リーダーの選択方法がフォロワーからのリーダーへの期待に及ぼす影響

Research on leaderships often showed that followers evaluate their leaders based on leaders’ behaviors and achievements. However, in reality, even if a new leader has poor abilities as a leader, followers may develop excessively high expectations to this new leader in a particular situation. In this study, we examined whether followers’ assessment toward their leaders was influenced by leader's selection procedures in the case of a new leader selection. We collected participants (N = 383) via online and offline survey. As a procedure, participants assumed that they were members of the club in the university, and then responded to the Leadership Scale (Misumi, 1984). Next, we manipulated the conditions of the leader selection method (3: Majority, Lottery, and Candidate Discussions) and the information of the candidate (4: PM, Pm, pM, pm) according to the scenario contents. Finally, they responded to expectations of leaders (Scale similar to the reader prototype), organizational commitments (Hashimoto et al., 2010), and organizational citizenship behavior (Tanaka, 2001). As a result of ANOVA, when the leader candidates' information was PM type, the expectation to the leader increased more than the leader prototype image. These results suggest that the type of selection method of the leader partially affected the expectation of the new leader. This cognitive bias of increased expectation may lead to a mismatch between followers' expectations of new leaders and the leader's behavior in group activities. Future research is necessary to uncover how this mismatch influenced leaders' and followers' behaviors and mental health.