Contextual moderators for leadership potential based on trait activation theory

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/job.2373
• Author: Gil Luria,Allon Kahana,Yair Noam,Judith Goldenberg
• Date: 01 October 2019
• Published date: 01 October 2019

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Contextual moderators for leadership potential based on trait

activation theory

Gil Luria

1

|Allon Kahana

1

|Judith Goldenberg

2

|Yair Noam

2

1

Department of Human Services, Faculty of

Welfare and Health Sciences, University of

Haifa, Haifa, Israel

2

Selection System Development Branch,

Behavioral Sciences Center, Israel Defense

Forces, Tel Hashomer, Israel

Correspondence

Gil Luria, Department of Human Services,

Faculty of Welfare and Health Sciences,

University of Haifa, Haifa 31905, Israel.

Email: gluria@univ.haifa.ac.il

Summary

This study tested the moderating role of group properties in the relationship between

two prototypical leadership attributes (cognitive ability and adjustment) and leader-

ship potential. Building on trait activation theory, we investigated one organizational

cue (degree of centralization in the informal social structure) and one social cue

(average level of the relevant attribute among other group members) and posited that

the two prototypical leadership attributes would more likely be activated (leading to

leadership potential) in more centralized groups and in groups where others have

lower levels of the studied attribute. We tested 874 combat soldiers undergoing basic

training in 71 teams. In a time‐lagged design, we measured general cognitive ability

and adjustment before conscription and then used regression analyses to calculate

the group informal social structure and leadership potential several months after

conscription. As predicted, the relationships of both adjustment and cognitive ability

with leadership potential were moderated by group informal structure, with stronger

relationships in groups with more centralized structures. Other group members'

cognitive ability moderated the relationship between cognitive ability and leadership

potential (stronger relationships in groups with lower mean of others' cognitive

ability), but other group members' adjustment did not moderate the relationship

between adjustment and leadership potential.

KEYWORDS

adjustment, centralized group structure, cognitive ability, friendship network, leadership potential,

trait activation theory

1|INTRODUCTION

For managers around the world, identifying employees with leadership

potential is both a top priority and a task beset with difficulty

(Buckingham & Vosburgh, 2001; Dries & Pepermans, 2012; Fulmer

& Bleak, 2008). By definition, a potential leader is someone capable

of developing the skills to take on a leadership role at some point in

the future. The identification process thus consists of looking for early

signs of leadership among individuals who are not yet in formal

leadership positions (Lombardo & Eichinger, 2000). In the absence of

actual leadership activities on which candidates can be assessed, one

commonly used way to identify potential leaders is through peer

ratings (Gordon & Medland, 1965; Lyle, 2007).

The use of peer ratings raises the question of how individuals

recognize leadership qualities among their peers. Building on implicit

leadership theory (ILT), many scholars suggest that group members

carry cognitive representations of the attributes and qualities they

believe leaders ought to have (intelligence, confidence, adaptability,

etc.), and that individuals are perceived as having leadership potential

when their attributes match these cognitive representations, or

prototypes (Dries & Pepermans, 2012; Hogan, Curphy, & Hogan,

1994; Jago, 1982; Lord & Maher, 1991). However, this line of

Received: 2 November 2017 Revised: 10 April 2019 Accepted: 18 April 2019

DOI: 10.1002/job.2373

J Organ Behav. 2019;40:899–911.© 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/job

899