Regina Herzfeldt

It's not what a leader does, it's what you make of it: Implicit Personality Theories, Leadership Prototypes, and Cultural Differences in Trait Inferences between Germany and Great Britain Regina Herzfeldt

Diplomarbeit, die am 08.01.2003 erfolgreich an einer Universität in Deutschland im Fachbereich Psychologie und Pädagogik eingereicht wurde. Abstract: Expatriate managers experience many difficulties that are due to psychological differences between home and foreign country. Especially the behaviour that is expected from managers and the way they are perceived varies across cultures. Perception is determined by the traits that are inferred to a manager. In this thesis it is argued that implicit personality theories and leadership prototypes are culturally endorsed and vary between Germany and Britain. Their variation yields differences in trait inference. Furthermore, a connection between implicit personality theories and leadership prototypes is hypothesised. A questionnaire assessed implicit personality theories, leadership prototypes, and trait inference in management situations in Germany (N= 82) and Great Britain (N= 76). Results indicate that Germans had a more incremental theory of personality (i.e., they regard personality as more malleable) and a lower tendency to infer traits than Britons. Leadership prototypes had no effect on trait inference, but were related to implicit personality theory: People with an incremental theory of personality emphasised leadership behaviour associated with change. Additionally the semantic structure of leadership prototypes of German and British expatriate managers was analysed, revealing high consistency with the national average prototypes. Implications for cross-cultural research on person perception, leadership, and for expatriate managers in Germany and Britain are discussed. Zusammenfassung: Führungskräfte, die ins Ausland entsendet werden, erfahren viele Schwierigkeiten, die auf psychologische Unterschiede zwischen Heimat- und Entsendungsland zurückzuführen sind. Insbesondere das Verhalten, das von Managern erwartet wird, und die Art, wie sie wahrgenommen werden, varii