Authoritarian Leaders Cultivate the Followers they Deserve: The Effect of Leadership Style on Decision Making

Recently, many scholars have championed the benefits of intuition on complex tasks, but have not uncovered the conditions under which intuition thrives. Furthermore, some research challenges the merits of intuition. Arguably, conditions or leaders that provoke negative emotions may impair intuition. To assess this possibility, 90 participants received 48 unique descriptions about 4 offices in sequence. Their task was to decide which office to choose. Before they completed this task, their capacity to regulate emotions was assessed. Furthermore, embedded in the instructions was information that primed the schema of either an authoritarian or collaborative leader. If exposed to authoritarian primes, participants were not as likely to choose the best office – the only office with a majority of positive attributes – unless they reported an ability to regulate their emotions rapidly. Accordingly, supportive leaders may be able to enhance the intuition and decision making of employees.