From an attachment-theoretical perspective, one would expect insecure attachment styles to have a negative impact on leader–follower relationships. However, a recent review of the literature on attachment style and leader–member exchange (LMX) yielded mixed results. Examining this discrepancy, we applied the principle of attachment-system activation, proposing that when insecurely attached leaders or followers experience more distress at work, attachment style will be a stronger predictor of LMX. Data were gathered from 192 independent leader–follower dyads and analyzed using the actor–partner interdependence model. Like in other studies, investigating the direct link between attachment style and LMX yielded mixed results. However, the link between anxious style and LMX did get stronger when including attachment-system activation in our model, highlighting the relevance of applying key principles from the original theory when studying leadership through the lens of attachment.
Furnham, Adrian; Robinson, Charlotte & Haakonsen, Jon Magnus F (2022)
Hire Ambitious People: Bright- and Dark-Side Personality and Work Engagement
Is work engagement, like job satisfaction, primarily a function of personality? In total, 397 working adults completed a short, reliable, three-facet model of work engagement, a short IQ test, various self-ratings, a Big Five (bright-side) personality scale, and a measure of the personality disorders (dark-side). Work engagement was related to age, intelligence, positive self-ratings, and all the personality variables. A regression analysis revealed six variables significantly related to total work engagement: sex, age, IQ, ratings of personal ambitiousness, trait Neuroticism and Cluster A personality disorders. Regressions onto each of the three facets of work engagement showed slightly different findings, yet in each, older people with lower Cluster A scores and who rated themselves as ambitious scored higher on all facets. Over a third of the variance was explained in each regression. In every analysis, the rating of ambitiousness was most strongly related to work engagement. Implications and limitations are acknowledged.
Haakonsen, Jon Magnus F & Furnham, Adrian (2022)
COVID-19 Vaccination: Conspiracy Theories, Demography, Ideology, and Personality Disorders
Objectives: To understand the role of personal experience, religious and political beliefs as well as conspiracy theory beliefs on the acceptance of COVID-19 vaccination. Method: Just under 400 adults completed online questionnaires assessing to what extent they endorsed conspiracy theories (CTs) and an evidenced measure of personality disorders (PDs). One month later, they were asked about having the COVID-19 vaccine. We examined the relationship between demographic (age, sex, education), ideology (political and religious beliefs), general beliefs in CTs, PDs and attitudes toward vaccination. Results: We found, as anticipated, conservative political orientation, religiosity, Cluster A PDs, and conspiracy thinking correlated negatively with vaccine acceptance. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed that the group of vaccine accepting individuals differed from the group of individuals either hesitant or resistant to the vaccine with respect to education, personal ideology, general conspiracy theory adherence, and cluster A PDs. Multinomial logistic regression indicates that religiosity, conspiracy thinking, and lower levels of education predict vaccine hesitancy or rejection. Conclusion: Implications for “rolling out” the vaccine are discussed in terms of who to target and how to address misbeliefs about vaccination.
Thompson, Per-Magnus Moe & Haakonsen, Jon Magnus F (2021)
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