Examining the Relationship Between Strengths Development and Implicit Leadership

Examining the Relationship Between Strengths Development and Implicit Leadership

Shelley Renee Harrell | 2022

Abstract

This study expanded on the current theoretical understanding of implicit leadership theories and the theory of strengths development. This study combined the implicit leadership theory of Offermann and Coats (2018), which includes nine factors associated with good leaders (dedication, creativity, charisma, well-groomed, sensitivity, tyranny, masculinity, strength, and intelligence), with the theory of employee strengths development, which groups 34 talent themes grouped into four domains (executing, influencing, relationship-building, and strategic thinking; Rath, 2008). Four major hypotheses were tested to assess the nature of the relationship between the two theories. In addition, employees’ gender, educational level, and length of tenure at university were used as control variables. The relationship of the four StrengthsFinder domains with the nine implicit leadership theory factors were investigated in a sample of employees of a West Coast university in the United States. There were 159 (n = 159) valid responses. The results revealed that dedication was significantly larger for employees in the executing strengths domain compared to the other three domains. Creativity was not found to be significantly different when compared across the four strengths domain. Charisma was negatively related to the strategic and executing domains.