Overview

• Participants who view society as a competitive jungle rate ruthless or aggressive managers as competent and assertive.
• Those with a cooperative outlook perceive harsh leadership as ineffective, unqualified or naive.
• People holding competitive worldviews not only judge antagonistic bosses more favorably but also stay longer under their supervision and credit them for career success.
• The research team conducted experiments with over 2,000 participants assessing hypothetical managers, CEOs at Apple and General Motors, and fictional supervisors, with results published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
• Authors led by Christine Nguyen and Daniel Ames are proposing follow-up studies to determine if similar patterns influence perceptions of political and cross-cultural leaders.