Research suggests that gender role, rather than sex, is associated with the perception of individuals as leaders. The current study tests the effect of gender role on leadership emergence by using a pattern approach and manipulating task-type. 200 female undergraduate subjects, categorized based on their personality pattern of three variables (i.e., masculinity, femininity, and intelligence), were placed in groups of four members. Groups were randomly assigned to a consensus building or initiating structure task condition. Hypothesis one, which predicted that feminine-intelligent individuals would emerge more than masculine-intelligent or mixed personality pattern individuals in the consensus building task condition, was not supported. However, support was found for hypothesis two which predicted that masculine-intelligent individuals would be perceived as more leader-like than feminine-intelligent or mixed personality pattern individuals in the initiating structure task. Partial support was found for the emergence of androgynous-intelligent individuals in the consensus building task condition (hypothesis three), but full support was found for the emergence of androgynous-intelligent individuals in the initiating structure task (hypothesis four). The implications of these findings and directions for future research are discussed. / Master of Science

The purpose of the present study was to investigate leadership emergence in mixed sex groups. Prior research has demonstrated that females have difficulty emerging as leaders in mixed sex groups. Thirty mix sex groups (two males, one female, and one female confederate) were asked to participate in a small group activity and then completed a series of scales to assess leadership emergence and inferred leadership traits. It was found that a female confederate exhibiting behaviors consistent with females high in intelligence, dominance, and self-efficacy emerged as the leader more frequently than males low in either one or two of those same three traits. In addition, the female confederate was seen as possessing more leadership traits than males low in either one or two of those traits. Implications for these results are discussed. / Master of Science

The purpose of the present study was to examine the perceptual processes associated with gender differences in leadership emergence recognition. Prior research has indicated that females are less likely to be identified as an emerging leader, even when they display identical leadership behaviors as that of their male counterparts. Unlike most of the previous research performed in this area which has obtained only static snapshots of leadership recognition, the present study used a nonlinear dynamic modeling technique, called cusp catastrophe theory. It was predicted that a nonlinear model would account for more variance than a linear model. Furthermore, it was also predicted that participants would be more resistant to recognizing a female as an emerging leader, as compared to a male. This effect was expected to be greater for male participants than female participants. Participants included 19 organizational members, who watched videos of either a male or female emerging as the leader of a four-person group. Participants recorded their perceptions of leadership through a dynamic measure. In accordance with cusp catastrophe theory, results were analyzed using the program GEMCAT II (General Multivariate Methodology for Estimating Catastrophe Models). Contrary to expectations, none of the predictions were supported. It is suggested that this was primarily due to methodological issues, rather than the relevance of cusp catastrophe modeling for leadership perceptions. Recommendations for future work in this area are provided. / Master of Science

The present study examined the role of one's own self-perceptions of leadership in predicting both leadership prototypes and leadership perceptions of others. Additionally, this study explored gender differences in leadership prototypes and perceptions of leadership. Participants completed a measure of their own self-perceptions of their leadership traits (i.e., sensitivity, intelligence, dedication, and dynamism) and an instrument that assessed their leadership prototypes (i.e., sensitivity, intelligence, dedication, and dynamism). Next, participants were presented with a 22 minute tape of four actors (2 male, 2 female) portraying mutual fund mangers in a simulated work setting. Participants then rated one male (Bob) and one female (Sue) actor on the specific leadership characteristics (i.e., sensitivity, intelligence, dedication, and dynamism) they exhibited on the tape as well as an overall assessment of leadership emergence and effectiveness. The results demonstrated that leadership prototypes mediated the relationship between self-perceptions of leadership abilities and ratings of leadership characteristics for Bob and Sue. It was also found that the match between perceptions of Bob and Sue and an individual's leadership prototype predicted overall ratings of leadership emergence and leadership effectiveness. Finally, the results from the present study suggested that men and women perceive leadership similarly. / Ph. D.

