Charismatic leaders and destructiveness: An historiometric study

Previous research has examined the characteristics and behaviors of charismatic leaders in an effort to understand their ability to change organizational members. Charismatic leaders present a vision for an organization's future. The leader's beliefs, motives, and self-concept system influence the vision and act as guides for the behaviors the leader uses in bringing about change in the organization. Unfortunately, leaders are not always interested in effecting change for the purpose of benefitting the organization and its members as a whole; rather, the leader may be more interested in personal outcomes. This study tested a model of personality constructs found to contribute to destructive acts in a real-world sample of charismatic leaders. Benchmarks scales were used to operationalize the constructs such that ratings of the degree to which a leader exhibited behaviors indicative of the constructs could be quantified. A LISREL VI analysis provides support for the model. Practical and methodological implications are discussed.