Personal and Situational Antecedents of Workers' Implicit Leadership Theories: A Within-Person, Between-Jobs Design

Despite a flourishing literature demonstrating the consequences of implicit leadership theories (ILTs) for workplace phenomena, relatively little is known about the antecedents of ILTs, particularly those that are malleable or can be changed to shape ILTs. In two studies of dual-job holders, which allows for the modeling of between- and within-person predictors, I examined the extent to which workers' ILTs were stable versus dynamic across work contexts. In line with connectionist perspectives, trait identities, a personal factor, promoted stability in ILTs across situations in both studies, whereas there was some limited evidence that organizational culture, a situational factor, only predicted ILTs within a given job context. Furthermore, the relationship between independent identity and ILTs differed when examining workers' typical versus ideal leadership conceptualizations. Implications for future research on ILTs are also discussed.