The primary purpose of this research was to extend current knowledge of the individual differences that are traditionally associated with leadership emergence and to determine whether the individuals characterized by individual differences attributed to transformational leaders were also likely to emerge as a leader in a leaderless group. Leadership behaviors and followers' perceptions of emergent leadership of individuals with Ross and Offermann's (1997) enabling and forceful personality patterns were examined in an emergence setting that facilitates transformational leadership. A secondary purpose of this research was to further our knowledge of the process of leadership. The leadership process defined by Lord and his associates (Lord, Fot & Phillips, 1982; Lord, Foti & DeVader., 1984) was expanded to include relevant elements of Mischel's theory of personality (Mischel, 1999). The contextual influence of the task situation and feedback from others were examined. Individuals did not differ on transformational leadership behavior, but forceful individuals did exhibit a greater proportion of initiating structure behaviors than other individuals and were rated highest on leadership. In addition, there was no evidence of changes in the leadership process due to feedback based on the perceptions of others. Limitations and implications for future research are discussed. / Ph. D.

As organizations utilize less hierarchical forms of leadership, the study of how leadership emerges within teams continues to grow in importance. Despite many theoretical perspectives used to study leadership emergence, little is understood about the actual process by which a collective structure emerges. In the current work, I address two of the primary limitations within this literature: imprecise theoretical perspectives and methodological challenges in studying emergence. Specifically, although there are many conceptual works that describe the leadership emergence process, these descriptions do not have enough precision to be able to design a model with formal rules, a necessary requirement for studying emergence. Additionally, studying leadership emergence requires the study of newly formed teams frequently over time, which is challenging to accomplish using existing methods. To address the two above limitations, in the current work, I translate two dominant process-oriented perspectives of leadership emergence (social interactionist and social cognitive) into formal theories that include a series of testable hypotheses. In doing so, these theories outline the essential elements and process mechanisms of each theoretical perspective. Next, I use these theories to design two agent-based models to simulate the process by which leadership emerges within teams, under each perspective. Using the software NetLogo, I simulate 500 newly formed teams over the initial period of 500 dyadic interactions (i.e., hours). Finally, after simulating these models, I use the resulting data to test the predictions from each theoretical perspective. In addition to testing the hypotheses from each model, I also utilize agent-based modeling to systematically test the relative importance of the unique individual-level elements and process mechanisms from each model. From this entire process, I generate results about (1) how well the agent-based models represent the respective perspectives, and (2) the relative influence each perspective's unique elements and mechanisms have on team outcomes. Overall, results generally supported the core concepts from each perspective, but also identified areas where each perspective needs to revisit for theory on leadership emergence to advance. Specifically, the results illustrated that certain individual-level elements were most influential for leadership emergence. For the social interactionist perspective, it was the comparison between implicit leadership theories and self-prototypical leadership characteristics. For the social cognitive perspective, it was leader self-schemas. Additionally, results indicated that future work may need to revisit the conceptualization of both leadership structure schemas, as well as the dynamic process of weighting implicit leadership theories. Finally, predictions about the rate of leadership emergence over time within the social cognitive perspective were the only predictions that were not supported. From these results, I present multiple themes as a conceptual road map for the advancement of leadership emergence theory. I argue that the lack of support regarding leadership emergence trajectories presents opportunities for a reconceptualization of emergence at the event level, as well as new modeling procedures to capture emergence as it occurs. I also present future study ideas that can directly test the competing assumptions from each perspective. In total, I argue that this work advances the study of leadership emergence by adopting a method that helped integrate two dominant perspectives of leadership emergence, possibly laying the groundwork for the development of a combined formal theory. / Doctor of Philosophy / The purpose of this dissertation was to understand how specific individuals in teams become viewed as a leader, when there is no formal hierarchy. This represents the process of leadership emergence. Most research studying leadership in teams focuses on who becomes a leader. As a result, little is known about the exact process by which certain individuals emerge as a leader. Fortunately, there are theories that represent potential ideas for how this process occurs. However, these theories are difficult to test, as this type of research requires the study of newly formed teams over time, a great methodological challenge. In my dissertation, I attempt to address this challenge by simulating newly formed teams over time using a form of computer simulation called Agent-Based Modeling (ABM). In using ABM, I aimed to learn how two theoretical perspectives both compare and contrast to one another, in how they both explain the process of leadership emergence. In my primary analysis, I simulated 500 teams, working together over a period of hours. After using this data to test a series of predictions, I found that most predictions were supported across each theoretical perspective. This provided evidence that the simulations represented each theoretical perspective. However, the results also showed that certain parts of each theoretical perspective need more research. In recognizing the weaknesses in each perspective in modeling leadership emergence, I introduce multiple opportunities for theoretical integration, in that ideas from both models can be combined into one. Therefore, the findings from this research lay the groundwork for the development of one single theory for how leadership emerges in groups. Ultimately, this could help understand how leadership in teams occurs, which can lead to new interventions to improve team leadership and performance.

