All hail the warrior: How reinforcement sensitivity theory and leadership training explain naïve perceptions of military leadership

Armed forces officers typically undergo initial leadership training to prepare them to command subordinates in demanding and often hazardous situations. However, the naïve or implicit assumptions of untrained officer cadets can potentially influence how they view leadership and attribute trust toward their own leaders. For example, aggression and fearlessness might be associated with prototypical military leadership and therefore emulated by untrained cadets. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between a military leader's personality (using reinforcement sensitivity theory) and their initial military training on their subordinate's perceptions of transformational leadership and abusive supervision. In a study of 161 officer cadets enrolled in initial military training and 647 matched subordinates, we found that leaders with high defensive fight (associated with aggression) were viewed as more transformational by untrained rather than trained cadets. Furthermore, leaders with low behavioral inhibition (associated with low self-control) were viewed as more abusive supervisors by trained rather than untrained cadets. Finally, we found that leaders with high reward reactivity (associated with positive emotions) were viewed as transformational leaders with high levels of subordinate trust by trained rather than untrained cadets. The findings from this study enhance our understanding of the way leader personality and military training relate to subordinate perceptions of leadership and trust during the formative phase of a military leader's career.