title: Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown: the link between guilt proneness and leadership.
abstract: We propose that guilt proneness is a critical characteristic of leaders and find support for this hypothesis across 3 studies. Participants in the first study rated a set of guilt-prone behaviors as more indicative of leadership potential than a set of less guilt-prone behaviors. In a follow-up study, guilt-prone participants in a leaderless group task engaged in more leadership behaviors than did less guilt-prone participants. In a third, and final, study, we move to the field and analyze 360° feedback from a group of young managers working in a range of industries. The results indicate that highly guilt-prone individuals were rated as more capable leaders than less guilt-prone individuals and that a sense of responsibility for others underlies the positive relationship between guilt proneness and leadership evaluations.
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Business, Stanford University, 655 Knight Way, Stanford, CA 94305-7298, USA. rschaumb@stanford.edu
authors.forename: Rebecca L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Schaumberg
authors.forename: Francis J
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Flynn
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect; D001076:Aptitude; D005260:Female; D006167:Guilt; D006801:Humans; D007857:Leadership; D008297:Male; D010551:Personality; D010552:Personality Assessment; D055815:Young Adult