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Toward a Behavioral Theory of Charismatic Leadership in Organizational Settings

DOI:10.5465/AMR.1987.4306715
Authors:
Jay A Conger at Claremont McKenna College
Jay A Conger
Rabindra N. Kanungo
Rabindra N. Kanungo
Rabindra N. Kanungo
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Abstract

Charismatic leadership has been largely overlooked by organizational theorists. In part, the problem can be attributed to the lack of a systematic conceptual framework Drawing from political science, sociology, and social psychology, this paper addresses the problem by proposing a model linking organizational contexts to charismatic leadership. A series of research hypotheses is offered.
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Toward a Behavioral Theory of Charismatic Leadership in Organizational Settings
Conger, Jay A.; Kanungo, Rabindra N.
Academy of Management. The Academy of Management Review; Oct 1987; 12, 4; ABI/INFORM Global
pg. 637
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
... For several years, scholars (e.g., Bass, 1995Bass, , 1990Baum, Locke, & Kirkpatrick, 1998;Bennis & Nanus, 1985;Conger & Kanungo, 1987;House, 1997;Larwood, Falbe, Krieger, & Miesing, 1995;Sashkin, 1988) have described that exemplary leaders are inspirational and visionary. Many researches have demonstrated effective approaches to develop skills in visioning and managing change. ...
... Two elementary premises of visionary leadership are leaders attempt to influence the environment and to be the initiators of change (Harper, 1991). Visionary leadership signifies the leader's capability to envision and articulate a view of desired future organization state, also to empower followers to enact the vision (Berson, Sharmir, Avolio, & Popper, 2001;Brown & Anfara, 2003;Conger & Kanungo, 1987;Nanus, 1992;Westley & Mintzberg, 1989). Basically, visioning, or leadership vision, consists of three distinct stages: envisioning , visioneering, and sub-vision (Kakabadse, Kakabadse, & Lee-Davies, 2005). ...
... In this process, leaders need to explain the rationale for the changes mandated in a vision, also have followers participate in making decision in implementation to minimize the resistance and gain the commitment. Finally, sub-visioning stage, visionary leaders play an important role in organization change management (Conger & Kanungo, 1987;Kakabadse et al., 2005;Westley & Mintzberg, 1989;Zaccaro & Banks, 2004), by utilizing empowerment process to enhance follower confidence and self-efficacy (Bass, 1990). ...
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In the chaotic, volatile and complex business environment at the present time, an organization must beable to learn from and adapt to changes in order to enhance competitive advantage. As a result,leaders who make strategic decisions must adopt a new mind-set as new realities emerge andencourage strategic flexibility across and within their organizations (Hitt, Ireland, & Hoskisson, 2005).There are two significant factors to be strategically flexible on a continuing basis including leaders mustdevelop an organization vision with a corresponding strategic plan and have the ability to managechanges (Zaccaro & Banks, 2004). Vision and leadership are the requisite for organization’s successand survival (Fechter & Horowitz, 1991; Nanus 1992).
... From the decade of 1970 on the charismatic leadership begins to be widely discussed in scientific and theoretical framework (BERLEW, 1974;HOUSE, 1977), being that in 1980 empirical research are begun ((BASS, 1985;CONGER;KANUNGO, 1987KANUNGO, , 1998CONGER, 1989;KIRKPATRICK;LOCKE, 1996;CONGER et al, 1997;BEDELL-AVERS;HUNTER;MUMFORD, 2007;GRIFFITH;CONNELLY;THIEL;JOHNSON, 2015) that have brought to light evidences about the behavior of charismatic leaders within organizations. ...
... It is as if they gave to their followers the hope of better days, making them involved and convinced to achieve the same ideals. These leaders are skillful rhetoric, because they can attract the attention of the led people, influencing them to believe, through faith, that the future will be better (CONGER; KANUNGO, 1987;SHAMIR, HOUSE;ARTHUR, 1993). To the extent that the charismatic leader convinces the led people on their ideals and values, extend the possibilities of the led people to internalize as an aspect of self-identification (CONGER; KANUNGO, 1998). ...
... They focus on envisioning a better future and disclosing eloquently and positively the range of results. The more enthusiastic the leader, the greater the confidence of the led people will be (CONGER; KANUNGO, 1987;MUMFORD, 2006). Bass (1985) and Shamir et al. (1993) emphasize that in the charismatic leadership the leaders produce emotional impact in the life of the led people. ...
... It is believed that effective leaders exhibit several unique characteristics that give them influence over their followers. According to a study, (Conger and Kanungo, 1987) these characteristics include the following: ...
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... Followers not only respect and trust the leader but they would do with a transformational one in willing obedience, and they worship the leader as a spiritual or superhuman. Several social scientists (Conger & Kanungo, 1987Shamir, House, & Arthur, 1993) formulated newer versions of the theory to describe charismatic leadership in organizations. The neo-charismatic theories describe the motives and behaviors of charismatic leaders and psychological processes that explain how these leaders influence followers (Jacobsen & House, 2001). ...
... In this context, there are studies that identify autocratic leadership style as commanding, comforting, transactional, directing, punitive-controlling (Richer and Vallerand, 1995) and exploitative-authoritative (Carson, 2005). On the contrary, the democratic style is recognized as transformational (Bass, 1985), charismatic (Conger and Kanungo, 1987), participating (Mohamed and Nor, 2013), visionary, autonomy-supportive (Richer and Vallerand, 1995) and flexible (Yukl, 2008). Yet, in the organizational context, many leadership styles are determined by the spirit of the corporate national culture (McLaurin, 2008) or international culture (Hofstede, 1994) while Bobic and Davis (2003) believe that the leadership styles are further shaped in accordance with the type of the organization. ...
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... Visionary leader behaviors (Bass, 1985;De Hoogh & Den Hartog, 2009;Griffin et al., 2010;Shamir et al., 1993) are primarily central elements of transformational leader behaviors (Bass, 1985;Burns, 1978), and charismatic leadership theories (Conger & Kanungo, 1987;House, 1977;House & Howell, 1992;Shamir et al.,1993). These theories revolve around the concept that inspiring vision inculcates the meaning and purpose in the communication style of transformational or charismatic leaders (Bass, 1985;Bass & Avolio,1993;Conger & Kanungo, 1998;Kirkpatrick & Locke, 1996;Strange & Mumford, 2002;Yukl, 1999). ...
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