Crisis, Misinformation and Dominant Leadership - Experiment 1

In times of a crisis, followers are more likely to support dominant leaders. This effect has been replicated in various contexts including economic threat, organizational pressure, and social conflict. The support of dominant leaders has its advantages as well as disadvantages but can get problematic when the leaders spread contradictory or false information, even if they do so unintentionally. In the present study, we examine the extent to which followers detect contradictions presented by a dominant leader in times of crisis. To do so, we conduct an online experiment using a 2 (crisis versus control) x 2 (more versus less dominant leader) between-subjects design. We create a situation that is driven by uncertainty and stress to simulate a crisis and further examine the extent to which participants identify contradictions in information originating from a more or less dominant leader following this crisis. We aim to contribute to the understanding of the role of dominant leadership in processing information in times of crisis.