Replication Plan

Each student team will conduct an exact replication and at least one of the below proposed constructive replications. All teams will jointly analyze and publish overall findings.

Original Studies

Hammond, M. M., Schyns, B., Lester, G. V., Clapp-Smith, R., & Thomas, J. S. (2023). The romance of leadership: Rekindling the fire through replication of Meindl and Ehrlich. The Leadership Quarterly, 34(4), 101538. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2021.101538. 

Meindl, J. R., & Ehrlich, S. B. (1987). The romance of leadership and the evaluation of organizational performance. Academy of Management Journal, 30(1), 91-109. https://journals.aom.org/doi/10.5465/255897. 

Original Study Research Question and Findings

Romance of leadership theory (ROL) states that the emphasis society places on leadership results in organizations being perceived more positively when performance is attributed to the leader. This theory has filled an important role in leadership research as it has been cited more than 4000 times. While early research in this space has found strong support for ROL  (e.g., Meindl & Ehrlich, 1987), recent replication research (Hammond et al., 2023) has been unable to detect robust support for these findings. The goal of the current replication project is to explore the tension in this literature and provide leadership scholars with a deeper understanding of the conditions in which ROL is most applicable.

Data

Data for reproductions will come from samples collected using MBA students and online panels. All data used for replications will be derived from primary data collection.

Design and Analyses

Data analyses will follow the processes used by Meindl and Erlich (1987) and Hammond et al. (2023).

1. MANOVA using various measurements of organizational performance as the dependent variable

2. Follow-up univariate tests for each dependent variable (ANOVA)

3. Robustness tests to explore impacts of statistical methodology on findings

   • Bonferroni corrections vs. no corrections

   • MANOVA vs. MANCOVA / ANOVA vs. ANCOVA

   • Sample restrictions based on attention checks

Reproduction

• Using author-posted data: https://data.mendeley.com/datasets/fxv5dnyzzc/2 

Exact / Literal Replication

• Data collection using materials shared by authors

Constructive Methods-Focused Replications

• Simplified vignette language

• More ambiguous descriptions of firm performance

• Different sampling techniques

• Alternate measures of perceived firm performance

Constructive Generalizability-Focused Replications

• Consider how romance of leadership could materialize through alternative firm outcomes (e.g., organizational attractiveness) that could be influenced by attributions of performance

• Examine contexts other than the pharmaceutical industry

• Examine contexts other than firms traded on the NYSE (e.g., privately owned firms, public sector)

• Collect data outside of the United States

• Explore effects at different levels of leadership

• Consider leaders with different tenure