Dissertation Chair/Advisor:
Keaton Fletcher, Ph.D. (Georgia Tech/Colorado State University)

Dissertation Committee Members:
Katie Badura, Ph.D. (Georgia Tech)
Michael Braun, Ph.D. (DePaul University)
Paul Verhaeghen, Ph.D. (Georgia Tech)
Christopher Wiese, Ph.D. (Georgia Tech)

Title: Self-other congruence in informal leadership emergence ratings: An empirical examination of affective outcomes

Summary: This study investigated the effects of congruence and incongruence between self-rated and other-rated leadership emergence on affective outcomes within a team setting, using Higgins' (1987) Self-Discrepancy Theory as a framework. Participants' affect was measured before and after a leaderless team task, along with their perceptions of their own and each team member’s leadership emergence. Participants also rated their desire to emerge as a leader. Using multilevel polynomial regression and response surface modeling (MPR-RSM), this study examined how alignment or misalignment between individuals' self-perceptions and their peers' perceptions of their leadership emergence influenced post-task positive and negative affect. The findings indicated that self-ratings of leadership emergence significantly predicted an increase in post-task positive affect, but did not predict a decrease in post-task negative affect. Although self-other congruence did not predict affective outcomes, high-self/low-other incongruence was associated with increased positive affect, contrary to expectations. Gender-specific response surfaces also suggested nuanced affective responses, particularly for women low in self-perceived leadership. Desire to emerge as a leader did not significantly moderate these relationships. These findings provide nuanced insights into the complex dynamics of leadership self-perceptions, other-perceptions, and affect within informal leadership contexts, contributing to the overall understanding of leadership emergence and its emotional consequences in team settings.