Witnessing interparental violence and leader role occupancy: the roles of insecure attachment and gender

Abstract

PurposeGiven the role leaders play in organizational effectiveness, there is growing interest in understanding the antecedents of leader emergence. The authors consider parental influence by examining how witnessing interparental violence during adolescence indirectly affects adult leader role occupancy. Drawing on the work–home resources (W-HR) model, the authors hypothesize that witnessing interparental violence serves as a distal, chronic contextual demand that hinders leader role occupancy through its effects on constructive personal resources, operationalized as insecure attachment. Based on role congruity theory, the authors also predict that the relationship between attachment style and leader role occupancy will differ for women and men.Design/methodology/approachTo test the hypotheses, the authors used data from the National Comorbidity Survey Replication (NCS-R) (n = 1,665 full-time employees).FindingsAfter controlling for age, education, childhood socioeconomic status and experienced violence, results showed that the negative indirect effects of witnessing interparental violence on leader role occupancy through avoidant attachment was significant for females only, while the negative effects of anxious attachment hindered leader role occupancy across sexes.Originality/valueResults identify novel distal (interparental violence) and proximal (attachment style) barriers to leader role occupancy, showing empirical support for the life-span approach to leadership and the persistent effects of home demands on work.

Early family socioeconomic status and later leadership role occupancy: A multisource lifespan study

“…Several studies support the link between mental health and later leadership role occupancy. For example, self‐esteem assessed at the outset of military cadet training in the United States predicted leadership role occupancy 4 years later (Atwater et al, 1999), and anxious attachment thwarted leadership role occupancy (Cloutier & Barling, 2022). At the same time, personal mastery measured among young adults predicted leadership role occupancy 6 years later (Barling & Weatherhead, 2016), although this relationship was only significant for males, while avoidant attachment hindered leadership role occupancy for females but not males (Cloutier & Barling, 2022).…”

“…For example, self‐esteem assessed at the outset of military cadet training in the United States predicted leadership role occupancy 4 years later (Atwater et al, 1999), and anxious attachment thwarted leadership role occupancy (Cloutier & Barling, 2022). At the same time, personal mastery measured among young adults predicted leadership role occupancy 6 years later (Barling & Weatherhead, 2016), although this relationship was only significant for males, while avoidant attachment hindered leadership role occupancy for females but not males (Cloutier & Barling, 2022). Additional support derives from data of more than 1.2 million people in Sweden showing that psychological health predicts becoming a CEO sooner, even after controlling for prior educational attainments, cognitive and noncognitive ability, physical fitness, body mass index, and height (Keloharju et al, 2023).…”