David Degea

In modern societies, followers might dissociate from their leaders. In our conceptual paper we discuss how the societal-level process of value erosion (Sennett, 2005) influences this phenomenon. First, we outline in what way value erosion will lead to followers' leadership-related cynicism on the one hand and an increased need for meaning on the other hand. We then describe in what way followers' cynicism and need for meaning moderate the positive relation between charismatic leadership and followers' affective and normative commitment. Last, we address the balance between the opposing dynamics of cynicism and need for meaning among followers by discussing the circumstances in which cynicism diminishes the positive moderating effect of need for meaning , and need for meaning compensates for the negative moderating effect of cynicism. We outline future research paths and implications for management. Do societal processes influence the effectiveness of charismatic leadership? In our conceptual paper, we focus on one such process – value erosion – which is especially observable in democratic societies engaged in modernization. We discuss if and how in the course of value erosion due to modernization two antagonistic forces develop that can influence the impact of charismatic leadership on commitment. On the one hand value erosion brings forth the development of a leadership-related cynicism that can hinder the effectiveness of charismatic leadership and on the other hand it brings forth an increased need for meaning that can support the effectiveness of charismatic leadership. Therefore the balance of power between these two factors (cynicism and need for meaning) gains importance, as e.g. high levels of cynicism can level out the positive moderation effects of followers' need for meaning. All in all, when societal-level value erosion occurs, followers are more likely to dissociate from their leaders. Our theoretical model is presented in Fig. 1. Klein and House (1995) illustrated our central idea in the following way. They stated that " charisma resides in the relationship between a leader who has charismatic qualities and those of his or her followers who are open to charisma, within a charisma-conducive environment [emphasis added] " (p. 183). The authors illustrated this with a metaphor: The leader must be able to ignite a " spark " and the follower must be " ignitable, " whereby charisma can only be released if there is enough " oxygen " in the environment. Here, the last point is crucial. The societal-level process of value erosion can restrain followers' susceptibility via cynicism, and thereby choke the fire of charisma at its point of origin. This metaphor highlights the relevance of social environmental conditions, specifically value erosion, on charismatic leadership (cf. Popper, 2012). The Leadership Quarterly xxx (2015) xxx–xxx