Charismatic, Ideological, and Pragmatic Leaders' Influence on Subordinate Creative Performance Across the Creative Process

Abstract

Using the charismatic, ideological, and pragmatic (CIP) model of leadership as a framework, 2 primary research questions were examined. First, when engaging in different tasks along the creative process, does leadership style influence the creative performance of subordinates? Second, how does the level of stress, to which subordinates are exposed, moderate the relationship between leadership style and creative performance? Hypotheses were tested using a laboratory-based design, where 336 participants engaged in 3 unique creative tasks specifically designed to represent the different steps along the creative process. The results indicate that charismatic leaders influence subordinate creative performance above and beyond pragmatic and ideological leaders on middle-stage creative tasks. Moreover, higher levels of stress decreased individual creative performance in terms of ratings of quality, but not originality. Additionally, stress had the least amount of impact on those individuals with a pragmatic leader. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.

Acknowledgments

Portions of this project were funded by the National Science Foundation (CMMI-0928644). Thanks to Jim Farr and Jose Soto for their keen insights and recommendations during the execution of this study. Additionally, thanks to the undergraduates in Pennsylvania State University's Leadership and Innovation Lab for their dedication to this study from data collection to the completion of the coding process. Last, thank you to Shanann, Vander, Pepper Lynn, Melissa, and Celia Kate for their support.

Notes

Note. *Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed). **Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

Note. η² = partial eta squared. Results presented have been controlled for by ethnicity, session leader, divergent thinking ability, and agreeableness.