Unpacking charismatic leadership of top management teams: A cross-level investigation

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Contributors

Abstract

Do charismatic leadership behaviors of the top management team matter? While such behaviors of the CEO have been found to relate to a variety of positive performance-related outcomes at the firm and individual levels, the leadership literature remains largely silent about the transferability of the charismatic leadership concept to top management teams. According to the upper echelon theory, however, the top management team (TMT) is instrumental in shaping performance outcomes. This makes studies on TMTs and their way of leading organizations particularly relevant. Therefore, this study aims to unpack the effects of TMTs' charismatic leadership behaviors. Drawing on cross-level data from 274 employees working in 59 organizations, we found that charismatic leadership behaviors of TMTs positively predict their employees' affective commitment. Moreover, this cross- level relationship is revealed to be jointly moderated by the employees' frequency of interactions with their TMT and their organization's ethical climate (i.e., profit versus caring climate). Thus, this study demonstrates the concept of charismatic leadership effectively applied in TMTs, offering important implications for scholars and practitioners.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationProceedings of the 77th Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management (AoM)
Place of PublicationAtlanta, GA, USA
PublisherAcademy of Management
Volume2017
Edition1
Publication statusPublished - 2017
Peer-reviewedYes

Publication series

SeriesAcademy of Management Proceedings
ISSN0065-0668

Keywords

Research priority areas of TU Dresden

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