Emergent Leadership and Social Influence
Abstract
The term "leader" is of such breadth that it is best at the outset to indicate that we use it here to signify, in general, a status permitting the exercise of influence over certain other individuals. Specifically, our concern is directed toward leaders deriving status from followers who may accord or withdraw it in an essentially free interchange within a group context. Group consent is therefore a central feature in the leader-follower relationships touched on here, though this constraint does not mean a total neglect of conceivable implications from the simple diad to institutionally based formal groups or societies. Our intention for the most part is to offer some observations and empirical findings which in the first place strike at the persisting notion of a dichotomy between leadership and followership; the burden of this message will be carried initially by results from sociometric research. |m due course, a theoretical model will be offered which treats the emergence of status and assertion of influence as outputs from interaction centered in interpersonal perception. Finally, findings from a laboratory experiment with groups will be introduced, particularly to underscore conceptions from the model concerning perceived competence and conformity in differentially affecting these two outputs.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Dec 01, 1959
- Accession Number
- AD0232745
Entities
People
- E. P. Hollander
Organizations
- Washington University in St. Louis