Authentic Moral Leadership, Attributed Charisma, and Cynicism about Change in the Context of a Presidential Election: Understanding the Moderating Role of Crisis Perceptions

Author(s)

Ethlyn Anne Williams, Florida Atlantic UniversityFollow
Rajnandini Pillai, California State University, San MarcosFollow
Bryan Joab Deptula, Nova Southeastern UniversityFollow
Kevin B. Lowe, The University of Sydney, Business SchoolFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Journal of Leadership, Accountability and Ethics

ISSN

1913-8059

Publication Date

2018

Abstract/Excerpt

The current study examines authentic moral leadership in the setting of a U.S. presidential election, with the Democratic incumbent and Republican challenger in 2012. Pre and post-election data were collected yielding 432 matched responses. Perceptions of authentic moral leadership were positively related to attributions of charisma, with crisis perceptions having a moderating effect. Pre-election perceptions of the incumbent’s authentic moral leadership had a negative effect on cynicism about change, and a negative indirect effect on post-election cynicism about change, through pre-election attributions of charisma. The implications of the research for understanding authentic moral leadership and attributed charisma are discussed.

Volume

15

Issue

3

First Page

40

Last Page

55

NSUWorks Citation

Williams, Ethlyn Anne; Pillai, Rajnandini; Deptula, Bryan Joab; and Lowe, Kevin B., "Authentic Moral Leadership, Attributed Charisma, and Cynicism about Change in the Context of a Presidential Election: Understanding the Moderating Role of Crisis Perceptions" (2018). HCBE Faculty Articles. 1140.
https://nsuworks.nova.edu/hcbe_facarticles/1140