Charismatic CEO Theory - Research Papers

D.A. Waldman, F.J. Yammarino
CEO charismatic leadership: Levels of management and levels of analysis effects
Academy of Management Review, 2 (1999), pp. 266–285

The paper focused on the charismatic leadership of CEOs and it included the relationship between managers very close to the CEO and CEO and employees far from the CEO and CEO also apart from other concepts or variables of interest. Theoretical Propositions were developed in the paper. The proof of the proposition is given by putting up an argument of plausibility in theoretical papers. They are tested empirically in empirical theory testing papers.

Propositions developed in the paper


Proposition I: Adaptive organizational culture will foster the emergence of leaders predisposed to showing charismatic behaviors. Charismatic behaviors will, in turn, reinforce core values of an adaptive culture while helping to change aspects of culture that become dysfunctional over time.

Proposition 2: Charismatic relationships developed between a CEO and Top Management Team (TMT) members will result in heightened TMT cohesion and effort, especially under conditions of perceived environmental volatility.

Proposition 3: Role modeling and TMT effort and cohesion will promote the cascading of charismatic leadership to lower hierarchical echelons.

Proposition 4; Charismatic leadership at lower management levels will result in heightened effort on the part of organizational members, as well as intragroup and intergroup cohesion.

Proposition 5: Charismatic attributions of CEOs at a distance are a function of symbolic behaviors, articulation of an ideologically based vision, sagas, storytelling, and prior organizational performance.

Proposition 6: Charismatic attributions toward the CEO at lower echelons will result in heightened organizational member effort and intergroup cohesion, especially under conditions of perceived environmental volatility.

Proposition 7: Intergroup cohesion will result in linkages regarding the performance objectives of units within an organization so that the subsequent performance of units will be coordinated toward higher-level organizational performance.

Proposition 8: Coordinated operational performance of subunits will lead to higher organizational performance, especially when units are interdependent.