An Exploration of Cognitive Demands in Group Interaction as a Moderator of Information Processing Variables in Perceptions of Leadership

Abstract

In the application of information processing (IP) models in organizational settings, potential boundary or moderator variables are sometimes overlooked. We investigated whether the impact of important IP variables in the leadership perception literature was affected by a potentially important boundary variable: cognitive demands extraneous to impression formation. In contrast to past research, both quantity and quality (prototypicality) of behavior affected leadership perceptions in both low and high information load conditions. This result implies that prototyperelated processing may be automatic enough to influence perceptions of leadership in actual organizational settings where cognitive demand is often high. Further, quantity of verbal behavior had a significant impact on causal attributions for level of group task performance and on perceptions of control of the groups' activities, suggesting that this variable may have important implications for inferences about a person's influence on work group processes and outcomes. The significance of these findings for the issues of leader influence and for the measurement of leader behavior is discussed.

License to fail? How leader group prototypicality moderates the effects of leader performance on perceptions of leadership effectiveness

“…Former research by Ensari and Murphy (2003) indicated that after controlling for effects of general leadership impressions (cf. Maurer & Lord, 1991), leader schemas sill explained variance in the prediction of leader charisma. Based on this finding, we would also assume that leader group prototypicality explains additional variance to more general leadership behavior.…”

Is leadership a part of me? A leader identity approach to understanding the motivation to lead

“…Implicit leadership theory suggests that managers compare leaders to the mental representation of a leader prototype (Lord, Foti, & De Vader, 1984). We propose that the leader prototype is used not only to judge others as leaders (Maurer & Lord, 1991) but also to judge oneself. Although leadership prototypes vary across individuals , there are some dimensions that are consistently ascribed to leaders (e.g., Kenney, Schwartz-Kenney, & Blascovich, 1996) and therefore are likely to form the basis of selfverification matching processes.…”

Leadership Perceptions in Relation to a Presidential Vote1

“…From this perspective, leadership perceptions are determined by a target's match to a leadership prototype. Leadership categorization processes can be relatively automatic and effortless (Lord & Smith, 1983;Maurer & Lord, 1991), and prototype related processing, which allows leadership categorization, may develop very early on in children (Matthews, Lord, & Walker, 1990).…”

“…Leadership perceptions and prototype related impressions are relevant to a number of situations in organizational settings where decisions must be made regarding who should be selected/ promoted into a leadership position or when behavioral feedback should be given to a person occupying a leadership role. For example, leadership perceptions may be relevant to management development programs in organizational settings where subordinates, co-workers or supervisors provide behavioral feedback to persons in leadership roles in an effort to facilitate their performance (Maurer & Lord, 1991).…”