Are we on the same page? The moderating role of value congruence in the charisma signal-charismatic effects relationship

Abstract

The self-concept and signaling theories of charisma posit that charismatic signals do not universally affect all followers, but only those who have (partially) congruent values with their leaders. This represents a central assumption in charisma theory and our study tests it–to the best of our knowledge–for the first time. We investigate the effect of leader charisma on follower perceived leader charisma, prototypicality, and effectiveness and whether leader-follower value congruence moderates these relationships. In this pre-registered experiment, we manipulated leader charisma, using video recorded speeches (charismatic vs. neutral) about a foodbank and measured value congruence via questionnaire (i.e., altruism and helping others attitude; the higher the scores imply stronger value congruence with the leader’s mission (i.e., the food bank)). Our pre-registered study showed that charismatic signaling fosters perceived leader charisma, prototypicality, and effectiveness. Helping others attitudes moderated the relationship for perceived leader charisma and effectiveness, but not for prototypicality. Altruism did not moderate any of the relationship. Theoretical and practical implications, and limitations are discussed.