Exploring the importance of leaders\' behavior fitting the expectations that their direct reports have of what constitutes "outstanding leadership". Presentation held at EAWOP conference, May 2011, Maastricht.

1. The Importance of Expectation-
Perception Fit for Leadership
Effectiveness across Cultures
Regina Eckert, Center for Creative Leadership
Felix C Brodbeck, Ludwigs-Maximilians-Universitaet, Muenchen
Marian N. Ruderman, Center for Creative Leadership
William A. Gentry, Center for Creative Leadership
Philip Braddy, Center for Creative Leadership
2011 Center for Creative Leadership. All rights reserved.

2. Implicit Leadership Theories
Implicit leadership theory (ILT; Lord & Maher, 1991)
• Individuals have deeply embedded assumptions
(ILT’s/prototypes/schemata/expectations) as to what characterizes
outstanding (good/effective) leaders.
• People use ILTs to understand and recognize leadership in others. Thus,
leadership effectiveness emerges from the fit between what others expect
of an (effective) leader and the perception they have of the occupant of a
leadership position.
Empirical Evidence:
• Leadership expectation-by-perception fit relates to perceptions of
leadership performance (e.g., Epitropaki & Martin, 2005; Offermann,
Kennedy, & Wirtz, 1994)
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3. Culturally-endorsed leadership theories
GLOBE (House et al.,2004; Chhokar, Brodbeck & House, 2007):
• Cultures differ in terms of the values they hold
• Societal values are reflected in the expectations that people in different
cultures have of effective leaders.
• Some elements of leadership expectations (charismatic + team-oriented)
are strongly endorsed across all cultures  “universal”; some others are
culturally contingent  “culture-specific”.
But how do these cultural differences play out for leader effectiveness?
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4. Open question around CLT’s and Leader
Effectiveness
Little research on the underlying psychological mechanisms and cross-cultural
variation of the theoretically postulated “fit” effects.
Various questions in this area need to be addressed:
1. Is perfect congruence always desired, or would it be beneficial to exceed
expectations on some dimensions of leadership?
2. What is the impact of not meeting expectations on leader effectiveness? Is
it the same for universal and culturally-endorsed dimensions?
3. Do postulated fit effects hold up in the same way for culturally-universal as
compared to culture-specific dimensions of ILTs, or are they of a different
type?
Recent progress with polynomial regression and response surface analysis
(RSA; Edwards, 2007) has opened an avenue for studying questions about fit
in a scientifically sound way.
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5. Method
Development and validation of a 360-degree feedback tool “Global Leader
View” measuring leadership expectations (in analogy to GLOBE) and
perceptions of a target leader
CFA FOR GLOBAL LEADER VIEW
Expectations (n=1813) Perceptions (n=1808)
χ2(5,362) = 2169, χ2(5,362) = 2154,
Chi-square
p<.001 p<.001
Confirmatory Fit Index CFI = .93 CFI = .93
RMSEA RMSEA = .05 RMSEA = .05
Standardized RMR SRMR = .04 SRMR = .04
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6. Method
Data from 502 Direct Report raters (subordinates) from 64 countries, rating
159 managers
IV: Expectations and perception ratings on 4 dimensions of leadership:
- Charismatic (universal)
- Team-oriented (universal)
- Hierarchical (culture-specific)
- Autonomous (culture-specific)
DV: Leader effectiveness ratings
Analysis: Polynomial regression with response-surface analysis
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7. Results: Universal leadership dimensions
P=E
P=E
Perceptions of actual performance are a better predictor of leadership
effectiveness than expectation-by-perception fit (or expectations alone).
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8. Results
P=E
P=E
P>E
P>E
E>P
E>P
Leadership effectiveness is rated highest when fit is maximal. Discrepancies in
either direction are negatively associated with effectiveness
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9. Implications
Implication for theory:
• The classic fit hypothesis of ILT seems to hold only for dimensions that are
culturally contingent, not for those that are universally endorsed
Implications for practice:
• Good cross-cultural leadership is a mix of being charismatic and team-
oriented and responding to others’ expectations
• Confirms that there’s no cook-book style of global leadership
Implications for future research:
• Longitudinal research needed to enable causal relationships
• Multilevel research to examine specific impact of cultural values on these
relationships (need method for this…)
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10. Thank you!
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11. 2011 Center for Creative Leadership. All rights reserved. 11