The present research investigates group members' opinions of a leader who defects from the common good of the group. The literature on leader-follower interactions reveals two different perspectives concerning how group members might perceive a defecting group leader. The self-sacrificial perspective (Van Dijk and DeCremer, 2006) suggests group members may expect leaders to take a greater share of a common resource, while the leader responsibility perspective (De Cremer and Van Knippenberg, 2005) emphasizes leader sacrifice for group goals. In addition, research on the individual differences of social value orientation suggests that this may also play a moderating role in opinions of leaders.
Two studies examined social value orientation and participants' perceptions of a group leader that either defects or does not defect from the common good. Study 1 presented participants with written vignettes describing either a leader cooperating with group members to obtain a common group reward, or with a written description of a leader that does not cooperate, but instead breaks away from the group, thus resulting in none of the group members getting any benefits. Study 2 consisted of a laboratory simulation of the scenario described in the vignettes, and included the same measures were used as in Study 1. Hypotheses predicted an interaction between leader behavior and social value orientation on issues of leader likeability and trust in the leader. Results showed no significant interaction for leader likeability; however there was an interaction for trust, although not in the expected direction. Results implicate future research needs to take a more realistic approach to group paradigms in order to increase prevalence of social value orientation's impact on perceptions of a defecting group leader.