Behavior of Charismatic Leaders and Follower's Attributional Style,Shared Vision, and Acceptance.

As charismatic leaders are more inclined to have personality traits predisposing them to unconventional, extreme and sometimes self- destructive behavior, there is a question of how those behaviors affect the followers, namely their acceptance of the leader and their willingness to share the leader's vision. This study explores the interface between potential followers' attribution of causes of positive and negative behavior of charismatic leaders, and the connection between the leader and followers through shared vision. The study proposes a measure to explore how the followers make attributions of positive or negative events for charismatic and non-charismatic leaders, and the extent to which they are likely to share the vision of a charismatic or a non-charismatic leader using a sample of real business executives. The study finds that the respondents are significantly more likely to share the vision of the charismatic leader, particularly following negative events involving the latter, and are significantly more likely to view negative behavior as less important, more acceptable and more caused by personal reasons. Charismatic leaders may be better able to 'weather the storm' when negative events happen compared to the non-charismatic ones. The paper concludes with a suggestion for a new maintenance model of charismatic leadership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]