Leadership and Decision Making
Traits theories of leadership
Prof. Nicolas Bastardoz (WOS)
Brussels – September 29, 2025
Content for the day
1.
2.
3.
4.
2
Reflection on pre-class material
HEXACO model
Traits and context
Discussion & Conclusion
© Prof. Nicolas Bastardoz (2025)
Faculty of Economics and Business
Reflection questions
↑
a
skill
you
can
develop
social intelligence
: Ea ; Charisma
perseverance ; resilience
1. What are the traits – according to you – that are helpful to be influencing other individuals
towards the realization of shared goals (i.e., to emerge and be effective as leader)? List at
General intelligence (19)
least three of them. High extraversion
; conscientiousness agreeableness
1
.
.
2
3
U
-
;
High social capacities
2. How can organizations practically use knowledge from traits theories of leadership for
formal
selecting and/or developing their employees? help groups appointedcomposition leadership
they
.
Motives
>
-
>
-
>
-
select who is
to form
with on ideal
to
roles
to
:
teams benefit when
identify potential limitations of your own - other individuals and
have different
characters<
angles
how to work on it.
3. In what situations may our traits not predict our behavior? List at least two situations where
your behaviors may not be explained by your traits.
↳
1
-
2
.
When
we
are
When we are in
Sometimes
our
in
low-power situations
,
S
strong situations
we
will tend to follow the
social
it is not
your personality
V
job inter view ; in class ; working in
cultures
personality
does not rule how
norms
tha will decide how we beheve
we
strong
beheve
org
.
;
religious buildings; groups ,
,
it's the social norms (the script of the situation
>
-
--
follow rule
strong norms
In groups of 2-3 (5 minutes): Share your reflections and agree on some potential answers.
3
© Prof. Nicolas Bastardoz (2025)
Faculty of Economics and Business
HEXACO Model
The HEXACO model (www.hexaco.org) provides one predominant personality typology (the
other one being the Big Five) and has an impressive body of research that supports it (e.g., Ashton,
Lee, & De Vries, 2014; Ashton et al., 2004) .
The six dimensions (each including four sub-dimensions or “facets”) are:
• Honesty-Humility
• Emotionality
• Extraversion
• Agreeableness
• Conscientiousness
• Openness to Experience
4
© Prof. Nicolas Bastardoz (2025)
Faculty of Economics and Business
Personality “types”
they put people in categories it's way too simplified
horoscope
>
-
5
>
It's like a
© Prof. Nicolas Bastardoz (2025)
;
Faculty of Economics and Business
Honesty-Humility
>
Low scores
show
>
High scores
have
-
-
corruption< abusive supervision
higher work performance
• Sincerity: the tendency to be genuine in interpersonal relations
• Fairness: the tendency to avoid fraud and corruption
• Greed avoidance: the tendency to be uninterested in possessing lavish wealth, luxury goods,
and signs of high social status
• Modesty: the tendency to be modest and unassuming
Humiligh
This dimension predicts many variables in organizational work such as corruption, work
performance (Lee, Berry & Gonzalez-Mulé, 2019), and abusive supervision (Breevart & de Vries, 2017).
6
© Prof. Nicolas Bastardoz (2025)
Faculty of Economics and Business
Emotional
Emotionality
Intelligence
=
feeling recognizing
,
a
dealing with emotions
Feeling !• Fearfulness: the tendency to experience fear
• Anxiety: the tendency to worry in a variety of contexts
Feelia
n
• Dependence: one’s need for emotional support from others
• Sentimentality: the tendency to feel strong emotional bonds with others
Across many situations, ideal employees have a low level of emotionality which helps
performance, teamwork, and leadership (Judge & Bono, 2001).
7
© Prof. Nicolas Bastardoz (2025)
Faculty of Economics and Business
Whowill comforth
asde
a
mean
being the best leader
Extraversion (vs. Introversion)
↳ does not
necessarily
• Self-esteem: the tendency to have a positive self-regard (in social contexts)
• Social boldness: one’s comfort or confidence within a variety of social situations
• Sociability: the tendency to enjoy conversation, social interactions and parties
• Liveliness: one’s typical enthusiasm and energy
This dimension predicts who emerges a leader in work groups (Ensari et al., 2011). However,
extroverts may be perceived as bad listeners or as lacking a clear vision.
