An Investigation of Within-Person Variability in Leadership Claiming

Jessie Cannon

Advisor: Stephen Zaccaro, PhD, Department of Psychology

Committee Members: Deborah Rupp, Reeshad Dalal, Graziella McCarron

Online Location, Zoom: https://gmu.zoom.us/j/6130867249
June 11, 2025, 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM

Abstract:

Research has demonstrated that leader identity is manifested through leadership claiming, which is taking actions to assert one’s identity as a leader in a social context. However, the mechanisms explaining this relationship are still unclear. There is also empirical and theoretical evidence of gender differences in leader identity and leadership claiming outcomes, which may be explained by gender differences in sensitivity to risks in leadership situations. This dissertation answers calls in the literature to study leadership at the event level, proposing leadership risk sensitivity and motivation to lead as mediators of the leader identity-leadership claiming relationship, and two situation perception variables, Ease and Positive Uniqueness, as situational moderators.  It assesses possible direct effects of gender on risk sensitivity. A measure of leadership claiming was also created and validated for this dissertation. Data collection comprised a multiphase pilot study for scale validation, a vignette study, and an experience sampling study. The relationships between variables were tested using multilevel structural equation modeling. Results indicated that leadership situation perceptions moderated relationships between leader identity, leadership risk sensitivity, and leadership claiming behavior. In addition, this research revealed an unexpected direct effect of leader identity on situation perceptions, highlighting the importance of the leader’s interpretation of the situation to influence leader behavior.