Personality traits and leadership styles of students: Evidence from Ecuador
-
DOIhttp://dx.doi.org/10.21511/ppm.22(1).2024.14
-
Article InfoVolume 22 2024, Issue #1, pp. 156-169
- 507 Views
-
89 Downloads
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
The study aims to evaluate how personality traits affect transformational, transactional, and passive-avoidant leadership styles. It uses the quantitative approach with a non-experimental research design; the data were collected cross-sectionally, with a correlational-causal scope. The sample included 418 professionals studying MBA at private universities in Ecuador and working in private companies. Personality traits were measured with the Revised NEO-PI-R Personality Inventory, while the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) measured leadership styles through the survey. Data analysis included the use of correlations and multivariate regression models. The results show that openness to experience (β = 0.100*), extraversion (β = 0.217**), conscientiousness (β = 0.239**), and work experience (β = 0.086*) generated a positive and meaningful effect on transformational leadership. Neuroticism was also significant but with a negative standardized coefficient (β = –0.445**). Also, extraversion (β = 0.169**), conscientiousness (β = 0.303**), and work experience (β = 0.222**) had a positive and significant effect on transactional leadership; neuroticism was also significant but with a negative standardized coefficient (β = –0.243**). Finally, extraversion (β = –0.311**) and conscientiousness (β = –0.192**) had a negative and significant effect, and neuroticism (β = 0.451**) had a positive and significant effect on the passive-avoidant leadership style.
- Keywords
-
JEL Classification (Paper profile tab)I21, J24, M12
-
References46
-
Tables9
-
Figures0
-
- Table 1. Sample demographic information
- Table 2. Descriptive statistics of personality domains
- Table 3. Descriptive results of leadership styles
- Table 4. Second-order confirmatory factor analysis for leadership styles
- Table 5. Correlations between leadership styles and the Big Five domains
- Table 6. Regression coefficients for transformational leadership style
- Table 7. Regression coefficients for transformational leadership
- Table 8. Regression coefficients for passive-avoidant leadership
- Table A1. Factor loadings and congruence for factors in managers’ NEO-PI-R form rotated to the Normative American Structure
-
- Alipio, R. A. L., Avecillas, D. X. A., Santivañez, G. W. Q., Mendoza, W. J., & Benites, E. F. Z. (2023). Servant leadership and organizational performance: Mediating role of organizational culture. Problems and Perspectives in Management, 21(4), 333-346.
- Antonakis, J., Avolio, B. J., & Sivasubramaniam, N. (2003). Context and leadership: An examination of the nine-factor full-range leadership theory using the multifactor leadership questionnaire. The Leadership Quarterly, 14(3), 261-295.
- Ashkanasy, N. M., & Dasborough, M. T. (2003). Emotional awareness and emotional intelligence in leadership training. Journal of Education for Business, 79(1), 18-22.
- Avolio, B. J., & Bass, B. M. (2004). Multifactor leadership questionnaire: Manual and sampler test (3rd ed.). Redwood City, CA: Mind Garden.
- Bass, B. M. (1985). Leadership and performance beyond expectations. New York: Free Press.
- Bass, B. M. (2008). The Bass handbook of leadership: Theory, research and managerial applications (4th ed.). New York: Free Press.
- Bass, B. M., & Avolio, B. J. (1994). Improving organizational effectiveness through transformational leadership. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
- Bono, J. E., & Judge, T. A. (2004). Personality and transformational and transactional leadership: A meta-analysis. Journal of Applied Psychology, 89(5), 901-910.
- Burns, J. M. (1978). Leadership. New York: Harper & Row.
- Chaudhry, A. Q., & Javed, H. (2012). Impact of transactional and laissez-faire leadership style on motivation. International Journal of Business and Social Science, 3(7), 258-264.
- Costa, P. T., & McCrae, R. R. (1992). Four ways five factors are basic. Personality and Individual Differences, 13(6), 653-665.
- Crossan, M., Mazutis, D., Seijts, G., & Gandz, J. (2012). Developing leadership character in business programs. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 12(2), 285-305.
- D’Alessio, F. (2008). The influence of personality domains and working experience in Peruvian Manager’s leadership styles: An initial study. Journal of CENTRUM Cathedra, 1(1), 13-33.
- Dinić, B. M., Breevaart, K., Andrews, W., & de Vries, R. E. (2023). Voters’ HEXACO personality traits as predictors of their presidential leadership style preferences. Personality and Individual Differences, 202, 111994.
- Eberts, R. (2007). Trends in worker requirements and the need for better information to make more informed decisions in a global economy. OECD’s 2nd World Forum on Statistics, Knowledge and Policy: Measuring and Fostering the Progress of Societies. Istanbul, Turkey.
- Elmuti, D., Minnis, W., & Abebe, M. (2005). Does education have a role in developing leadership skills? Management Decision, 43(7/8), 1018-1031.
- Emery, C., Calvard, T., & Pierce, M. (2013). Leadership as an emergent group process: A social network study of personality and leadership. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 16(1), 28-45.
