Early life experiences as determinants of leadership role occupancy: The importance of parental influence and rule breaking behavior

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t The limited behavioral genetics research reported in the leadership literature has not investigated the degree to which early life experiences predict future emergence into leadership roles. This is the first study to focus on parenting style and early life experiences of rule breaking, and their relationships to leadership roles assumed in adulthood, while controlling for genetic and personality contributions. Using a sample of male twins reared together, we found that authoritative parenting practices was negatively related to modest and serious rule breaking, while being positively related to emergence in leadership roles into adulthood. We also found that modest rule breaking behavior positively predicted the number of leadership roles taken on by individuals, while serious rule breaking negatively predicted the number of leadership roles. Implications for future leadership research and practice are discussed. Human behavioral genetics is defined as the attempt to characterize and define the hereditary basis for human behavior. Preliminary leadership research evidence using a behavioral genetics approach suggests that approximately 30% of the variation in leadership style and emergence into leadership roles is accounted for by genetic factors, while the remaining variation is attributed to non-shared environmental influences such as individuals being exposed to different role models and early opportunities for The general observations drawn from these research findings are in line with Plomin and Daniels' (1987, p. 1) conclusion that, " behavioral-genetic research seldom finds evidence that more than half of the variance in complex behavioral traits is due to genetic differences among individuals…most behavioral variability among individuals is environmental in origin. " Consequently, we adopt the position taken by Mumford, Stokes, & Owens (1990) who suggested that, " hereditary and environmental influences often work in tandem " (p. 48). Prior behavioral genetics research has not yet investigated which experiential factors predict who assumes leadership roles, even though there is widespread belief that certain experiences trigger leadership emergence in individuals In this paper, we focus on parenting style and rule breaking behavior exhibited early in life and their relationship to the number of leadership roles/positions occupied into adulthood, not performance within these roles. A focus on leadership roles moves beyond the traditional emphasis on leader traits or leader style, as it takes into consideration the position an individual occupies as opposed to the type of leader they are. …