Hierarchical Leader-Leader Fit: Examining Authentic Leader Dyads and Implications for Junior Leader Outcomes

Abstract

Leaders at lower levels do not lead in a vacuum; they must lead within the context of the leadership they experience themselves from their next higher-level leader. We propose that lower-level leaders’ thoughts and attitudes and thereby their behaviors are influenced by the level of compatibility of their own style of leadership with that of their senior leader. Drawing from person-environment fit theory, we propose the concept of hierarchical leader-leader fit by assessing the level of congruence between the authentic leadership style of senior and junior leader dyads, and the resulting effects of levels of (mis)fit on the junior leader's behaviors in the form of performance and deviance. In two samples inclusive of both business and military leaders, using polynomial regression and response surface analysis, we find that fit (misfit) between the senior leader's and junior leader's respective levels of authentic leadership in the dyad is positively (negatively) associated with the junior leader's performance and is negatively (positively) associated with the junior leader's deviance. Surprisingly, when two leaders have high levels of fit, we find similar desirable effects on performance and deviance regardless of whether both leaders practice low (low-low) or high (high-high) levels of authentic leadership. Theoretical and practical implications of the degree of fit between leaders operating at different organizational levels, and of leadership as a contextually embedded relationship are discussed.