- Eysenck, S., Makaremi, A., & Barrett, P. (1994). A cross-cultural study of personality: Iranian and English children. Personality and Individual Differences, 16(2), 203-210.
- Furnham, A., & Crump, J. (2015). Personality and management level: Traits that differentiate leadership levels. Psychology, 6(5), 549-559.
- Furtner, M. R., Baldegger, U., & Rauthmann, J. F. (2013). Leading yourself and leading others: Linking self-leadership to transformational, transactional, and laissez-faire leadership. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 22(4), 436-449.
- Gelissen, J., & de Graaf, P. M. (2006). Personality, social background, and occupational career success. Social Science Research, 35(3), 702-726.
- Gujarati, D., & Porter, D. (2010). Essentials of econometrics (4th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.
- Hair, J., Black, W., Babin, B., Anderson, R., & Tatham, R. (2006). Multivariate data analysis (6th ed.). Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education International.
- Harms, P. D., & Credé, M. (2010). Emotional intelligence and transformational and transactional leadership: A meta-analysis. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, 17(1), 5-17.
- Hezlett, S. A. (2016). Enhancing experience-driven leadership development. Advances in Developing Human Resources, 18(3), 369-389.
- Judge, T. A., & Bono, J. E. (2000). Five-factor model of personality and transformational leadership. Journal of Applied Psychology, 85(5), 751-765.
- Judge, T. A., Erez, A., Bono, J. E., & Thoresen, C. J. (2002). Are measures of self-esteem, neuroticism, locus of control, and generalized self-efficacy indicators of a common core construct? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83(3), 693-710.
- Kaufman, S. B., Quilty, L. C., Grazioplene, R. G., Hirsh, J. B., Gray, J. R., Peterson, J. B., & DeYoung, C. G. (2016). Openness to experience and intellect differentially predict creative achievement in the arts and sciences. Journal of Personality, 84(2), 248-258.
- Lim, B. C., & Ployhart, R. E. (2004). Transformational leadership: Relations to the five-factor model and team performance in typical and maximum contexts. Journal of Applied Psychology, 89(4), 610-621.
- Lind, D., Marchal, W., & Wathen, S. (2015). Statistical techniques in business & economics (16th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill Education.
- Ma, H. (2000). Competitive advantage and firm performance. Competitiveness Review, 10(2), 15-32.
- McCall Jr, M. W., & Hollenbeck, G. P. (2002). Developing global executives: The lessons of international experience. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.
- McCauley, C. D., DeRue, D., Yost, P., & Taylor, S. (2014). Experience-driven leadership development: Models, tools, best practices, and advice for on-the-job development. San Francisco, CA: John Wiley & Sons.
- McCrae, R., & Costa, P. (1989). Rotation to maximize the construct validity of factors in the NEO personality inventory. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 24(1), 107-124.
- McCrae, R., & Costa, P. (1994). Rotation to maximize the construct validity of factors in the NEO personality inventory: Erratum. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 29(2), 126.
- McCrae, R., Zonderman, A., Bond, M., Costa, P., & Paunonen, S. (1996). Evaluating replicability of factors in the revised NEO personality inventory: Confirmatory factor analysis versus Procrustes rotation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 70(3), 552-566.
- McLaurin, J. R., & Al Amri, M. B. (2008). Developing an understanding of charismatic and transformational leadership. Academy of Organizational Culture, Communications and Conflict. Proceedings, 13(2).
- Mujtaba, B. G. (2014). Managerial skills and practices for global leadership. Florida: ILEAD Academy.
- Prochazka, J., Vaculik, M., Smutny, P., & Jezek, S. (2018). Leader traits, transformational leadership and leader effectiveness: A mediation study from the Czech Republic. Journal for East European Management Studies, 23(3), 474-501.
- Tanasescu, V., Jones, C. B., Colombo, G., Chorley, M. J., Allen, S. M., & Whitaker, R. M. (2013). The personality of venues: Places and the five-factors (‘Big Five’) model of personality. 2013 Fourth International Conference (pp. 76-81).
- Teece, D., Pisano, G., & Shuen, A. (1997). Dynamic capabilities and strategic management. Strategic Management Journal, 18(7), 509-533.
- Thompson, B. (2004). Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis: Understanding concepts and applications. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
- Van de Vijver, F. (2015). Methodological aspects of cross-cultural research. In M. Gelfand, Y. Hong, & C. Y. Chiu (Eds.), Handbook of Advances in Culture & Psychology (pp. 101-160). New York: Oxford University Press.
- Yukl, G. (2010). Leadership in organizations (7th ed.). Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall.
- Zareen, M., Razzaq, K., & Mujtaba, B. G. (2015). Impact of transactional, transformational and laissez-faire leadership styles on motivation: A quantitative study of banking employees in Pakistan. Public Organization Review, 15(4), 531-549.
- Zopiatis, A., & Constanti, P. (2012). Extraversion, openness and conscientiousness: The route to transformational leadership in the hotel industry. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 33(1), 86-104.