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Response flexibility as a basis for leadership was examined. Ss were 108 students who completed the self-monitoring scale and four group tasks, interacting with different people on each task. Tasks required as leader styles either initiating structure, consideration, persuasion, or production emphasis. After each task, group members rated each other on perceived leadership and on four scales corresponding to the aforementioned leader styles. Results indicated that 59% of the variance in leadership emergence was trait based; for two of the four tasks, leader rankings were significantly correlated with task-relevant behaviors; and self-monitoring was significantly correlated both with average leader rankings and with task-relevant behaviors on two of the tasks. These findings suggest that trait-based variance in leadership may be due to social perceptiveness and response flexibility.Trait explanations of leader emergence are generally regarded with little esteem by leadership theorists. Much of this disdain can be attributed to the results of two research traditions in the leadership literature. The first emphasized the search for specific personal qualities that differentiate leaders from followers. Reviews of this research by Stogdill (1948) andMann (1959) argued instead for the importance of the group situation over particular traits in leader emergence. The second research tradition used "rotation designs" to vary aspectsof the group and examine the association between leadership in one situation and leader emergence in other situations. After completing one such study, Barnlund (1962) concluded that leadership depended not on individual traits but rather on situational variables.This last view illustrates what has been the dominant perspective in the literature, that leaders were individuals chosen by group members because they responded best to situational demands (e.g., Barnlund, 1962). Although we do not explicitly

We offer a comprehensive review of the theoretical underpinnings and existing empirical evidence in the implicit leadership and implicit followership theories domain. After briefly touching on the historical roots of information-processing approaches to leadership and leader categorization theory, we focus on current contextualized and dynamic perspectives. We specifically present neural network approaches and adaptive resonance processes that guide leadership perceptions. We further address measurement issues, emerging areas of study such as implicit leadership theories, and identity and cross-cultural issues. We offer specific avenues for future research in the form of a systematic list of unanswered research questions and further outline leadership development implications.

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This study examined variable and pattern approaches to studying the influence of individual differences on both leadership emergence and leader effectiveness. Emergent leaders were identified and then followed for 9 months of effectiveness data gathering. Bivariate correlation and regression analyses were complemented by person-based analyses. Results showed that the same pattern of individual differences (high intelligence, high dominance, high general self-efficacy, and high self-monitoring) was associated with both leadership emergence and leader effectiveness. Persons scoring high on the set of individual difference variables emerged as leaders, were promoted to leadership positions, and were rated by their superiors as effective leaders.