Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the antecedents to implicit followership theories (IFTs) and make recommendations for developing positive IFTs. Female transformational parenting is highlighted, showing that although followership is typically associated with one’s role in an organization, its development is not relegated to that context. Accordingly, this paper encourages transformational-parenting training and features activities for current leader-training programs to enlighten trainees about their IFTs.

Design/methodology/approach

Through one online and one paper survey, participants self-defined “follower,” rated their female primary caregivers’ transformational leadership during adolescence, reported their IFTs and provided demographic information.

Findings

Qualitative and quantitative data analyses found that the degree to which female primary caregivers demonstrated transformational leadership related to children’s positive IFTs and positive definitions about followers in young adulthood.

Research limitations/implications

Future research should test female caregivers’ influence on IFTs at more advanced stages of one’s career, examine their influence over participants’ followership behavior and incorporate external ratings of leadership and followership.

Practical implications

Recommendations for embedding IFTs into transformational-leadership-training programs are provided, falling into the categories of feedback, reflection/introspection and mentoring/coaching. In the spirit of contemporary approaches to leadership, recommendations require trainees to recognize their biases/knowledge of followers and followership and use that knowledge to facilitate collaboration between leaders and followers.

Originality/value

Findings spotlight female leadership, an often-overlooked source of power in organizations, and go beyond leader/follower dichotomies by insisting on IFTs awareness and development for both parties.

中文翻译：

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“妈妈和我”：提出隐性追随理论

目的

本文的目的是研究内隐追随理论 (IFT) 的前因，并为发展积极的 IFT 提出建议。女性变革型养育方式被突出显示，表明尽管追随者通常与一个人在组织中的角色相关，但其发展并未降级到该背景下。因此，本文鼓励变革型育儿培训，并针对当前的领导者培训计划开展活动，以启发学员了解他们的 IFT。

设计/方法/方法

通过一项在线调查和一项纸质调查，参与者自定义了“追随者”，对女性主要照顾者在青春期的变革型领导能力进行了评级，报告了她们的 IFT 并提供了人口统计信息。

发现

定性和定量数据分析发现，女性主要照料者展示变革型领导的程度与儿童积极的 IFT 和对青年时期追随者的积极定义有关。

研究限制/影响

未来的研究应该测试女性看护者在职业生涯更高级阶段对 IFT 的影响，检查她们对参与者追随行为的影响，并纳入领导力和追随者的外部评级。

实际影响

提供了将 IFT 嵌入变革型领导力培训计划的建议，分为反馈、反思/内省和指导/辅导等类别。本着当代领导方法的精神，建议要求受训者认识到他们对追随者和追随者的偏见/知识，并利用这些知识促进领导者和追随者之间的合作。

原创性/价值

调查结果突出了女性领导力，这是组织中经常被忽视的权力来源，并通过坚持双方的 IFT 意识和发展来超越领导者/追随者的二分法。