A RETRO SPEC TIVE O N RO BERT HO USE’ S “ 1976 THEO RY O F C HARISMATIC LEADERSHIP” AND REC ENT REVISIO NS Gary Yukl zyxwvutsrqponm Sta te Unive rsity o f Ne w Yo rk a t zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcb Albany Charisma is a Greek word that means “divinely inspired gift,” such as the ability to perform miracles or predict future events. The sociologist Max Weber (1947) used the term to describe a form of influence based not on tradition or formal authority but rather on follower perceptions that a leader is endowed with exceptional qualities. For many years, charisma was mostly the province of researchers studying political leadership and the leadership of social movements or religious cults. Charisma was rarely considered within the literature on organizational leadership until Bob House proposed a theory of charismatic leadership for leaders in large private and public sector organizations. zyxwvutsrqpon THE INITIA L THEO RY O F C HA RISMA TIC LEA DERSHIP House’s theory was based on the ideas of Weber and findings from research on leadership and motivation. He sought to explain charismatic leadership in terms of a set of testable propositions involving observable processes, The theory specified how charismatic leaders differ from other people, how they behave, and the situations in which they are most likely to flourish. Because it includes leader traits, behavior, influence processes, and situational variables, House’s theory was broader in scope than earlier leadership theories. According to House, charismatic leaders are identified by their profound and unusual effects on followers. Followers perceive the leader’s beliefs to be correct, accept the leader without question, obey the leader willingly, feel affection toward the leader, are emotionally involved in the mission of the group or organization, have high performance Leadership Quarterly, 4(3/4), 367-373. Copyright @ 1993 by JAI Press Inc. All rights of reproduction in any form reserved. ISSN: 1048-9843