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Emergent Leadership Structures in Informal Groups: A Dynamic, Cognitively Informed Network Model

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  • Gianluca Carnabuci

    (ESMT Berlin, 10178 Berlin, Germany)

  • Cécile Emery

    (Centre for Leadership & Decision Making, Business School, University of Surrey, Guildford GU2 7XH, United Kingdom)

  • David Brinberg

    (Department of Marketing, Pamplin College of Business, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia 24061)

Abstract

This paper advances novel theory and evidence on the emergence of informal leadership networks in groups that feature no formally designated leaders or authority hierarchies. We integrate insights from relational schema and network theory to develop and empirically test a three-step process model. The model’s first hypothesis is that people use a “linear ordering schema” to process information about leadership relations. The second hypothesis argues that when an individual experiences a particular leadership attribution to be inconsistent with the linear ordering schema, that individual will tend to reduce the ensuing cognitive inconsistency by modifying that leadership attribution. Finally, the third hypothesis builds on this inconsistency-reduction mechanism to derive implications about a set of network structural features (asymmetry, acyclicity, transitivity, popularity, and inverse popularity) that are predicted to emerge endogenously as a group’s informal leadership network evolves. We find broad support for our proposed theoretical model using a multi-method, multi-study approach combining experimental and observational data. Our study contributes to the organizational literature by illuminating a socio-cognitive dynamics underpinning the evolution of informal leadership structures in groups where formal authority plays a limited role.

Suggested Citation

  • Gianluca Carnabuci & Cécile Emery & David Brinberg, 2018. "Emergent Leadership Structures in Informal Groups: A Dynamic, Cognitively Informed Network Model," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 29(1), pages 118-133, February.
  • Handle: RePEc:inm:ororsc:v:29:y:2018:i:1:p:118-133
    DOI: 10.1287/orsc.2017.1171
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    2. Özgecan Koçak & Massimo Warglien, 2020. "When three’s a crowd: how relational structure and social history shape organizational codes in triads," Journal of Organization Design, Springer;Organizational Design Community, vol. 9(1), pages 1-27, December.

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