LEADERSHIP AND CREDIBILITY IN N-PERSON COORDINATION GAMES

It is often assumed that leaders serve as focal points around which fo llowers rally when confronted with a coordination problem. This resear ch begins with one component of leadership-its coordinating role-and d isentangles how leadership matters for followers. This analysis procee ds as a simple one-sided signaling game from leaders to followers and investigates when a leader's signals are credible. The empirical analy sis is based on a series of laboratory experiments in which groups of four actors were involved in a series of one-stage coordination games. The findings show that although leadership is crucial for coordinatin g followers, it is not a panacea. The introduction of uncertainty abou t the type of leader markedly decreases the ameliorating impact of lea dership.