Content area

Full text

This study explores an integrated model of followership and leadership styles that functions optimally. Utilizing Kelley's (1992) model of followership and Hersey and Blanchard's (1982) situational leadership theory, Bjugstad et al. (2006) proposed a theoretical framework linking these constructs. However, empirical exploration remains limited in the literature. The analysis focused on variables, such as demographic factors, affective commitment, followership, and leadership. Affective commitment was measured as a reflection of follower productivity, given its known impact on job performance. All proposed hypotheses were rejected, indicating that exemplary and conformist followership styles are associated with higher productivity, independent of leadership styles. Active followership enhances affective commitment among followers. Post-hoc analyses revealed that followership (active) and leadership (task behavior) positively influence affective commitment, While their combination with leadership (relationship behavior) yields negative effects. These findings highlight the complex dynamics between followership and leadership in promoting affective commitment within organizations.

Followership refers to the idea that followers share organizational goals with leaders and act toward those goals to directly or indirectly influence the leader and the organization (Nishinobo & Furuta, 2013). In today's highly competitive business environment, effective followership behavior is essential for organization's success. Previous research has demonstrated that followership behavior positively affects organizational outcomes (Herdian et al., 2022; Matsuyama & Mori, 2022). However, the interaction between follower and leader style is rarely discussed and adds good depth to our understanding of them. Recent studies on followership have begun to shift this perspective, highlighting how followers can actively influence leaders, particularly in terms of their behavior (Oc & Bashshur, 2013).

In recent years, empirical research on followership has primarily used Kelley's (1992) followership measurement scale to examine independent and dependent variables associated with Kelley's followership model (Matsuyama and Mori, 2022). However, the relationship between followership and leadership style has not been clarified empirically. This unexplored area presents an opportunity for future research to investigate how alignment or mismatch between followership and leadership styles may impact role-based followership theory. It is believed that followers' characteristics and behaviors shape leaders' attitudes and behaviors (Yang & Zhang, 2023). Given the accepted notion that there is no leadership without followers (UhlBien, Riggio, Lowe, & Carsten, 2014), it is worthwhile to examine the interaction between leadership and followership behaviors.

This study aims to...

Show less