Content area
Full text
Summary
On the basis of the current theories of charismatic leadership, several possible follower effects were identi(r)ed. It is hypothesized that followers of charismatic leaders could be distinguished by their greater reverence, trust, and satisfaction with their leader and by a heightened sense of collective identity, perceived group task performance, and feelings of empowerment. Using the Conger-Kanungo charismatic leadership scale and measures of the hypothesized follower effects, an empirical study was conducted on a sample of 252 managers using structural equation modelling. The results show a strong relationship between follower reverence and charismatic leadership. Follower trust and satisfaction, however, are mediated through leader reverence. Followers' sense of collective identity and perceived group task performance are affected by charismatic leadership. Feelings of empowerment are mediated through the followers' sense of collective identity and perceived group task performance. Copyright (c) 2000 John Wiley &Sons, Ltd.
Introduction
Prior to the 1980's, charismatic leadership was a relatively obscure research topic within the (r)eld of organizational behavior. Only a handful of references are to be found from this period, and these consist of speculative, formative theories (Berlew, 1974; House, 1977; Katz and Kahn, 1978; Zaleznik and Kets de Vries, 1975). Since the late 1980's, however, interest in the topic has grown signi(r)cantly. More comprehensive theories have been developed (Bass 1985; Bass and Avolio, 1993; Conger and Kanungo, 1987, 1998; Conger, 1989; Shamir et al., 1993) which in turn have encouraged empirical studies (e.g., Agle and Sonnenfeld, 1994; Bass and Yammarino, 1988; Conger and Kanungo, 1992, 1994; Conger et al., 1997; House et al., 1991; Howell and Frost, 1989; Podsakoff et al., 1990; Puffer, 1990; Shamir, 1992; Shamir et al., 1998). While theoretical work has tended to focus principally upon the behavioral dimensions of charismatic leaders, the existing theories do predict certain follower effects. For example, it has been hypothesized that charismatic leadership produces higher performance levels among followers as well as more motivated and satis(r)ed followers (Bass, 1985; Conger and Kanungo, 1988). In a review of empirical investigations of charismatic and transformational leadership, Shamir et al. (1993) found that charismatic leadership was indeed positively correlated with followers' performance and satisfaction. As Shamir et al. (1993) noted, the effect size of these studies of the behavior of charismatic leaders on...