Dyadic congruence in motivation to lead and peer-implicit leadership theories in leadership emergence: Mediating role of peer trust

Building on leadership identity construction theory, this study adopts a dyadic approach to investigate peer recognition of implicit fit to leadership motivation -- the congruence between how individuals want to lead (motivation to lead) and how peers see leaders (peer-implicit leadership theories), and how such a congruence is related to peer trust and indirectly to leadership emergence. We surveyed 298 individual-peer dyads at two time points using round-robin approach. Results of polynomial regression analyses reveal that peer trust and leadership emergence were higher in high-high dyads compared with those in low-low congruence dyads. Results also indicate that peer trust mediated the impact of congruence between motivation to lead and peer-implicit leadership theories on leadership emergence. Lastly, findings demonstrate the importance of understanding the process of peer recognition and highlight the importance of trust to considerably predict leadership emergence.

本研究以领导身份建构理论（leadership identity construction theory）为基础，采用二元研究范式，探讨同伴对领导动机内隐匹配的认可——即个体的领导意愿（领导动机（motivation to lead））与同伴眼中的领导者形象（同伴内隐领导理论（peer-implicit leadership theories））二者间的契合程度，以及该契合度与同伴信任的关联，及其对领导涌现的间接影响。本研究采用轮询法（round-robin approach），在两个时间点对298组个体-同伴配对开展了问卷调查。多项式回归分析（polynomial regression analyses）结果显示，相较于低契合度配对组，高契合度配对组的同伴信任水平与领导涌现程度均更高。研究同时表明，领导动机与同伴内隐领导理论之间的契合度，可通过同伴信任的中介作用对领导涌现产生影响。最后，本研究结果证实了理解同伴认可过程的重要价值，并凸显了信任在有效预测领导涌现方面的关键作用。