Forthcoming in the Journal of Applied Social Psychology Charisma Attribution during Organizational Change: the Importance of Followers’ Concern for Well-being

CHARISMA ATTRIBUTION DURING ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE: THE IMPORTANCE OF FOLLOWERS’ CONCERN FOR WELL-BEING Abstract Taking a follower-centric perspective, we examined how charisma attribution to a change leader was influenced by the well-being concerns and emotions of organizational members. We conducted three studies to examine how college business students and executive MBA students responded to a grading policy reform aimed at reducing grade inflation. We found that emotions and well-being concerns such as school year and grade point average influenced charisma attribution by the undergraduate students and that there was a greater divergence of emotional reactions and charisma attribution among undergraduate students than among the executive MBAs. Future directions for follower-centric leadership research on charismatic leadership are discussed.