What Do People Desire in Their Leaders? An Affordance Management Approach to Trait Desirability Across Domains

Although research has extensively examined the traits people expect leaders to possess, it has only recently begun to highlight the importance of investigating the traits that followers truly desire in leaders. Applying an affordance management approach, we hypothesized that some traits (i.e., those necessary to accomplish most group goals) would be desired in all leaders. In contrast, other traits (i.e., those relevant to accomplishing competitive vs. cooperative goals) should differ in their desirability depending on the goals of the respective group. In Studies 1 (student sample) and 3 (working adult sample), participants were presented with leaders who were initially lacking 10 positive traits. Participants in Study 2 received leaders who all were at the 100th percentile on 10 corresponding negative traits. We then asked them to use their budgets to increase (Studies 1 and 3) or decrease (Study 2) amounts of these traits with the goal of “building” ideal leaders. Across the three studies, results suggested that participants desired some traits (i.e., intelligence, trustworthiness) across leadership domains while the desirability of other traits (e.g., assertiveness, cooperativeness) was dependent on the goals of the group. We discuss the implications of affordance management on leadership practice.