How leaders woo followers in the romance of leadership

This empirical study examines the origins of the romance of leadership from a leader-centric perspective. The impact of Self-Deception and Impression Management on leader perceptions of their leadership was examined to gauge whether leaders hold romantic notions about their leadership. A national survey (N = 2,376) of business executives was conducted and data were analysed using a multiple-method factor approach. The results indicate that leaders distort their self-attributions to reflect romantic or "idealised" images of leadership. We contend that leaders are motivated to transmit these images through impression management to "woo" followers into constructing romantic images of leadership. Thus, leaders play an active role in the development of the romance of leadership. The study considers the practical and theoretical implications and proposes directions for future research.