8
© Prof. Nicolas Bastardoz (2025)
Faculty of Economics and Business
Agreeableness
* We all like to have
>
-
agreeable friends
Agreeableness leads to
emergence
as
,
a
but
companies do not
leader but it's not the
need
agreeable managers
personality
that does well
in
leadershiproles
• Forgiveness: one’s willingness to feel trust and like those who may have caused them harm
• Gentleness: the tendency to be mild and lenient in dealings with other people
• Flexibility: one’s willingness to compromise and cooperate with others
• Patience: the tendency to remain calm rather than to become angry
Agreeable individuals are better liked, engage in more organizational citizenship behaviors
(Chiaburu et al., 2011) and more likely to emerge as leaders (Blake et al., 2022). Yet, agreeable leaders tend
to refrain from providing critical negative feedback.
9
© Prof. Nicolas Bastardoz (2025)
Faculty of Economics and Business
Conscientiousness
5 Strongest
predictor of work-performance
• Organization: the tendency to seek order, particularly in one’s physical surroundings
• Diligence: the tendency to work hard
• Perfectionism: the tendency to be thorough and concerned with details
• Prudence: the tendency to deliberate carefully and inhibit impulses
This dimension is the strongest predictor of overall job performance (Barrick & Mount, 1991) and a
strong predictor of leadership emergence and effectiveness (Judge, Bono, Ilies & Gerhardt, 2002)
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© Prof. Nicolas Bastardoz (2025)
Faculty of Economics and Business
Openness to experience
• Aesthetic appreciation: one’s enjoyment of beauty and art in nature
• Inquisitiveness: the tendency to seek information about and experience with the
natural/human world
• Creativity: one’s preference for innovation and experiment
• Unconventionality: the tendency to accept the unusual
This dimension is the best predictor of creative behaviors (George & Zhou, 2001).
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© Prof. Nicolas Bastardoz (2025)
Faculty of Economics and Business
Self-evaluation
Individually (2 minutes): Where do you stand on each of these 6 dimensions? Take the time to
read again the different sub-dimensions if needs be.
Very low
Low
Neither low nor high
High
Very high
Honesty-Humility
Emotionality
Extraversion
Agreeableness
Conscientiousness
Openness to experience
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© Prof. Nicolas Bastardoz (2025)
Faculty of Economics and Business
Ideal personality profile
In groups of 2-3 (3 minutes): What is the “ideal” personality profile on these 6 dimensions for
formal leadership roles?
Very low
Low
Neither low nor high
High
Very high
Honesty-Humility
Emotionality
Extraversion
Agreeableness
Conscientiousness
Openness to experience
Together (3 minutes): Let’s discuss the “ideal” leadership profile.
13
© Prof. Nicolas Bastardoz (2025)
Faculty of Economics and Business
No personality profile/dimension is always perfect
Personality
Honesty-Humility
Emotionality
Extraversion
Agreeableness
Conscientiousness
Openness to
experience
14
Can be seen as (+)
Can also be perceived as (-)
Low
Confident, politically savvy
Unfair, manipulative
High
Trustworthy, fair
Lacking ambition
Low
Resilient, calm
Unconcerned, uninspiring
High
Empathic, Excitable
Unstable, insecure
Low
Reserved, reflective
Aloof, self-absorbed
High
Sociable, assertive
Attention-seeking, domineering
Low
Competitive, challenging
Argumentative, conflict-seeking
High
Compassionate, cooperative Naïve, submissive
Low
Flexible, spontaneous
Sloppy, unreliable
High
Persistent, driven
Stubborn, obsessive
Low
Pragmatic, data-driven
Closed-minded, dogmatic
High
Creative, receptive
Unpredictable, unfocused
Partly based on Toegel & Barsoux
(2012)
© Prof. Nicolas Bastardoz (2025)
Faculty of Economics and Business
Too much of a good thing
Le, Oh, Robbins et al. (2011)
15
Antonakis, House & Simonton (2017)
© Prof. Nicolas Bastardoz (2025)
Faculty of Economics and Business
Importance of fit
Different forms of fit (Kristof-Brown et al., 2005)
• Person-job fit
• Person-supervisor fit
• Person-organization fit
Job
Supervisor FIT
Organization
16
You
© Prof. Nicolas Bastardoz (2025)
Faculty of Economics and Business
Does context matter?
