Charisma is a costly signal

Vita Akstinaite; Ulrich Thy Jensen; Michalis Vlachos; Alexis Erne; John Antonakis

doi:10.1016/j.leaqua.2024.101810

Charisma is a costly signal

Vita Akstinaite, Ulrich Thy Jensen, Michalis Vlachos, Alexis Erne, John Antonakis^*

^*Corresponding author af dette arbejde

Institut for Statskundskab - Kong Frederiks Center for Offentlig Ledelse

Publikation: Bidrag til tidsskrift/Konferencebidrag i tidsskrift /Bidrag til avis › Tidsskriftartikel › Forskning › peer review

4 Citationer (Scopus)

Abstract

A key assumption in modern conceptualizations of charisma is that it is a costly signal. It thus should be easier for intelligent individuals to produce this signal: it requires one to be creative, communicate in symbolic ways, have the needed expertise, and be consistent in one's values and actions. At this time, it is unclear whether this assumption holds. Using data from an incentivized laboratory experiment (n = 1,998 general population) and two field settings (n = 134 public service leaders and n = 41 U.S. presidents), we show that individuals's charisma signaling scores strongly correlate with their scores on intelligence. A change of a standard deviation in intelligence was associated with changes in charisma signaling of 7.89 % (Study 1), 11.01 % (Study 2), as well as 5.70 %, 6.80 %, and 12.23 % (Study 3), respectively. In addition, Studies 1 and 2 showed that scores on personality dimensions—whether the big five or the big six—do not correlate with charisma signaling. Our results lay the foundations for explaining a mechanism for why charisma signaling is a potent motivational tool and thus have important theoretical and policy implications.

Originalsprog	Engelsk
Artikelnummer	101810
Tidsskrift	Leadership Quarterly
Vol/bind	35
Nummer	6
ISSN	1048-9843
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2024.101810
Status	Udgivet - dec. 2024

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AU - Vlachos, Michalis

AU - Erne, Alexis

AU - Antonakis, John

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N2 - A key assumption in modern conceptualizations of charisma is that it is a costly signal. It thus should be easier for intelligent individuals to produce this signal: it requires one to be creative, communicate in symbolic ways, have the needed expertise, and be consistent in one's values and actions. At this time, it is unclear whether this assumption holds. Using data from an incentivized laboratory experiment (n = 1,998 general population) and two field settings (n = 134 public service leaders and n = 41 U.S. presidents), we show that individuals's charisma signaling scores strongly correlate with their scores on intelligence. A change of a standard deviation in intelligence was associated with changes in charisma signaling of 7.89 % (Study 1), 11.01 % (Study 2), as well as 5.70 %, 6.80 %, and 12.23 % (Study 3), respectively. In addition, Studies 1 and 2 showed that scores on personality dimensions—whether the big five or the big six—do not correlate with charisma signaling. Our results lay the foundations for explaining a mechanism for why charisma signaling is a potent motivational tool and thus have important theoretical and policy implications.

AB - A key assumption in modern conceptualizations of charisma is that it is a costly signal. It thus should be easier for intelligent individuals to produce this signal: it requires one to be creative, communicate in symbolic ways, have the needed expertise, and be consistent in one's values and actions. At this time, it is unclear whether this assumption holds. Using data from an incentivized laboratory experiment (n = 1,998 general population) and two field settings (n = 134 public service leaders and n = 41 U.S. presidents), we show that individuals's charisma signaling scores strongly correlate with their scores on intelligence. A change of a standard deviation in intelligence was associated with changes in charisma signaling of 7.89 % (Study 1), 11.01 % (Study 2), as well as 5.70 %, 6.80 %, and 12.23 % (Study 3), respectively. In addition, Studies 1 and 2 showed that scores on personality dimensions—whether the big five or the big six—do not correlate with charisma signaling. Our results lay the foundations for explaining a mechanism for why charisma signaling is a potent motivational tool and thus have important theoretical and policy implications.

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Charisma is a costly signal

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