Seeing is not believing: Leader humility, hypocrisy, and their impact on followers' behaviors

Abstract

Challenging the prevailing consensus that leader humility is uniformly beneficial we investigate circumstanceswhere leader humility behaviors are positively perceived and yet negatively received due to attributions of im-pression management. Arising from potential inconsistencies in perceptions and attributions, we argue that fol-lowers may evaluate leader humility behavioral displays as either genuine or hypocritical. We conducted twostudies, in different contexts, to test followers' reactions to leader humility displays. In Study 1 (ConfucianAsian cluster), we used a survey methodology to test our theoretical model. Due to the validity problems withour instrumental variables, we were unable to draw conclusions from the results of study 1. In Study 2 (Anglocluster), we used a scenario-based experimental design. While the hypothesized mediating effect via perceptionsof leader hypocrisy was not supported by the results, we found support for the hypothesis that the interaction ofleader humility and impression management positively influenced hypocrisy. Show more