Recognizing creative leadership: Can creative idea expression negatively relate to perceptions of leadership potential?

Drawing on and extending prototype theories of creativity and leadership, we theorize that the expression of creative ideas may diminish judgments of leadership potential unless the charismatic leadership prototype is activated in the minds of social perceivers. Study 1 shows that creative idea expr...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of experimental social psychology 2011-03, Vol.47 (2), p.494-498
Main Authors: Mueller, Jennifer S., Goncalo, Jack A., Kamdar, Dishan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Bias
Creativity
Employees
Judgment
Leaders
Leadership
Perception of others
Perceptions
Person perception
Problem solving
Social judgement
Social perception
Social psychology
Studies
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Summary:Drawing on and extending prototype theories of creativity and leadership, we theorize that the expression of creative ideas may diminish judgments of leadership potential unless the charismatic leadership prototype is activated in the minds of social perceivers. Study 1 shows that creative idea expression is negatively related to perceptions of leadership potential in a sample of employees working in jobs that required creative problem solving. Study 2 shows that participants randomly instructed to express creative solutions during an interaction are viewed as having lower leadership potential. A third scenario study replicated this finding showing that participants attributed less leadership potential to targets expressing creative ideas, except when the “charismatic” leader prototype was activated. In sum, we show that the negative association between expressing creative ideas and leadership potential is robust and underscores an important but previously unidentified bias against selecting effective leaders.
ISSN:0022-1031
1096-0465
DOI:10.1016/j.jesp.2010.11.010