Followership

For decades researchers and philosophers alike have been writing about the importance of leadership. However literature has largely ignored contributions made by followers. In today's changing work environment an increasing number of followers are being empowered and asked to take on more responsibility. The current study investigated the relationship between Kelley's (1992) followership dimensions (i.e. active engagement and independent thinking) and affective commitment and performance (in-role and extra role). In addition Kelley's (1992) scale of followership was statistically refined. The results revealed significant positive correlations between a single dimension of followership and the outcome variables. Consequently no relationships were found between independent thinking and the outcome variables. Post hoc analyses revealed a mean difference between gender and affective commitment as well as in-role performance and age. Finally confirmatory factor analyses of the followership scale revealed that a 12-item 2-factor solution was factorially and statistically sound.