Introverted and extroverted personality traits of leaders and OCB of followers: Moderating effect of leader-member relationship in Sri Lankan IT industry

Abstract

Research on relationship between personality and leadership supports the notion that individual differences may be the predictor of leadership effectiveness in contemporary organizations. Extant studies stress that each of the Big-Five broad personality dimensions is related to leader criteria. In general, effective leaders describe themselves from their personality traits and the relationship they build with followers. However, relatively a few studies have tested how and why a leader’s personality traits relate to follower behaviours. As a result, this study is especially focuses on whether introverted and extroverted personality traits of leaders influence the Organizational Citizenship Behaviour (OCB) of followers. Accordingly, the main aims of the present study are to investigate the impact of the introverted and extroverted personality traits of leaders on OCB of followers and to examine the role of leader-member relationship as a moderator, on the relationship between leader personality and OCB of followers. To advance the understanding of these, simple regression analysis and moderator regression were used to test hypotheses in the present study with a sample size of 46 introvert managers and 50 extrovert managers as leaders and 92 and 100 subordinates as their followers respectively from IT industry in Sri Lanka. The study found that there is a positive direct effect of introverted traits of leaders on OCB of followers and no negative direct effect of extroverted traits of leaders on OCB of followers. Yet, leader-member relationship moderates the relationship between introverted and extroverted personality traits of leaders and OCB of followers. Based on the results, there is a synergistic effect on moderation of introverted traits and antagonistic effect of extroverted traits. Further, the study suggests that introverted leader personality trait is a foundational leader characteristic for the OCB of followers and social exchange relationships. This study makes several theoretical and managerial contributions to make information technology firms success through personality traits of leaders and OCB of followers.