Organizational charisma and vision across three countries

Abstract

Purpose This paper aims to examine the extent leadership charisma and vision could be discriminated by followers and how they influenced follower commitment and reported performance across three countries. Design/methodology/approach An instrument to identify leadership charisma and vision was developed in Singapore and validated in New Zealand and India before tests on how these leadership qualities influenced followers through Lisrel path models. Findings Results from the Singapore sample showed that charisma and vision were made up of two charismatic factors (social sensitivity and personality traits – persuasive) and two visionary factors (expert and analytical and visionary and futuristic). Tests across three countries showed that the two visionary factors influenced reported performance and the two charismatic factors influenced subordinate commitment. Only social sensitivity predicted both performance and commitment of subordinates. Research limitations/implications Future studies should include a larger sample of respondents. Cross‐cultural differences in vision and charismatic qualities would have to be explicitly tested with cross‐cultural variables in future studies. The performance output measure should also include objective measures of follower performance, such as revenue or cost in future studies. Practical implications Effective leaders should strive to have both charismatic and visionary qualities. Special attention should be paid to “socially sensitive” since it influenced both commitment and reported performance. Originality/value This instrument was developed and tested across three countries and therefore has some cross‐cultural validity. The clear discrimination between charisma and vision is also an important development that showed the role both played in leadership influence.