The effects of charismatic leadership on followers' self-concept accessibility

Shamir, House, and Arthur (1993) suggested that the effects of charismatic leadership on followers' motivation are mediated by the increased salience of collective identities in followers' self-concepts. This study empiricall y examines the effects of leadership messages on followers' self-concept ac cessibilities. Charismatic and integrative (combined charismatic and indivi dualized consideration) leadership increased the accessibility of followers ' collective self-concepts. Individualized consideration increased the acce ssibility of followers' private self-concepts. These results support the pr opositions of the self-concept-based theory of charismatic leadership. Char ismatic and integrative leadership messages from a leader resulted in highe r follower collective self-concept accessibilities than did routinized mess ages. This finding underscores the importance of a charismatic leader, even when charismatic messages have become routinized.