Management Papers
Document Type
Journal Article
Date of this Version
3-2011
Publication Source
Journal of Experimental Social Psychology
Volume
47
Issue
2
Start Page
494
Last Page
498
DOI
10.1016/j.jesp.2010.11.010
Abstract
Drawing on and extending prototype theories of creativity and leadership, we theorize that the expression of creative ideas may diminish judgments of leadership potential unless the charismatic leadership prototype is activated in the minds of social perceivers. Study 1 shows that creative idea expression is negatively related to perceptions of leadership potential in a sample of employees working in jobs that required creative problem solving. Study 2 shows that participants randomly instructed to express creative solutions during an interaction are viewed as having lower leadership potential. A third scenario study replicated this finding showing that participants attributed less leadership potential to targets expressing creative ideas, except when the “charismatic” leader prototype was activated. In sum, we show that the negative association between expressing creative ideas and leadership potential is robust and underscores an important but previously unidentified bias against selecting effective leaders.
Copyright/Permission Statement
© 2011. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Keywords
creativity, leadership, person perception
Recommended Citation
Mueller, J. S., Goncalo, J. A., & Kamdar, D. (2011). Recognizing Creative Leadership: Can Creative Idea Expression Negatively Relate to Perceptions of Leadership Potential?. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 47 (2), 494-498. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2010.11.010
Date Posted: 27 November 2017
This document has been peer reviewed.