Leadership in social dilemmas: The effects of group identification on collective actions to provide public goods

Two experimental studies investigated the role of group identification in t he selection of and cooperation with leaders to manage public good dilemmas . The findings of the Ist study revealed that there was a general preferenc e to select leaders with a legitimate power base (i.e., democratic, elected , and internal leaders), but these preferences were particularly pronounced when people's identification with their group was high rather than low. Th e 2nd study complemented these findings by showing that when group identifi cation was low, an instrumental leader (i.e., who punishes noncontributing members) was far more efficient than a relational leader (i.e., who builds positive intragroup relations) in raising contributions. Yet, when group id entification was high, both leader types appeared to be equally efficient.