Individual Beliefs In Honor Cultural Values and Self-Interested Leadership

Although the goals of leaders and their groups are usually aligned, sometimes leaders face a trade-off between their own interests and those of their groups. In this research, I explore a cultural antecedent of such self-serving leadership. Specifically, I examine whether individual differences in honor values predict whether a leader prioritizes their interests over the interests of the group. Given the competitive dynamics in social hierarchies of honor cultures, concerns about loss of status position should be more pronounced for leaders with strong honor values. Across two vignette studies, my findings suggest individual differences in honor cultural values predict selfish leadership. In a follow-up vignette study, I found perceived status threat partially mediates the relationship between individual differences in honor cultural values and selfish leadership.