Lewin's equation: Behaviors = ƒ(Traits, Situation)
Situation strength refers to the degree to which norms, scripts, or standards of the situation
dictate appropriate behaviors (Meyer, Dalal, & Hermida, 2010, Mischel, 1977):
• In strong situations, conformity is expected. The script/norm of the situation suggests what
the desirable behavior is. In these contexts, our traits do not predict our behaviors (B=S).
• In weak situations, we have no (or fewer) script/norm dictating our behaviors. Who we are –
our traits but also values – will predict how we behave (B=T).
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© Prof. Nicolas Bastardoz (2025)
Faculty of Economics and Business
Context does indeed matter
Milgram’s experiment on obedience to authority figures
(more information, see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milgram_experiment)
What are concrete implications for you?
18
© Prof. Nicolas Bastardoz (2025)
Faculty of Economics and Business
Whole trait theory
This theory (see Fleeson’s work; Lievens et al., 2018) distinguishes between personality states and traits:
• State: Short-term behavior
• Trait: Frequency distributions of personality states
Someone high on a certain trait (e.g., extraversion) is someone who engages in more behaviors
(e.g., behaving boldly, assertively, being talkative) consistent with that trait.
Importantly, it suggests that individuals can behave in both a “trait-typical” and “counterdispositional” manner (Fleeson & Gallagher, 2009; Fleeson et al., 2002; McNiel & Fleeson, 2006) .
In the leadership domain, Spark & O’Connor (2021) manipulated state extraversion and found
that individuals in this experimental condition were more likely to emerge as leaders. The effect
was even stronger for those low on trait extraversion.
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© Prof. Nicolas Bastardoz (2025)
Faculty of Economics and Business
19
Personal development
You need to understand your natural (i.e., trait-like) inclinations to modify or compensate for
them:
“The objective is not to undergo a personality change. It is to be yourself, with more skill. Most
successful leaders have had to work on themselves in order to manage or tone down potentially
career-limiting traits. It required hard work and introspection”
“We are not prisoners of our personalities. Personality is about preferred ways of behaving, and
we can, from time to time, behave in ways that run contrary to our personality. Some people do it
exceedingly well”
Toegel & Barsoux (2012, p. 59)
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© Prof. Nicolas Bastardoz (2025)
Faculty of Economics and Business
Toolbox – Knowledge creation
1. Organizations can select individuals based on the fit
between a candidate and a job requirement. Individuals
can identify areas for development to develop certain
effective leading behaviors.
2. Possessing certain traits does not guarantee success;
in turn, not possessing the ideal traits does not prevent
you from emerging and succeeding as a leader.
3. Context does matter! Beware strong situations (such as
strong organizational cultures) where your personality
and values do not predict your behaviors.
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© Prof. Nicolas Bastardoz (2025)
Faculty of Economics and Business
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Further academic readings
•
DeRue, D. S., Nahrgang, J. D., Wellman, N. E. D., & Humphrey, S. E. (2011). Trait and
behavioral theories of leadership: An integration and meta‐analytic test of their relative
validity. Personnel Psychology, 64(1), 7-52.
•
Judge, T. A., Piccolo, R., & Kosalka, T. (2009). The bright and dark sides of leader traits: A
review and theoretical extension of the leader trait paradigm. The Leadership Quarterly,
20(6), 855-875.
•
Spark, A., & O'Connor, P. J. (2021). State extraversion and emergent leadership: Do
introverts emerge as leaders when they act like extraverts?. The Leadership Quarterly,
32(3), 101474.
•
Toegel, G., & Barsoux, J. L. (2012). How to become a better leader. MIT Sloan
Management Review, 53(3), 51-60.
•
Zaccaro, S. J. (2007). Trait-based perspectives of leadership. American Psychologist,
62(1), 6-16.
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© Prof. Nicolas Bastardoz (2025)
Faculty of Economics and Business
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