Basic dimensions of leader personality: a lexical study in Hebrew

Noam S. Keshet; Shaul Oreg; Yair Berson; Marcella A.M.G. Hoogeboom; Reinout E. de Vries

doi:10.1016/j.jrp.2025.104679

Basic dimensions of leader personality: a lexical study in Hebrew

Noam S. Keshet^*
, Shaul Oreg
, Yair Berson
, Marcella A.M.G. Hoogeboom
, Reinout E. de Vries

^*Corresponding author for this work

BA Business Department

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Traditional trait-based leadership research relies on generic personality models, overlooking the context-specific nature of personality. We used the lexical approach to develop a leadership-focused personality taxonomy. We identified 199 adjectives for describing leaders (Study 1) and factor analyzed leaders’ (Study 2, N = 402) and followers’ (Study 3, N = 421) ratings of these adjectives. Analyses revealed five dimensions shared across groups, closely related to, yet distinct from the Big Five and HEXACO factors: Energy, Psychopathy, Organization, Irritability, and Intellect. Two follower-specific dimensions—Supportiveness and Weakness—also emerged. Relationships with the Big Five, HEXACO, and leadership criteria supported construct and concurrent validity. Study 4 replicated the structure in samples of military (N = 226) and religious (N = 202) leaders.

Original language	English
Article number	104679
Journal	Journal of Research in Personality
Volume	120
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2025.104679
State	Published - Feb 2026

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2025 Elsevier Inc.

Keywords

Individual differences
Leader personality
Lexical research

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10.1016/j.jrp.2025.104679

Cite this

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title = "Basic dimensions of leader personality: a lexical study in Hebrew",

abstract = "Traditional trait-based leadership research relies on generic personality models, overlooking the context-specific nature of personality. We used the lexical approach to develop a leadership-focused personality taxonomy. We identified 199 adjectives for describing leaders (Study 1) and factor analyzed leaders{\textquoteright} (Study 2, N = 402) and followers{\textquoteright} (Study 3, N = 421) ratings of these adjectives. Analyses revealed five dimensions shared across groups, closely related to, yet distinct from the Big Five and HEXACO factors: Energy, Psychopathy, Organization, Irritability, and Intellect. Two follower-specific dimensions—Supportiveness and Weakness—also emerged. Relationships with the Big Five, HEXACO, and leadership criteria supported construct and concurrent validity. Study 4 replicated the structure in samples of military (N = 226) and religious (N = 202) leaders.",

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note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2025 Elsevier Inc.",

year = "2026",

month = feb,

doi = "10.1016/j.jrp.2025.104679",

language = "אנגלית",

volume = "120",

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AU - Berson, Yair

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AU - de Vries, Reinout E.

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Basic dimensions of leader personality: a lexical study in Hebrew

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

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