Leader Inconsistency, Subjective Ambivalence, and Follower Outcomes

Leadership research has a long and impressive history of identifying how followers are affected by their leaders. The vast majority of this research has addressed one leadership “style” at a time, reinforcing the idea that leaders are consistent in their behaviors despite emerging evidence to the contrary. Drawing on uncertainty management theory, the ambivalence literature, and empirical evidence, we propose that followers’ perceptions of inconsistent leadership results in ambivalence towards leaders, which in turn affects followers’ workplace attitudes and well-being. Across two studies using different methodologies (randomized experimental study, survey), we find support for a conditional indirect effect in which leaders’ inconsistent behaviors predict an array of follower outcomes through the mediating effect of followers’ subjective ambivalence. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.