The predictive value of psychological type and self-monitoring on leadership and leadership perceptions

Abstract

Zaccaro, Foti, and Kenny (1991) and Rueb and Foti (in press) found a relation between self-monitoring, a measure of response flexibility, and emergent leadership. Walsh (1992) failed to support this hypothesis; however, a relation between self-monitoring and agreement in ratings of perceived leadership was indicated. The implications of inaccurate ratings suggested that an objective measure of leadership was necessary to further explore the nature of the relationship of self-monitoring and leadership, as well as leadership perceptions. The present study re-examined this issue, introducing an objective measure of leadership, and further examined the hypothesis that psychological type may act as a moderator in these relations. Subjects completed the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, the revised Self-Monitoring scale, and four group tasks. After each task, subjects rated each other on perceived leadership. Results indicated that 65 percent of the variance in general leadership impressions, and 61 percent of the variance in perceived leadership behaviors was stable and due to characteristics of the individual. In addition, it was found that there is a discrepancy between the variance in perceived leadership ratings and the variance in actual leader behaviors. The hypothesis that self-monitoring and emergent leadership are related was not supported. Hypotheses concerning the relationship between self-monitoring and perceptual agreement and self-monitoring and rating accuracy received partial support. Psychological type did not moderate any of the above relations as predicted but did have an effect. Implications for future research were discussed.