Do leaders with more grit report different leadership behaviors?

Details

The study examined how grit—the tendency to pursue long-term goals with perseverance and continuing passion—relates to leaders’ self-reported role modeling, innovating, inspiring, empowering and supporting of followers. It collected data from an international sample of 3,702 leaders in work and non-work contexts. The leaders reported their grit levels and how often they engaged in the five leadership practices. Researchers used moderation analysis to test how grit related to leadership behaviors across contexts.

Leaders with high grit reported more frequent role modeling and innovating, but less inspiring behavior. The relationship with empowering depended on context: the authors reported that grit led leaders to empower followers more in non-work contexts, but not in work-related ones.

The authors described grit as an important predictor of leadership behavior with practical and theoretical implications. They suggested it is a desirable trait in managers, associated with greater use of various leadership behaviors. They also suggested that leaders with grit require particular support from their environment.

The authors described this as the first study to examine grit’s role in leadership. Although personality is known to influence leadership outcomes, how and when it does so remains uncertain. The findings begin to address that gap by suggesting that traits influence how frequently leaders engage in particular behaviors and by highlighting differences between work and non-work contexts.