Not Just Holding Forth: The Effect of Listening on Leadership Effectiveness

Abstract

The present study explored various ways in which listening relates to organization members’ success in influencing others. Based on the notion that listening is positively related to influence through informational and relational mechanisms, we found that: (1) how well organizational members listen is positively associated with their tendencies to influence others,over and above how well they engage in expressive communications, (2) listening also interacts with expressive communication to predict influence, such that the positive relationship between listening and influence is more pronounced among people with stronger expressive communication tendencies, (3) organizational members’ dispositional narcissism moderated the positive relationship between listening and influence, with this positive relationship being stronger among those higher in narcissism, and (4) listening mediated the relationship between organizational members’ personalities (from the “Big Five”) and their influence. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed, as are limitations of the study and suggestions for future research.

Keywords: listening, influence, personality, Big Five, narcissism