06

-

.30 .29

EFF .04 -.03 .01 .05 .10 -.14 .34

* .16 -.33 .24 .06 .04

-

.22

-

.22 .31

Notes. #1 = stress resistance; #2 = assertiveness & insistence; #3 = administrative activity

& long-term planning; #4 = practical self-management; #5 = emotional self-control; #6 =

delegating trustfully; #7 = efficient communication & meetings; #8 = encouraging team

spirit, cooperation and conflict management; #9 = dominance, tyranny & intolerance; #10

= perfectionism & focusing on details; #11 = team-mindedness & willingness to

collaborate; #12 = self-reflection in respect of leadership behavior & prioritizing role of

leadership; #13 = humor & joy; #14 = specialized knowledge; #15 = flexibility,

spontaneity & pragmatism; #16 = rhetoric, ability to communicate & social competence;

#17 = experience; IM = inspirational motivation; IIa = idealized influence (attributed); IIb

= idealized influence (behavior); IS = intellectual stimulation; IC = individualized

consideration; CR = contingent reward; AMbE = active management-by-exception; MbEP

= management-by-exception passive; LF = laissez-faire; TF = transformational leadership

(combined); TA = transactional leadership (combined); EEF = extra effort; EFF =

effectiveness; Missing values represent cases where no data (i.e., regarding the new

categories of implicit leadership dimensions) were available.

* = p < 0.05; ** = p < 0.01



Table 7 (continued)

#16 #17 IM IIa IIb IS IC CR AMb

E

MbE

P LF TF TA EEF

#1

#2

#3

#4

#5

#6

#7

#8

#9

#10

#11

#12

#13

#14

#15

#16 -

#17 . -

IM .39 -.25 -

IIa .46 .19 .79** -

IIb .33 .00 .80** .80** -

IS .42 .06 .63** .80** .72** -

IC .42 .37 .68** .79** .72** .69** -

CR .42 .00 .64** .75** .64** .80** .64** -

AMb

E .10 -.13 .19 .25** .30** .36** .20*

.39*

* -

MbE

P -.20 -.57

-

.49**

-

.47**

-

.61**

-

.30**

-

.54** -.14 .05 -

LF -.26 -.45 -

.53**

-

.51**

-

.56**

-

.33**

-

.55** -.17 .02 .90** -

TF .45 .00 .86** .95** .89** .86** .86** .78*

* .30** -.52**

-

.54** -

TA .23 -.64 .04 .06 -.05 .26** -.03 .50*

* .52** .68** .61** .07 -

EEF .61* .24 .71** .73** .70** .66** .68** .63**

.13 -.47** -

.47** .78**

.03 -

EFF .44 .03 .71** .79** .70** .66** .73** .56*

* .20* -.63**

-

.73**

.81*

* -.15

.65*

*


Table 8

Results of Regression Analyses (Final Betas)

EEF EFF

B

SE B

β

B

SE B

β

CR .13 .06 .11*

.03 .04 .03

AMbE -.03 .03 -.03 -.06 .02 -.05*

MbEP -.20 .04 -.31**

.17 .03 .29**

LF .07 .03 .12*

-.33 .02 -.62**

IM .23 .04 .25**

.02 .03 .02

IIa .28 .05 .30**

.26 .03 .31**

IIb -.20 .06 -.18**

.05 .04 .06

IS .18 .05 .17**

.22 .03 .23**

IC .16 .04 .15**

.09 .03 .10**

#1 .01 .01 .05 -.01 .01 -.05*

#2 -.01 .01 -.03 -.02 .01 -.06*

#3 .03 .01 .09**

.00 .01 -.01

#4 -.03 .01 -.06 .00 .01 .00

#5 -.02 .01 -.05 .00 .01 -.02

#6 -.01 .01 -.02 -.03 .01 -.06**

#7 -.04 .01 -.09**

.03 .01 .09**

#8 -.01 .01 -.03 -.01 .01 -.03

#9 .00 .01 .00 .02 .01 .05*

#10 -.01 .01 -.03 .03 .01 .09**

#11 .04 .02 .06*

-.03 .01 -.06**

#12 .00 .01 -.01 .02 .01 .04*

#13 .03 .01 .08**

.02 .01 .05**

#14 .00 .01 -.01 .00 .01 .00

#15 .03 .01 .06*

-.02 .01 -.04*

#16 .03 .02 .05*

.05 .01 .09**

#17 .00 .02 .00 -.07 .02 -.08**

R2 = .73 R

2 = .84

Notes. EEF = extra effort; EFF = effectiveness; CR = contingent reward; AMbE = active

management-by-exception; MbEP = management-by-exception passive; LF = laissez-faire; IM

