Personality and the perception of transformational leadership: The impact of extraversion, neuroticism, personal need for structure, and occupational self efficacy

Abstract

This experimental study examined the influence of followers' personal characteristics on their perception of leadership. Participants were 175 students who self-rated several personality scales (extraversion, neuroticism, personal need for structure, and occupational self-efficacy) at Time 1. Two weeks later, participants were divided into two groups and were presented a vignette about a transformational or a nontransformational leader. Subsequently, respondents were asked to rate the described leader's behavior on the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire. Results revealed that followers high in extraversion tended to perceive more transformational leadership, and showed a more positive evaluation of transformational leadership than did followers with low extraversion. Moreover, perceived transformational leadership predicted the acceptance of a leader, but followers' personality traits did not moderate the relationship between perceived transformational leadership and acceptance.