Universal and variable leadership dimensions across human societies

Evolution and Human Behavior Vol/Iss. 41(1) Elsevier Inc. Published In Pages: 397-414
By Garfield, Zachary H., Syme, Kristen L., Hagen, Edward H.

Hypothesis

Some dimensions of leadership will vary across group context, subsistence strategy, continental region, and leader sex.

Note

The authors first examine this by examining the 15 leadership dimensions that were present in 60% or more of cultures to see if they were subject to variation in group context, subsistence strategy, continental region, or leader grnder. They found that 9 of these dimensions were invariant: conflict resolution, miscellaneous social functions, acting as group representative, being knowledgeable/intelligent, being wealthy, utilizing strategic nepotism, being generous, benefiting from material resources, and benefiting from increased social status. They then applied their model to all of the leadership dimensions, which suggested that there were 20 dimensions overall that varied by one of the four factors. For each of these 20, they dropped each factor in turn to determine which of the factors had the biggest impact on the fit. They then examined how differences in the factors influenced the dimensions in which they played an important role.

Test

Test NameSupportSignificanceCoefficientTail
Multiple Logistic Mixed-Effect Regression ModelsSupportedUNKNOWNUNKNOWNUNKNOWN