= inspirational motivation; IIa = idealized influence (attributed); IIb = idealized influence

(behavior); IS = intellectual stimulation; IC = individualized consideration; #1 = stress

resistance; #2 = assertiveness & insistence; #3 = administrative activity & long-term planning;

#4 = practical self-management; #5 = emotional self-control; #6 = delegating trustfully; #7 =

efficient communication & meetings; #8 = encouraging team spirit, cooperation and conflict

management; #9 = dominance, tyranny & intolerance; #10 = perfectionism & focusing on

details; #11 = team-mindedness & willingness to collaborate; #12 = self-reflection in respect of

leadership behavior & prioritizing role of leadership; #13 = humor & joy; #14 = specialized

knowledge; #15 = flexibility, spontaneity & pragmatism; #16 = rhetoric, ability to communicate

& social competence; #17 = experience.

* p < .05; ** p < .01


Figures

Figure 1. Relative proportions of coding units which were assigned to one of the

nine FRLT categories a1-a9. SV = supervisors; SO = subordinates; IM =

inspirational motivation; IIa = idealized influence (attributed); IIb = idealized

influence (behavior); IS = intellectual stimulation; IC = individualized

consideration; CR = contingent reward; AMbE = active management-by-

exception; MbEP = management-by-exception passive; LF = laissez-faire.


Journal of Organizational Learning and

Leadership 94

Figure 2. Concept map of the new

leadership categories (arranged in a

concentric circle) which resulted

from the first inductive structuring

content analysis. Each category is

shown together with min. 1 to max.

3 of the mainly mentioned issues.

Dashed borders indicate issues

which are diametrically opposed to

the category name. Straight

connecting lines indicate

hierarchical relationships. Angled

connecting lines are not

hierarchical. The sizes of the

categories decrease in clockwise

direction, while stress resistance is

the largest category and experience

the smallest.


Figure 3. Two-dimensional configuration of the rank correlations between the MLQ factor

scores and the parameter values of the new categories. MLQ: IM = inspirational motivation; IIa

= idealized influence (attributed); IIb = idealized influence (behavior); IS = intellectual

stimulation; IC = individualized consideration; CR = contingent reward; AMbE = active

management-by-exception; MbEP = management-by-exception passive; LF = laissez-faire;

EEF = extra effort; EFF = effectiveness. New categories: |#1 = stress resistance; |#2 =

assertiveness & insistence; |#3 = administrative activity & long-term planning; |#4 = practical

self-management; |#5 = emotional self-control; |#6 = delegating trustfully; |#7 = efficient

communication & meetings; |#8 = encouraging team spirit, cooperation and conflict

management; |#9 = dominance, tyranny & intolerance; |#10 = perfectionism & focusing on

details; |#11 = team-mindedness & willingness to collaborate; |#12 = self-reflection in respect

of leadership behavior & prioritizing role of leadership; |#13 = humor & joy; |#14 = specialized

knowledge; |#15 = flexibility, spontaneity & pragmatism; |#16 = rhetoric, ability to communicate & social competence; |#17 = experience.

Dimension 1

210-1-2-3

Dim

en

sio

n 2

3

2

1

0

-1

-2

effeef

lfmbep

ambe

cr

ic

is

iib

iiaim

I#15

I#11

I#12I#4

I#10

I#3

I#17

I#14

I#13

I#5

I#9

I#2

I#6

I#8

I#16

I#7

I#1

Konfiguration des abgeleiteten Stimulus

Euklidisches Distanzmodell

Documents

Through Different Perspectives on Leadership: … 6...Theory to Implicit Leadership Theories Heiko ... resulted in 17 categories of leadership traits and behaviors ... critical behavioral