The purpose of this study was to aggregate the findings of three distinct areas of research into one model of team effectiveness. Specifically, it was hypothesized that, in accordance with prior research findings, aspects of personality related to social intelligence would predict informal leadership emergence. Furthermore, it was predicted that multiple leaders within a team would positively influence that team's subsequent level of performance, through the mediating influence of team mental model similarity and team mental model accuracy. Participants included 40 computer science and engineering teams, who completed their surveys at time one, whereas performance criterion measures were collected at time two. Contrary to prediction, results indicated that social intelligence was not a significant predictor of leadership emergence, and leadership dispersion did not directly impact team performance. However, leadership dispersion positively impacted team mental model accuracy, and team mental model accuracy and similarity positively affected subsequent team performance, as hypothesized. Therefore, the current study provides partial support for a model of team performance that takes into account multiple leadership within teams and its positive influence on the dissemination and development of important, task-related knowledge structures among team members. / Master of Science

The overarching goal of the proposed study is to develop and test a mediated multi-level model of leadership emergence in virtual teams, which aims to better understand not only the processes that result in leadership emergence in self-managed virtual teams, but also how patterns of emergent leadership and team member dispersion can impact team performance in collaborative activities. Virtual teams, which can be defined as "a collection of individuals who are geographically and/or organizationally or otherwise dispersed and who collaborate via communication and information technologies in order to accomplish a specific goal" (Zigurs, 2003), continue to grow in importance as to how organizations function in the 21st century (Hertel, Konradt, & Orlikowski, 2004; Lipnack & Stamps, 2000), and the benefits to companies and individuals are numerous. For employees, virtual teamwork offers flexibility in work-life balance, a decrease in time spent in travel and commuting, and a greater range of work-related opportunities and experiences, particularly for individuals with physical disabilities. For organizations, virtual teams offer cost savings on office space and travel, an increased knowledge base and accelerated organizational learning, access to a wider range of expertise and qualified labor, and increased productivity (Jude-York, Davis, & Wise, 2000; Gillam & Oppenheim, 2006). The model to be tested in the proposed study is predicated on the input--mediator--output--input (IMOI) model proposed by Ilgen, Hollenbeck, Johnson, & Jundt (2005). Also, heeding the recent call for researchers to better incorporate the potential of attribution theory (see Heider, 1958; Kelley, 1973; Weiner, 1986) in explaining organizational behavior (Martinko, Harvey, & Dasborough, 2010), the interpersonal attribution model proposed by Gilbert & Malone (1995) is applied within the IMOI framework for the purposes of this study. At the individual level, the model provides a theoretical linkage between communication behaviors and several outcomes, including team member perceptions/attributions and, ultimately, emergent leadership. At the team level, the model also incorporates the effect of leadership pattern differences across teams, as well as differences in level of virtuality, on overall team performance. Based on the results of an experiment involving 86 four-person teams, it was found that configuration and collocation have significant effects on team performance and peer perceptions of individual team members. A curvilinear relationship was found between the level of dispersion among team members and team performance, such that performance generally decreased as team dispersion increased, yet performance improved at the high end of the dispersion continuum. Collocation also had strong positive effects on perceptions of trust, ability, and leadership emergence. In terms of the relationships between communication-related behaviors and emergent leadership, task-based communications proved to be the strongest predictor of emergent leadership. The use of texting language was positively associated with perceptions of leadership emergence as well. These results have significant practical implications for the design of virtual teams from both a team configuration and a team member skills/individual differences perspective. Several avenues of future research are also discussed.

A Grounded Theory of Emergent Leadership in Nonhierarchical Virtual Teams by Randall David Fleming MS, Colorado Technical University, 2008 BA, The Ohio State University, 1984 Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Management Walden University November 2018