Effects of Charismatic Content and Delivery on Follower Task Performance | CU Experts

The current study examined the moderating effect of task type on the effectiveness of charismatic leadership. Using a laboratory study, the content (visionary, nonvisionary) and delivery (expressive, unexpressive) of a leadership speech were manipulated, along with the charisma conduciveness of performance tasks. Based on the propositions asserted by Shamir and Howell, the authors suggest that charisma-conducive tasks are low in analyzability (more complex) and require greater levels of initiative and creativity. In addition, the authors expected that the effects of charismatic leadership on task performance should be more pronounced in terms of quality than quantity of performance. As expected, visionary content and expressive delivery resulted in higher attributions of charismatic leadership. In addition, visionary content led to better quality of performance on more charisma-conducive tasks.

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