The value of leaders we trust and leaders who make us stronger: Exploring the distinct contributions of different components of identity leadership to group member outcomes

Bibic K. Frenzel S.B. Kerschreiter R. Wilson-Lemoine J. Steffens N. Haslam S.A. Monzani L. Akfirat S.A. Ballada C.J.A. Bazarov T. Aruta J.J.B.R. Avanzi L. Bunjak A. Černe M. Edelmann C.M. Epitropaki O. Fransen K. García-Ael C. Giessner S. Gleibs I.H. Godlewska-Werner D. Kark R. Laguia Gonzalez A. Lam H. Lupina-Wegener A. Markovits Y. Maskor M. Molero Alonso F.J. Moriano Leon J.A. Neves P. Pauknerová D. Retowski S. Roland-Lévy C. Samekin A. Schuh S. Sekiguchi T. Song L.J. Story J. Stouten J. Sultanova L. Tatachari S. van Bunderen L. Van Dijk D. Wong S.I. Zhang X. van Dick R.
February 2026 SAGE Publications Ltd

Group Processes and Intergroup Relations
2026 #29 Issue 2 302 - 322 pp.

This study investigates the critical role of social identity in leadership, specifically examining identity leadership (IL) and the unique contributions of its four subdimensions: identity prototypicality, identity advancement, identity entrepreneurship, and identity impresarioship. To date, research has largely focused on the global construct of identity leadership and shown that in organizational contexts, it is a predictor of a range of outcomes, including group members’ burnout and organizational citizenship. However, the distinct roles of the four subdimensions remain little understood. Extending earlier findings, we address this gap by testing the hypothesis that the four subdimensions are differentially implicated in two key mechanisms that underlie the relationship between IL and group outcomes: (a) trust in the leader and (b) team identification. The present study explores this proposition by using structural equation modeling with latent factors to test a mediation model in 2020–2021 data from the Global Identity Leadership Development project (GILD; N = 7,855). As hypothesized, we found that identity prototypicality and identity advancement predominantly predicted greater trust in the leader, whereas identity entrepreneurship primarily predicted greater team identification. Contrary to our hypothesis, identity impresarioship showed a negative relation with trust. In turn, both trust in the leader and team identification were positively associated with organizational citizenship behavior (OCB), and negatively with burnout. We conclude by reflecting on the implications of these findings for both the theory and practice of leadership.

dimensions , identity leadership , social identity , team identification , trust

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Goethe University, Frankfurt, Germany
Leibniz Institute for Psychology, Germany
Freie Universität Berlin, Germany
Texas State University, United States
University of Queensland, Australia
Ivey Business School, Western University, Canada
Dokuz Eylul University, Turkey
De La Salle University, Philippines
Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russian Federation
University of Trento, Italy
Universiy of Stavanger, Norway
School of Economics and Business, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
Erasmus University, Netherlands
Durham University, United Kingdom
KU Leuven, Belgium
National University of Distance Education (UNED), Spain
The London, United Kingdom
University of Gdańsk, Poland
Bar-Ilan University, Israel
Exeter University, United Kingdom
Lingnan University, Hong Kong, Hong Kong
ZHAW School of Management and Law, Switzerland
Independent Authority of Public Revenue, Greece
Queensland University of Technology, Australia
Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Nova School of Business and Economics, Portugal
Prague University of Economics and Business, Czech Republic
SWPS University, Poland
University of Reims Champagne-Ardenne, France
M. Narikbayev KAZGUU University, Kazakhstan
China Europe International Business School (CEIBS), China
Kyoto University, Japan
University of Leeds, United Kingdom
Fundação Getulio Vargas, Brazil
Lomonosov Moscow State University, Uzbekistan
T A Pai Management Institute, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, India
University of Amsterdam, Netherlands
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel
BI Norwegian Business School, Norway
Jiao Tong University, China

Goethe University
Leibniz Institute for Psychology
Freie Universität Berlin
Texas State University
University of Queensland
Ivey Business School
Dokuz Eylul University
De La Salle University
Lomonosov Moscow State University
University of Trento
Universiy of Stavanger
School of Economics and Business
Erasmus University
Durham University
KU Leuven
National University of Distance Education (UNED)
The London
University of Gdańsk
Bar-Ilan University
Exeter University
Lingnan University
ZHAW School of Management and Law
Independent Authority of Public Revenue
Queensland University of Technology
Universidade Nova de Lisboa
Prague University of Economics and Business
SWPS University
University of Reims Champagne-Ardenne
M. Narikbayev KAZGUU University
China Europe International Business School (CEIBS)
Kyoto University
University of Leeds
Fundação Getulio Vargas
Lomonosov Moscow State University
T A Pai Management Institute
University of Amsterdam
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
BI Norwegian Business School
Jiao Tong University

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