Beyond Prototypicality: Identity Leadership Is About Shaping and Embedding a Sense of Social Identity, Not Just Representing It

Wilson-Lemoine J.E. Swiatczak M.D. Steffens N.K. van Dick R. Kerschreiter R. Akfirat S.A. Avanzi L. Ballada C.J.A. Barghi B. Bazarov T. Aruta J.J.B.R. Bunjak A. Černe M. Dumont K. Edelmann C.M. Epitropaki O. Fransen K. García-Ael C. Giessner S.R. Gleibs I.H. Godlewska-Werner D. Kark R. Laguia Gonzalez A. Lam H. Lipponen J. Lupina-Wegener A. Markovits Y. Maskor M. Molero Alonso F.J. Monzani L. Moriano Leon J.A. Neves P. Orosz G. Pandey D. Pauknerová D. Retowski S. Roland-Lévy C. Samekin A. Schuh S.C. Sekiguchi T. Song L.J. Story J. Stouten J. Sultanova L. Tatachari S. Valdenegro D. van Bunderen L. Van Dijk D. Vörös V. Wong S.I. Youssef F. Zhang X.-A. Haslam S.A.
March 2026 John Wiley and Sons Inc

Journal of Applied Social Psychology
2026 #56 Issue 3 251 - 270 pp.

Research inspired by the social identity theory of leadership has focused predominantly on the importance of a leader being seen to be representative of the groups they lead. However, beyond this, research suggests that leaders also need to create, advance, and embed a sense of shared social identity in those groups. In the present research, we explore how these different facets of identity leadership combine to form distinct leader profiles. We draw on two heterogeneous independent samples from the Global Identity Leadership Development project (N = 7682; N = 7855) to explore profiles of leaders’ engagement in identity leadership. In both studies, a latent profile analysis of the results of a CFA using a bifactor-(S − 1) model was conducted. In each case, the analysis identified two different predominant identity leadership profiles: ‘engaged identity leaders’ and ‘moderate-inconsistent identity leaders’. Employees working with engaged identity leaders reported substantially more positive job-related attitudes. The results were very similar across the two studies and suggest that this profile analysis is generalizable. The findings support suggestions that identity leadership is multidimensional rather than solely a matter of identity prototypicality.

bifactor-(S − 1) model , identity leadership inventory , latent profile analysis , leadership , social identity

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Department of Psychology, Texas State University, San Marcos, TX, United States
University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
Goethe University Frankfurt, Frankfurt, Germany
Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany
Dokuz Eylul University, Izmir, Turkey
Department of Psychology and Cognitive Science, Trento University, Trento, Italy
Department of Counseling and Educational Psychology, De La Salle University, Manila, Philippines
University of Exeter, Exeter, United Kingdom
Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russian Federation
University of Stavanger, Stavanger, Norway
School of Economics and Business, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Department of Psychology, University of South Africa, Johannesburg, South Africa
Open University, Heerlen, Netherlands
Durham University, Durham, United Kingdom
KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
Social and Organizational Psychology, Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia, Madrid, Spain
Erasmus University, Rotterdam, Netherlands
The London School of Economics and Political Sciences, London, United Kingdom
University of Gdańsk, Gdańsk, Poland
Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel
Department of Psychology, Lingnan University, Hong Kong
University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
ZHAW School of Management and Law, Winterthur, Switzerland
Independent Authority of Public Revenue, Thessaloniki, Greece
School of Management, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
Ivey Business School at Western University, London, Canada
Nova School of Business & Economics, Lisbon, Portugal
Flinders University Institute for Mental Health and Wellbeing, College of Education, Psychology and Social Work, Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia
Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal
Prague University of Economics and Business, Prague, Czech Republic
Faculty of Psychology in Sopot, SWPS University, Sopot, Poland
University of Reims Champagne-Ardenne, Reims, France
M. Narikbayev KAZGUU University, Astana, Kazakhstan
China Europe International Business School (CEIBS), Shanghai, China
Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
Leeds University Business School, University of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom
Sao Paulo School of Business Administration, Fundação Getulio Vargas, Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil
Lomonosov Moscow State University, Tashkent Branch, Tashkent, Uzbekistan
T A Pai Management Institute, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Karnataka, Manipal, India
Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile
University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beersheba, Israel
Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary
BI Norwegian Business School, Oslo, Norway
American University in Cairo, New Cairo, Egypt
Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China

Department of Psychology
University of Bergen
University of Queensland
Goethe University Frankfurt
Freie Universität Berlin
Dokuz Eylul University
Department of Psychology and Cognitive Science
Department of Counseling and Educational Psychology
University of Exeter
Lomonosov Moscow State University
University of Stavanger
School of Economics and Business
Department of Psychology
Open University
Durham University
KU Leuven
Social and Organizational Psychology
Erasmus University
The London School of Economics and Political Sciences
University of Gdańsk
Bar-Ilan University
Department of Psychology
University of Helsinki
ZHAW School of Management and Law
Independent Authority of Public Revenue
School of Management
Ivey Business School at Western University
Nova School of Business & Economics
Flinders University Institute for Mental Health and Wellbeing
Tribhuvan University
Prague University of Economics and Business
Faculty of Psychology in Sopot
University of Reims Champagne-Ardenne
M. Narikbayev KAZGUU University
China Europe International Business School (CEIBS)
Kyoto University
Leeds University Business School
Sao Paulo School of Business Administration
Lomonosov Moscow State University
T A Pai Management Institute
Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile
University of Amsterdam
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
Eötvös Loránd University
BI Norwegian Business School
American University in Cairo
Jiao Tong University

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