State extraversion and emergent leadership: Do introverts emerge as leaders when they act like extraverts?

Abstract

Extraverts are more likely than introverts to emerge as leaders, however little is known about the explicit behaviours that cause such an advantage and what introverts can do to overcome their relative disadvantage. Utilising an experiment (n = 601) in a group context, we assessed the effects of manipulating state extraversion on peer-rated emergent leadership, self-rated emergent leadership, and post-activity affect. Participants completed a big five personality measure and were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: a control condition, an ‘act extraverted’ treatment, or an ‘act introverted’ treatment. Results confirmed extraverts' emergent leadership advantage but demonstrated that state extraversion was the proximal cause of emergent leadership, with both extraverts and introverts emerging as leaders when instructed to act extraverted. Acting introverted i) had a particularly deleterious effect on self-rated emergent leadership regardless of trait extraversion, ii) caused a reduction in positive affect for ambiverts and extraverts but not for introverts, and iii) caused an increase in negative affect for ambiverts and extraverts but not for introverts.