A situational followership model: how followers adapt to leaders and situations

Purpose As a way of addressing the rigidity inherent in followership typologies, this paper proposes a situational followership model that describes how followers can adapt their followership style to both their leader and the situation. Design/methodology/approach In this conceptual paper, five propositions were developed to explicate how four situational factors relate to the two major dimensions upon which most followership typologies are based: follower’s active engagement (FAE) and follower’s constructive voice (FCV). Findings The four situational factors explored in this paper include leaders’ inspirational behavior, leaders’ participative behavior, the psychological safety climate of the workplace and followers’ psychological bravery. Moreover, a situational followership (SF) model, which draws from Chaleff’s (1995) courageous followership model, was developed to describe how followers can adapt their followership styles based on their leaders and situations. Practical implications Managers can apply this model to select the most effective behavior or style that elicits the desired response from their subordinates, thereby enhancing their effectiveness and subordinates’ productivity. Organizations may use this model to foster positive leader-follower relationships and exchanges, which, in turn, may promote organizational citizenship behavior, positive performance appraisal outcomes and the overall career success of employees. Originality/value There is a dearth of conceptual models that identify and explain the contextual factors influencing followership. This paper aims to fill that gap in the literature.