Beyond Prototypicality: Identity Leadership Is About Shaping and Embedding a Sense of Social Identity, Not Just Representing It
ABSTRACT Research inspired by the social identity theory of leadership has focused predominantly on the importance of a leader being seen to be representative of the groups they lead. However, beyond this, research suggests that leaders also need to create, advance, and embed a sense of shared social identity in those groups. In the present research, we explore how these different facets of identity leadership combine to form distinct leader profiles. We draw on two heterogeneous independent samples from the Global Identity Leadership Development project ( N = 7682; N = 7855) to explore profiles of leaders’ engagement in identity leadership. In both studies, a latent profile analysis of the results of a CFA using a bifactor‐( S − 1) model was conducted. In each case, the analysis identified two different predominant identity leadership profiles: ‘engaged identity leaders’ and ‘moderate‐inconsistent identity leaders’. Employees working with engaged identity leaders reported substantially more positive job‐related attitudes. The results were very similar across the two studies and suggest that this profile analysis is generalizable. The findings support suggestions that identity leadership is multidimensional rather than solely a matter of identity prototypicality.
Authors
- Lorenzo Avanzi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3892-1142)
- Christine Roland‐Lévy (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4876-8639)
- Farida Youssef
- Lilia Sultanova
- John Jamir Benzon R. Aruta (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4155-1063)
- Sut I Wong (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0663-4496)
- Srinivasan Tatachari (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1838-2361)
- Steffen R. Giessner (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8035-5092)
- Pedro Neves (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8057-3877)
- Charlotte M. Edelmann (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7258-6846)
- Daniela Pauknerová (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0510-619X)
- Sylwiusz Retowski (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6133-0658)
- Katrien Fransen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6294-7257)
- JUAN ANTONIO MORIANO LEÓN
- Diwakar Pandey
- Alexander Haslam
- Lisanne van Bunderen
- Niklas K. Steffens (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3990-2592)
- Dina Van Dijk (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3483-3989)
- Kitty Dumont (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5926-9096)
- Anna Lupina‐Wegener (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3273-3909)
- Sebastian C. Schuh (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0419-1740)
- Gábor Orosz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5883-6861)
- Hodar Lam (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5166-8228)
- Rudolf Kerschreiter (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0281-0261)
- Matej Černe
- Mazlan Maskor (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0912-3966)
- Lucas Monzani (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3375-068X)
- Daniel Valdenegro (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3695-0123)
- Joana Story (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1529-8172)
- RONIT WAISMEL-MANOR AND RONIT KARK
- LJ Song
- Rolf van Dick
- Adil Samekin
- Olga Epitropaki
- Dorota Godlewska-Werner
- Ilka H. Gleibs
- Martyna D. Swiatczak
- Bita Barghi
- Viktor Vörös
- Serap Arslan Akfirat
- Fernando Jorge Molero Alonso
- Ana L. Gonzalez
- C. García-Ael
- C.JA. Ballada
- Xin-an Zhang
- Tomoki Sekiguchi
- A. Bunjak
- T. Bazarov
- Jukka Lipponen
- Y. Markovits
Institutions
- Eötvös Loránd University (HU)
- Goethe University Frankfurt (DE)
- Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (IL)
- Western University (CA)
- University of Leeds (GB)
- University of Helsinki (FI)
- Texas State University (US)
- Bar-Ilan University (IL)
- University of Ljubljana (SI)
- Tribhuvan University (NP)
- Queensland University of Technology (AU)
- Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (CL)
- Manipal Academy of Higher Education (IN)
- The University of Queensland (AU)
- University of South Africa (ZA)
- Flinders University (AU)
- Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (ES)
- BI Norwegian Business School (NO)
- Shanghai Jiao Tong University (CN)
- Durham University (GB)
- University of Trento (IT)
- Dokuz Eylül University (TR)
- Lomonosov Moscow State University (RU)
- T A Pai Management Institute (IN)
- Kyoto University (JP)
- University of Exeter (GB)
- University of Johannesburg (ZA)
- Prague University of Economics and Business (CZ)
- University of Gdańsk (PL)
- Instituto Superior de Novas Profissões (PT)
- Sopot University of Applied Science (PL)
- Maqsut Narikbayev University (KZ)
- Amsterdam University of the Arts (NL)
- Moscow State University (TJ)
- Section27 (ZA)
- Independent Authority for Public Revenue
- Fundação Getulio Vargas (BR)
- University of Bergen (NO)
- Tashkent State University of Economics (UZ)
- De La Salle University (PH)
- China Europe International Business School (CN)
- Freie Universität Berlin (DE)
- Open University of the Netherlands (NL)
- American University in Cairo (EG)
- Universidade Nova de Lisboa (PT)
- ZHAW Zurich University of Applied Sciences (CH)
- University of Amsterdam (NL)
- London School of Economics and Political Science (GB)
- Erasmus University Rotterdam (NL)
- University of Stavanger (NO)
- Université de Reims Champagne-Ardenne (FR)
- KU Leuven (BE)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Journal of Applied Social Psychology
- Published
- 2026-02-05
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1111/jasp.70049
- Primary Topic
- Management and Organizational Studies
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00