Professional identity neutralizes charismatic leadership tactics in a crisis

Abstract

Purpose This paper aims to examine the main and the interaction effect of follower’s professional identity and leader’s use of charismatic leadership tactics (CLTs) on follower performance and work engagement during a crisis. Design/methodology/approach The authors performed a 2 × 2 between subjects experiment in which both professional identity and CLTs were manipulated for a group of 320 participants. Findings Professional identity has a main positive effect on followers’ performance and work engagement and works as a neutralizer (counter-effect) moderator in the relationship between CLTs and work engagement during a crisis. Research limitations/implications Participants in the experiments were final-year engineering students and the authors manipulated only two dimensions of crisis, i.e. time urgency and high priority. Practical implications Organizations can strive to select for and develop professional identity amongst their members to survive crisis like situations rather than rely only on charismatic leaders. Originality/value This is the first study to incorporate crisis for examining a neutralizer for CLTs.