A Meta-Analysis of the Convergence between Leader and Observer Perceptions of Leadership

The convergence between a leader’s assessment of his/her leadership behaviors and assessments from the leader’s subordinates, peers, and superiors-also known as “leader insight”- is linked to important organizational and leader outcomes. Unfortunately, many questions remain regarding the extent to which leaders have insight into their leadership behaviors. This study examines whether leaders’ perceptions of their leadership behaviors are similar to or different from observers’ perceptions, and whether leader-observer agreement is influenced by type of observer and type of leadership. First, we meta-analyzed the relationship (i.e., correlation) between leader- and observer- ratings along several dimensions of leadership. We found that leader-observer agreement was moderate overall but was stronger for task-oriented (e.g., transactional) than for relationship- oriented leadership behaviors (e.g., transformational). Our findings also demonstrated that a leader’s subordinates, peers, and superiors had similar...