Group Members with High Group Identification Pursue Specific Leadership Opportunities

Abstract

Inspired by the social identity theory of leadership (Hogg et al., 2012) and identity leadership (Haslam et al., 2022; Steffens et al., 2014), the present research investigated whether high group identifiers pursue specific leadership opportunities. In Study 1, interviews with student leaders found that group members’ decision to pursue a leadership opportunity depended on their group identification and group-specific considerations. In Studies 2 and 3, MTurk workers identified two potential factors for why they would pursue a leadership opportunity: how important it was for them to lead their group and whether they had the self-efficacy to lead their group. In two experiments, MTurk workers view group-specific leader considerations differently than their motivation to lead (Study 4), and Reddit.com users who highly identified with their subreddit were more likely to pursue a leadership opportunity if thought it was important for them to lead their group (Study 5).