A two-nation investigation of leadership self-perceptions and motivation to lead in early adulthood: the moderating role of gender and socio-economic status

Abstract

PurposeDrawing on the social-cognitive and motivational literature of leadership, the present study examines the influence of young adults' self-perceptions of leadership on their leadership self-efficacy (LSE) and motivation to lead (MTL) in their future career. The authors further examine gender and socio-economic status (SES) as important moderators of the proposed relationships.Design/methodology/approachThe present investigation consists of a two-study research design, based on data collected from young adult samples across two culturally different countries, namely the UK (N = 267) and Japan (N = 127).FindingsThe study presents evidence of self-perceptions of leadership influencing LSE and MTL. The results further support the mediating role of leader self-efficacy. Regarding the moderating role of gender, results in both samples showed that the effects of leader self-efficacy on MTL were stronger for males. SES was found to moderate the effects of leadership self-perceptions of negative implicit leadership theories (ILTs) on LSE in the UK sample and the effects of leadership self-perceptions of positive ILTs on LSE in the Japanese sample.Originality/valueThis study fills the gap of empirical research focused on early adulthood influences on leadership development. In particular, this study has a three-fold contribution, by, firstly, developing a conceptual model that examines the role of young adults' self-perceptions of leadership on their self-efficacy as leaders and MTL; secondly examining contingencies of the proposed relationships; and thirdly testing the conceptual model in two countries.

Contextual, interpersonal, and personal predictors of young adults' affective-identity motivation to lead

“…Thus, we propose that exposure to adverse socioeconomic conditions during adolescence will result indirectly in those young adults being less motivated to become leaders themselves. However, even though some evidence exists of significant zero-order correlations between SES and affective-identity motivation to lead (Hoyland et al. , 2021), we do not predict that SES adversity directly affects affective-identity motivation to lead.…”

“…Some support for this notion derives from Barling and Weatherhead (2016), who showed that the link between personal mastery and leader role occupancy was significantly higher among males than females. In addition, the relationship between leadership self-efficacy and affective-identity motivation to lead was significant for male high school students in the UK, but not for females (Hoyland et al, 2021). Thus, we predict that the relationship between sociometric status and affective-identity motivation to lead will be higher among female compared to male participants, while the corresponding relationship between self-esteem and affective-identity motivation to lead will be higher among male participants.…”

“…As examples, Badura et al's (2020) extensive meta-analysis investigated the roles of gender, personality, cognitive ability, collectivism and individualism, leader self-efficacy, and past leader experience. Other research has focused on the roles of narcissism (Prundeanu et al, 2021), mindfulness (Verdorfer, 2016), vocational interests (specifically, enterprising, social and conventional interests; Bergner et al, 2018), and leader identity (Hoyland et al, 2021;Schyns et al, 2020) as antecedents of motivation to lead. Our model extends this focus, and integrates contextual (SES, parenting quality), interpersonal (sociometric status) and personal (self-esteem, gender) factors as antecedents of motivation to lead.…”

“…, 2021), mindfulness (Verdorfer, 2016), vocational interests (specifically, enterprising, social and conventional interests; Bergner et al. , 2018), and leader identity (Hoyland et al. , 2021; Schyns et al.…”

Brain-Adjusted Relational Leadership: A Social-Constructed Consciousness Approach to Leader-Follower Interaction

“…The actors cannot be seen independently of the context that they participate as well as they cannot be seen independently of the people that relate with (Dimitriadis and Psychogios, 2020 ). For example a recent study found that the perceptions of leadership as well as aspiration for leadership are influenced by both cultural and socioeconomic elements (Hoyland et al, 2021 ). In other words, leadership occurs within the process of relating with each other, aiming in doing things in a non-static, but dynamic and continuously evolving context.…”