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Autocratic leadership in social dilemmas: A threat to group stability

Autocratic leadership in social dilemmas: A threat to group stability
Autocratic leadership in social dilemmas: A threat to group stability
This paper investigated the impact of leadership style on the stability of small social dilemma groups. In two experiments, group members were more likely to exit their group and take their resources elsewhere if they were supervised by an autocratic style leader than by a democratic or laissez-faire style leader. The destabilizing influence of autocratic leadership is due to the procedural rather than distributive aspects of this leadership style: More members exited their group under an autocratic style leader, relative to a democratic style leader, regardless of whether or not they received favorable personal outcomes from the leader. Hence, autocratic leadership is not a stable long-term solution to the problem of public goods in groups.
0022-1031
1-13
Van Vugt, M.
321c0e60-fcf6-485c-b85f-6ae83c2479ce
Jepson, S.
8e86c8a2-fd60-41f9-8d15-13c6c25432bb
Hart, C.
e3db9c72-f493-439c-a358-b3b482d55103
De Cremer, D.
3d15ccc4-8d6a-4947-8f32-3656a6629594
Van Vugt, M.
321c0e60-fcf6-485c-b85f-6ae83c2479ce
Jepson, S.
8e86c8a2-fd60-41f9-8d15-13c6c25432bb
Hart, C.
e3db9c72-f493-439c-a358-b3b482d55103
De Cremer, D.
3d15ccc4-8d6a-4947-8f32-3656a6629594

Van Vugt, M., Jepson, S., Hart, C. and De Cremer, D. (2004) Autocratic leadership in social dilemmas: A threat to group stability. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 40 (1), 1-13. (doi:10.1016/S0022-1031(03)00061-1).

Record type: Article

Abstract

This paper investigated the impact of leadership style on the stability of small social dilemma groups. In two experiments, group members were more likely to exit their group and take their resources elsewhere if they were supervised by an autocratic style leader than by a democratic or laissez-faire style leader. The destabilizing influence of autocratic leadership is due to the procedural rather than distributive aspects of this leadership style: More members exited their group under an autocratic style leader, relative to a democratic style leader, regardless of whether or not they received favorable personal outcomes from the leader. Hence, autocratic leadership is not a stable long-term solution to the problem of public goods in groups.

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Published date: 2004

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 40165
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/40165
ISSN: 0022-1031
PURE UUID: eea9a897-2a0d-4018-b1a3-c6ead2dbaa39
ORCID for C. Hart: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-2175-2474

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Date deposited: 05 Jul 2006
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 03:24

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Contributors

Author: M. Van Vugt
Author: S. Jepson
Author: C. Hart ORCID iD
Author: D. De Cremer

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