Implicit leadership and followership theories – An overview and adaptation to the group of employed parents, Referentin: Dr. Nina Junker (Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main)

Abstract: Implicit leadership theories (ILTs) and implicit followership theories (IFTs) are assumptions about how leaders and followers are and should be, respectively. Past research used various conceptualizations of these assumptions, which yielded to a variety of – sometimes conflicting – findings. In this talk, I will give an overview of what exactly ILTs and IFTs are and what types of ILTs and IFTs can be differentiated. Moreover, I will focus on established antecedents and consequences of a leader’s and a follower’s fit with these expectations. Fit thereby means congruence of the current leader or follower with the respondent’s assumptions regarding how these individuals should be. I will then present current research trends, with a special emphasis on my own research projects. More precisely, I will present results from studies, which show how parenthood affects perceptions of leadership and line out how these effects might be explained using ILTs and ILT fit. I will conclude with a theoretical model, which aims at predicting when working parents can succeed in their roles as employees and as parents.