Now You See Me, Now You Don’t: A Conceptual Model of the Antecedents and Consequences of Leader Impostorism

Abstract

Impostorism, a phenomenon whereby a person perceives that the role they occupy is beyond their capabilities and puts them at risk of exposure as a “fake,” has attracted plentiful attention in the empirical literature and popular media. However, despite evidence that impostorism is frequently experienced by people in leadership positions, there has been little consideration of why this happens. In this theoretical article, we explain why formal leadership roles—roles that are characterized by elevated expectations, high visibility, and high levels of responsibility—are fertile ground for impostorism experiences. We also discuss how the associated self-conscious emotions of shame and fear, can increase leaders’ risk-aversion and enhance leader role performance, yet at the same time drive emotional exhaustion, and reduce their motivation to lead. This can ultimately inhibit leaders from seeking, claiming, and thriving in leadership roles. We offer individual-, dyadic-, and organization-level contextual characteristics that can either enhance or reduce this phenomenon. We also discuss how supportive organizations can mitigate leadership impostorism. Furthermore, we highlight how women and minority-status leaders may be more vulnerable to this experience and conclude by suggesting the practical implications of the leader impostorism phenomenon for individuals and organizations.

Reaching the top but not feeling on top of the world: Examining women’s internalized power threats

“…Furthermore, with regards to impostor feelings, prior research has examined its antecedents, but has tended to focus on individual antecedents, such as attachment style or personality of individuals ( Bernard et al, 2002 ; Bravata et al, 2019 ). Our research takes a different approach, as we adhere to previous calls to examine the role of context and the workplace in shaping these experiences ( Feenstra et al, 2020a ; Kark et al, 2021 ). In doing so, we contribute to a growing body of work that shows the importance of workplace context in shaping women’s impostor feelings ( Muradoglu et al, 2022 ; Vial et al, 2022 ).…”

“…We considered participants’ age (in years), educational level (1 = did not complete high school, 2 = high school, 3 = some college, 4 = bachelor degree, 5 = master degree, 6 = advanced graduate work or PhD), management level (1 = lower, 2 = medium, 3 = top), number of employees they supervised (1 = no, 2 = 1–5, 3 = 6–10, 4 = 11–15, 5 = 16–20, 6 = more than 20), hierarchical power level (from 1[bottom] to 100 [top]; Lammers et al, 2010 ), and the gender dominance of the sector in which they worked (dummy coded; dummy 1 [0 = mixed/female-dominated, 1 = male-dominated] and dummy 2 [0 = mixed/male-dominated and 1 = female-dominated]; Mroczek-Dąbrowska and Gaweł, 2020 ), as potential control variables as previous research suggested that these are associated with our outcome variables ( Thompson et al, 2000 ; Vergauwe et al, 2014 ; Cokley et al, 2015 ; Feenstra et al, 2020a ; Kark et al, 2021 ).…”

“… Peters et al (2012) , for instance, showed that female trainee surgeons experienced a greater lack of fit with the masculine surgeon prototype than male trainees. Such lack of fit, in turn, causes women to feel out of place and question their own power ( Feenstra et al, 2020b ; Kark et al, 2021 ). In corroboration with these arguments, we propose that women’s experiences with a lack of fit are positively associated with experiencing power threats.…”

“…With this rise, it seems vital to fully understand how women experience their power. Although possessing and experiencing power has traditionally been associated with positive outcomes (e.g., less stress, more action and optimism; Anderson and Berdahl, 2002 ; Keltner et al, 2003 ), more recent research points to important drawbacks, especially for women ( Kark et al, 2021 ; Vial et al, 2022 ), and especially when one’s power is threatened ( Scheepers et al, 2015 ). Indeed, research has shown that the fear of losing one’s power and the fear of not deserving one’s power position, that is, impostor feelings or impostor phenomenon ( Clance and Imes, 1978 ), are associated with increased stress ( Jordan et al, 2011 ; Feenstra et al, 2017 ), anxiety ( Cokley et al, 2015 ), and being distrustful of other people ( Mooijman et al, 2019 ; Feenstra et al, 2020b ).…”

How can I lead social change when I feel like a fake? Exploring the impostor phenomenon among social justice allies in the workplace

“…Critically, certain organizational contextual factors conspire toward impostorism, particularly when the prescribed tasks of a given role are highly visible and entail heavy responsibility (Kark et al, 2021), as would be the case for allyship. For example, toxic learning and workplace cultures, environments of secrecy (i.e., hiding mistakes), and low psychological safety (Atherley & Meeuwissen, 2020) set the stage for sentiments of impostorism.…”