Wladislaw Rivkin: "The Personality Roots of Leadership Emergence"

Topic: The Personality Roots of Leadership Emergence: How Childhood Traits Shape Leadership Emergence Throughout the Lifespan and associated Personality Traits in Late Adulthood

Do early childhood traits set people on a pathway to leadership roles in their later life? 
Despite the enduring questions and implicit theories about whether leaders are born or made, few studies have examined the effects of early childhood traits on later-life experience of leadership. In the present study, we consider the personality roots of leadership at an earlier stage of life than any previous study (ages 6-12), using data from the Hawaii Personality and Health Cohort. A principal objective of our study is to examine the effects of these childhood traits on leadership emergence through retrospective reports of leadership over 50 years of working life. We also test the effects of leadership throughout working life on personality development and change, reflecting research on the impact of work on personality traits Data from a sample of 625 participants from the Hawaii Personality and Health Cohort reported retrospectively on their experience of supervising others in the course of their employment at  different stages of life. These participants had previously had their personality traits rated by school teachers at ages 6-12. A follow up self-report of the Big Five was completed by the sample in late-adulthood. Using latent class analysis, we identified four leader emergence profiles throughout life in the sample: early career stage persistent leaders, late career stage leaders, early-exit leaders, and non-leaders. We found significant associations of childhood Extraversion and Emotional Stability (negative) with early leadership, and Openness with late leadership. Gender was associated with early-exit leaders as women were more likely to exit leadership positions in mid life. A range of associations of leadership emergence profiles with adulthood traits were also observed. 
We observed prospective associations of childhood traits and the emergence of leadership. However, traits differentially predicted leadership at different career stages, potentially reflecting differences in motivation and in the reasons that people may choose or gravitate toward leadership roles. 

Dr. Wladislaw (Wlad) Rivkin is Associate Professor in Organisational Behavior and the Director of Postgraduate Teaching and Learning at Trinity Business School Trinity College Dublin. His research focuses on the interplay of stressors, leadership, and other resources in predicting employees’ health well-being, and performance in organisations, which has been published in high-impact academic journals (i.e., Human Relations, Journal of Applied Psychology, Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, and Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes). Wlad works as a practitioner with businesses and organisations in these areas, which involves training and coaching programs for employees and leaders. Recently, he has been awarded H2020 EU funding for a project to evaluate a Diversity Innovation Support Scheme, which involves training entrepreneurs and employees on SMEs. Her serves on the editorial boards of the European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, Human Relations, the Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, and the Journal of Vocational Behavior.