Character for Leadership
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Each of these items come from the TLP (Sashkin et al., 1997) subscales of
either credible leadership (focusing on the leader’s integrity) or follower-centered
leadership (focusing on humility and the inclusion of others in the common vision
and use of power). Each of these items possesses significant relationships (
r
= .399,
p
< .01;
r
= .313,
p
< .01;
r
= .575,
p
< .01;
r
= .348,
p
< .01, respectively) with the
TCI (Cloninger, Przybeck, et al., 1994) subscale
of congruent second nature
(having good habits, self-discipline, trustworthy). Through the use of such
measurements, this study shows how such concepts are birthed from the character
of the leader rather than simply emerging on their own.
Visionary leadership
embraces the moral fabric of leadership but does so without specifically identifying
the characterological components at work that form the motivation to lead in a
transformational manner. This study extends the research that has already been
conducted on both visionary and transformational leadership to provide insight into
the nature of the characterological foundation of leadership action. Specifically, this
study demonstrates that those high in the character components of self-directedness
and cooperativeness are more likely to exhibit
visionary leadership behaviors,
especially those related to confident leadership and follower-centered leadership,
each tied to the individual character traits of self-directness and cooperativeness,
respectively.
One item addressed cursorily in the literature review but not addressed
specifically in this study was the moral development of the leader. If moral
development proceeds from the character
of the leader as proposed, then those
leaders with higher character levels would also express higher degrees of moral
development. Further research should address this area specifically, especially
since moral reasoning has already been demonstrated
to impact transformational
leadership (Turner et al., 2002). However, what is not known is if those leaders
who possess specific character traits are better able to make moral decisions or if
there are other components at play in enacting ethical and moral leadership
behaviors. Assessment of this area will help strengthen the conceptual link between
character, values, ethics, and morality.