Skip to main navigation Skip to search Skip to main content

Does talking the talk help walking the walkβ An examination of the effect of vocal attractiveness in leader effectiveness

  • Midwestern State University
  • Oklahoma State University
  • Northern Illinois University

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

37 Scopus citations

Abstract

The authors tested the hypothesis that leaders' vocal attractiveness is positively related to perceptions of leadership effectiveness. In a first study using vocal spectral analysis on a sample of U.S. presidents and Canadian prime ministers, vocal attractiveness accounted for significant variance in historians' perceptions of leadership effectiveness (β= .35, p< .05), explaining an additional 12% of the variance above that explained by personality, motives, and charisma. A second study of 255 subjects distributed into 85 teams in a laboratory setting found similar results for the relationship between vocal attractiveness and perceptions of leadership effectiveness. The second study also supported the hypothesis that personal reactions mediate the relationship between vocal attractiveness and perceptions of leadership effectiveness. In contrast, vocal attractiveness and personal reactions were found to have no significant effects on leadership effectiveness outcomes. © 2011 Elsevier Inc.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)680-689
Number of pages10
JournalLeadership Quarterly
Volume22
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 1 2011

Keywords

  • Implicit leadership theories
  • Leader effectiveness
  • Vocal attractiveness

Cite this