Follower-leader HEXACO personality fit and follower work engagement

Abstract

Based on person-supervisor complementary fit and job demands-resources theory, we examined if discrepancies between leaders’ and followers’ HEXACO personality traits are associated with followers’ work engagement. We expected that when leaders score lower on emotionality compared to their followers, they are an important source of support, leading to increases in follower engagement. Additionally, we argue that discrepancies in follower and leader openness to experience–irrespectively of the direction of this difference–constitute a hindrance to followers, resulting in decreased work engagement. Results from 130 matched follower-leader dyads using polynomial regression analyses supported our hypotheses. We additionally found that followers are more engaged in their work when their leader scores higher on emotionality than they do. These findings highlight the crucial role that the interaction of leaders’ and followers’ personality traits plays for followers’ work engagement, which should be an important consideration for organizations when matching leader-follower dyads.