Charisma as a Follower-centric, Cognitiveaffective Construct: Initial Empirical Evidence

Abstract

This paper reports an empirical study through which the researcher developed a scale to measure charisma as a follower-centric, cognitive-affective construct. The researcher undertook three related studies, which employed undergraduates and managers who were reading for the MBA in a large Sri Lankan University. The results indicate that charisma embraces two cognitive components (i.e., leader extraordinariness and leader archetypicality) and two affective components (i.e., reverence and passion); and it can be measured with a 16-item Likert-scale type measure with an adequate level of validity and reliability. Accordingly, the writer argues that leaders can manage their charisma by managing leaders' own revelation to followers and the process through which followers form beliefs about and emotions towards the leader.