Chapter 18: Heroic Illusions: How Implicit Leadership Theories Shape Follower Attributions About Poor Leader Performance

Traditional leadership research considers leadership synonymous with effective leadership. As Meindl, Ehrlich, and Dukerich (1985) point out, “the romanticization of leadership is hinted at in the observations made by a number of social and organizational analysts who have noted the esteem, prestige, charisma, and heroism attached to various conceptions and forms of leadership” (p. 79). Recently our understanding of leadership has broadened to include the dark side of leadership (Popper, 2001), abusive supervision (Tepper, 2000), “bad leadership” (Kellerman, 2004) and toxic leadership (Lipman-Blumen, 2005). Although research now acknowledges that leadership is not always positive, the leader remains the primary focus of such efforts. Yet the locus of leadership involves the behavior, traits and characteristics of leaders as perceived by followers (Lord & Maher, 1993). Based on these perceptions, followers bestow power and legitimacy upon leaders. Accordingly, it is imperative to understand the role of follower perceptions (Lord & Emrich, 2001). In this chapter we explore how followers make attributions for leader performance and how that process is impacted by follower needs and leader-member exchange. We contend that followers view leader performance though the lens of their implicit leadership theories. Moreover, leaders engage in impression management tactics that promote attributions consistent with leadership prototypes. To maintain their leadership images, followers are likely to attribute poor performance to external factors thereby holding leaders unaccountable for their performance. In this manner, followers foster heroic illusions about their leaders.