ABSTRACT
Trait explanations of leader emergence are generally regarded with little esteem by leadership theorists. Much of this disdain can be attributed to the results of two research traditions in the
leadership literature. The first emphasized the search for specific personal qualities that differentiate leaders from followers. Reviews of this research by Stogdill (1948) and Mann (1959)
argued instead for the importance of the group situation over particular traits in leader emergence. The second research tradition used “rotation designs” to vary aspects of the group and examine the association between leadership in one situation and leader emergence in other situations. After completing one such study, Barnlund (1962) concluded that leadership depended not on individual traits but rather on situational variables.
