It’s a dog-eat-dog world out there: Studies explain why some people admire antagonistic leaders

How you view society as a whole shapes your opinion of antagonistic leaders, a new study has discovered.

Competitive vs. cooperative worldviews

People who see the world as competitive, or cutthroat, are more likely to admire confrontational leaders, while those who believe society is cooperative tend to believe the behavior of those same leaders is ineffective.

The study, titled “Savvy or Savage? How Worldviews Shape Appraisals of Antagonistic Leaders,” is co-authored by Columbia Business School students Christine Nguyen and Daniel Ames.

Surveying thousands to measure attitudes

They surveyed 2,065 participants from the United States on how they perceived antagonistic behavior, which they defined as “mean, tough and intimidating actions,” in comparison to friendly and agreeable behavior.

Participants in the study were asked to say to what extent they agreed or disagreed with 10 statements about society, in order to establish their worldviews. The statements included “It is a dog-eat-dog world where you have to be ruthless at times,” and “We should let compassion and moral laws be our guide.”

A subsequent part of the study then saw them invited to rate the impact of coercive actions, such as threats or blaming problems on others, from “would greatly decrease their ability to get things done” to “would greatly increase their ability to get things done.”

Among the other parts of the study, they were also asked to give their view on whether real-life, well-known business leaders such as Apple’s Tim Cook, Bob Iger of Walt Disney and Airbnb’s Brian Chesky had used antagonistic behavior to succeed in their careers.

How perceptions of leadership styles differ

The combined results revealed antagonistic leaders are much more likely to be appreciated by those who see the world as competitive or cutthroat in nature, and that their coercive actions may even be considered to have a positive impact or be effective.

It was also found that participants that held that worldview assumed Cook, Iger, Chesky and other leaders had used a confrontational approach to get to the top.

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