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Social Identity and the Romance of Leadership: The Importance of being Seen to be ‘Doing it for Us’

School of Psychology, The University of Exeter, A.Haslam{at}exeter.ac.uk

Michael J. Platow

School of Psychological Science, La Trobe University

John C. Turner

Division of Psychology, The Australian National University

Katherine J. Reynolds

Division of Psychology, The Australian National University

Craig McGarty

Division of Psychology, The Australian National University

Penelope J. Oakes

Division of Psychology, The Australian National University

Susan Johnson

Division of Psychology, The Australian National University

Michelle K. Ryan

Division of Psychology, The Australian National University

Kristine Veenstra

Division of Psychology, The Australian National University

Previous research by Meindl (e.g. 1993) on the ‘romance of leadership’ suggests that individuals in leadership roles are perceived to be more charismatic to the extent that the organization they lead undergoes a crisis turnaround (e.g. moving from loss to profit) rather than a crisis decline (e.g. moving from profit to loss). Building on a social identity approach to leadership and previous research by Haslam and Platow (in press-a), this paper argues that this pattern should be tempered by the degree to which a leader’s behavior serves to affirm and promote an ingroup identity shared with followers. Consistent with this analysis, an experimental study (N = 120) revealed that, independent of organizational performance, a (male) leader was seen as more charismatic in an intergroup context when his previous behavior had been identity-affirming or even-handed rather than identity-negating. Even-handed leaders also tended to be seen as particularly charismatic when they were associated with crisis turnaround, while identity-affirming leaders were protected from negative attributions in the context of crisis decline. These results suggest that social identity and self-categorization processes have a complex role to play in the emergence and perception of charismatic leadership.

Key Words: charisma • leadership • organizations • self-categorization • social identity

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