Social Learning Theory of Leadership

Abstract

For a long time motivational and learning approaches to leadership were based on a rather functional understanding of leadership behavior. Focusing on the stimulus-response model, behavior and behavioral change were understood as functions of the consequences a certain kind of behavior might cause. Following the ideas of Skinner’s theory of learning (e.g., Skinner 1966, 1969), systematic modification of behavior has to start with the consequences, i.e., rewarding and punishment. In this regard, different possibilities of increasing desired and reducing undesired behavior are at the leader’s disposal, in terms of offering rewards to followers or threatening them with punishments. This approach of learning or motivation theory is usually termed as classical and/or behavioristic, and the appropriate stage in the development of leadership theory is named an operant period (e.g., Ashour and Johns 1983). Nowadays, however, this approach is regarded as limited to observable behavior and often criticized by neglecting cognitive aspects. Due to this and other points of criticism, a second, more recent theoretical approach to learning and leadership emerged following the ideas of the social learning theory (e.g., Bandura 1969, 1977a, 1986). This theoretical approach advances traditional ideas of the operant period in leadership theory, focused on the leader as manager of reinforcements (Van Seters and Field 1990). Instead, the role of social and mental aspects in the learning process is considered as well as the interactive and reciprocal nature of cognitive, behavioral and environmental aspects (e.g., Manz and Sims 1980, 1981; Sims and Manz 1982; Luthans and Kreitner 1985; Manz et al. 1987; Luthans 1992, 2008; Sims and Lorenzi 1992; Luthans and Rosenkrantz 1995; Stajkovic and Luthans 1998).