Enough is Enough: The Curvilinear Relationship Between Personality and Leadership

There has been a resurgent interest in the study of leadership traits in recent years. Most of this research has assumed and has tested the linear relationships between leader traits and outcomes. Three challenges exist with this research; one, it has largely ignored possible curvilinear relationships between leader traits and leadership effectiveness, two, it has taken a univariate approach to studying leadership, overlooking the role behavior may play in explaining the relationship between leader traits and outcomes, and three, it has lacked a quantitative approach to examining dark-side (derailment) traits, which are often times a manifestation of positive traits and behaviors used in extremes. Multi-source feedback ratings collected as part of a leadership development program from a sample of 138 senior leaders representing C-level executives, functional heads, and middle managers, (80 percent male, mean age = 45.9 years), were assessed for curvilinear relationships among narcissism (measured as self-ratings of Bold traits by the Hogan Development Survey), forceful behavior (measured as peer-ratings of the Leadership Versatility Index), and leadership effectiveness (measured as supervisor and subordinate ratings of leader and team performance). The study did not find support for a curvilinear relationship between Bold traits and forceful behavior, B = .02, 95% CI [0.00, 0.03], p = .56, but did find a significant curvilinear relationship between Forceful behavior and leadership effectiveness, B = -.03, 95% CI [-0.04, -0.02], p < .001. The results suggest that moderate levels of forceful leadership behavior are more effective than low and high levels of forceful leadership behavior. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.