Beyond the Big Five: Leader Goal Orientation as a Predictor of Leadership Effectiveness

Abstract

This study examined proximal traits as mediators of the relationships between distal traits and leadership effectiveness. Specifically, we examined goal orientation, leadership self-efficacy, and motivation to lead (MTL) as antecedents of leadership effectiveness, after controlling for the Big Five personality traits. We tested our hypotheses with a sample of 100 leaders of four-person teams performing a manufacturing task in a laboratory setting. Consistent with expectation, leadership self-efficacy partially mediated the relationships between learning goal orientation and Affective-Identity MTL as well as Social-Normative MTL, after controlling for the Big Five. Noncalculative MTL related significantly to averaged team member ratings of leadership effectiveness, after controlling for both the leader's and the team member's personality. These results help aid in our understanding of why leader traits relate to leadership effectiveness.

Notes

¹The following two items were dropped from the groups' ratings of leadership effectiveness inventory: “This leader assigned group members particular roles for performing the task” and “The leader did things his/her own way.”

²We used the full sample (N = 400) for the CFA to maximize the sample size for each parameter that was estimated.

^aWithin-group interrater agreement index (r_wg(j)).

+p≤.10.

*p≤.05.

**p≤.01.

+p < .10.

*p < .05.

**p < .01.

+p < .10.

*p < .05.

**p < .01.