The purpose of the following study was to advance the science of leadership emergence by taking a process-oriented approach to understand the dyadic micro-level interacts that underlie the emergence of leader-follower relationship. While most leadership emergence research focuses mainly on attributes, behaviors, or perceptions of individuals and neglects the multi-level, temporal and contextual of the emergence leaders, this study focuses on dyads' attributes, behaviors and perceptions and considers the teams, over time, and in situ. Individuals worked together in teams over the course of four weeks to accomplish a task, and their verbal interactions were recorded and coded. Attributes of dyads and dyadic perceptions of leader-follower relationship emergence were collected. Results showed dyads that were more similar in leadership self-efficacy were more likely to engage in symmetrical types of interactions. Furthermore, the more dyads engaged in such symmetrical exchanges, the more likely they were to both see each other as leaders, than to both not see each as leaders. Contrary to expectations, no significant results were found for the effect of dyadic dissimilarity on dyadic interactions, or for the effect of complementary interactions of leader-follower relationship emergence. Implications of these findings are discussed. / Ph. D. / The purpose of this dissertation was to better understand how and why leaders and followers emerge in groups based on how they communicate with each other and what characteristics they possess. Most related research focuses mainly on the characteristics that a single person who emerges as a leader or follower posses. What makes this study unique is that the focus is not exclusively on the individual, but rather is on a pair of individuals and not just their characteristics but also their forms of communication they engage in. In addition, the pair is studied in a group, over time and in a quasi-naturalistic environment to better include temporal and contextual factors. Participants worked together in teams over the course of four weeks to accomplish a task, and they were audio recorded as they worked together. Characteristics of the pairs were measured, as was whether a leader-follower relationship formed between the pair. Results showed pairs who were more similar in the their own abilities to lead (leadership self-efficacy) were more likely to engage in a particular type of communication pattern (symmetry). Furthermore, pairs who engaged in these types of communication patterns (symmetry) were more likely to both see each other as leaders, than to both not see each as leaders. Contrary to expectations, no significant relationships were found between dissimilar pairs and patterns of communication. Implications of these findings are discussed.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VTETD/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/96262 |
| Date | 11 July 2018 |
| Creators | McCusker, Maureen E. |
| Contributors | Psychology, Foti, Roseanne J., Carlson, Kevin D., Parker, Sarah H., Hauenstein, Neil M. A. |
| Publisher | Virginia Tech |
| Source Sets | Virginia Tech Theses and Dissertation |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Dissertation |
| Format | ETD, application/pdf, application/pdf |
| Rights | In Copyright, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
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