The effect of locus of control and culture on leader preferences

Leadership has a vital place in the field of management. Recent studies mostly focus on leadership from the point of view of leaders, and followers are generally ignored. However, leadership does not exist without followers. In this study, leadership preferences are examined through the perspectives of followers. Leadership preferences are considered to be linked with locus of control and culture. One hundred thirty-eight students from both Eastern and Western cultures participated from undergraduate English as a second language program at a university in Southern California. The results of this study have shown that leadership preferences of females leaned toward a democratic leadership style, while males prefer more autocratic leadership style. Second, there was a significant, although slight, difference between males and females on locus of control. Females reported having an internal locus of control while males reported an external locus of control. In this study, It is also found that people having higher socioeconomic status prefer an autocratic leadership style and people with internal locus of control tend to prefer a democratic leadership style. Finally, Eastern countries prefer democratic leadership style and they have higher internal motivation than Western countries.

,

Leader ,

followers ,

culture ,