Research Mission

Leadership is the dynamic process through which some people exert greater influence on collective behavior and decision-making than others. The psychological underpinnings of leadership have deep evolutionary roots, as is evidenced by leadership dynamics across cultures and species. At the Amsterdam Leadership Lab, we draw on these evolutionary origins to develop a deep understanding of leader-follower dynamics and their consequences.

The contextual nature of leadership

Our ancestors faced recurring challenges, such as conflict and environmental threats, that shaped human leadership preferences and tendencies. At the Amsterdam Leadership Lab, we investigate how these evolved tendencies continue to influence leader-follower dynamics in contemporary organizations. We study both broad societal disruptions and the more subtle contextual differences that characterize organizational workplaces. Our research assesses how these contexts shape leadership emergence, influence leader-follower interactions, and ultimately affect outcomes for individuals and groups. 

Biases in selection, assessment, and promotion

Modern workplaces differ in many important ways from the environment in which humans evolved. These differences can lead to sub-optimal decisions (mismatch). Whereas our ancestors lived in relatively stable, small groups where individuals could be observed and evaluated firsthand, modern organizations often rely on limited information to select and assess managers and employees.

Our research examines how cues in faces, mimicry, and language shape perceptions in the absence of richer information. We also use big data and machine learning to identify subtle ways in which individuals and organizations communicate selective information through written texts (e.g., job advertisements) and formal interactions (e.g., job interviews). In addition, we develop tools to help organizations reduce biases in communication and evaluation. For example, we have developed indirect assessment methods that are less susceptible to socially desirable self-presentation (e.g., serious games) as well as tools that help organizations define leadership expectations more explicitly, thereby reducing biases in leadership selection and promotion.

Leadership and team dynamics

Although leadership positions in organizations are often relatively stable, influence processes are inherently dynamic. Individual differences (e.g., between men and women) affect how people seek to influence others and how others respond to those influence attempts. These differences are often subtle, with effects that unfold gradually over time.

By studying fine-grained leader-follower interactions, we gain insight into who emerges as an informal leader in different situations and at different points in time, and how these dynamics shape decision-making. At the Amsterdam Leadership Lab, we investigate these micro-dynamics through systematic observation using rigorously standardized coding schemes, combined with data from organizational surveys, laboratory experiments, and large-scale international databases.  

Neuroscientific underpinnings of leadership

The evolutionary roots of leader-follower dynamics suggest leadership has strong biological foundations. At the Amsterdam Leadership Lab, we integrate methods from cognitive and biological psychology to study the neuroscience of leadership in organizations. Our close ties to the institute of Brain and Behavior Amsterdam (iBBA) at the VU Amsterdam ensures we have access to cutting-edge technologies, including hormonal analysis, fMRI, and eye-tracking.

These approaches enable us to advance understanding of the neural mechanisms underlying followership, the roles of attention and information processing in influence, and the hormonal processes underlying leader-follower dynamics across different conditions and contexts.