TY - JOUR
T1 - The power of benevolence
T2 - The joint effects of contrasting leader values on follower-focused leadership and its outcomes
AU - Sverdlik, Noga
AU - Oreg, Shaul
AU - Berson, Yair
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was supported by grants from the Rothschild Caesarea Foundation, the Israel Science Foundation, and the Recanati Fund of the School of Business Administration of the Hebrew University. We thank Benjamin Galvin and Joyce Bono for helpful comments on a previous version of this paper. 1
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Authors. Journal of Organizational Behavior published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
PY - 2022/1/1
Y1 - 2022/1/1
N2 - The most frequent approach to studying leader attributes has been to demonstrate links between separate dispositions (e.g., traits and values) and leader behavior. Yet, both in the field of personality overall and the field of personal values in particular, there is a growing understanding that to more realistically capture the effects of personality, one needs to study the joint effects of personality dimensions, rather than their separate ones. In the present studies, we demonstrate how a combination of values predicts leaders' follower-focused behavior and its outcomes. Specifically, we demonstrate that the combination of leaders' power and benevolence values predicts leaders' follower-focused leadership and follower outcomes. In Study 1, the interaction between 75 school leaders' power and benevolence predicted followers' reports (N = 293) of their leaders' follower-focused leadership, such that the relationship between power values and follower-focused leadership was positive and significant only among leaders high on benevolence values. We replicated this effect in Study 2 with data collected in two points in time, from 76 principals and 494 of their subordinates. We also demonstrated the indirect effect of principals' values, through their follower-focused leadership, on teachers' satisfaction and nurturing behavior.
AB - The most frequent approach to studying leader attributes has been to demonstrate links between separate dispositions (e.g., traits and values) and leader behavior. Yet, both in the field of personality overall and the field of personal values in particular, there is a growing understanding that to more realistically capture the effects of personality, one needs to study the joint effects of personality dimensions, rather than their separate ones. In the present studies, we demonstrate how a combination of values predicts leaders' follower-focused behavior and its outcomes. Specifically, we demonstrate that the combination of leaders' power and benevolence values predicts leaders' follower-focused leadership and follower outcomes. In Study 1, the interaction between 75 school leaders' power and benevolence predicted followers' reports (N = 293) of their leaders' follower-focused leadership, such that the relationship between power values and follower-focused leadership was positive and significant only among leaders high on benevolence values. We replicated this effect in Study 2 with data collected in two points in time, from 76 principals and 494 of their subordinates. We also demonstrated the indirect effect of principals' values, through their follower-focused leadership, on teachers' satisfaction and nurturing behavior.
KW - follower-focused leadership
KW - individualized consideration
KW - leader personality
KW - paradox theory
KW - personal values
KW - school principals
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85128554717&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1002/job.2627
DO - 10.1002/job.2627
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85128554717
JO - Journal of Organizational Behavior
JF - Journal of Organizational Behavior
SN - 0894-3796
ER -