Social capital in action: navigating the leader popularity landscape for enhanced leadership effectiveness

Since most tasks in today’s workplace involve collaboration. The popularity of individuals in the workplace has emerged as a significant and intriguing research subject. This study, utilizing social capital theory, investigates how leader popularity influences leadership effectiveness. We collected data from 156 leaders and 485 employees across various Chinese companies using a multi-source, multi-wave approach. Our findings indicate a positive relationship between leader popularity and leadership effectiveness. Team cohesion mediates the positive impact of leader popularity on leadership effectiveness. Furthermore, leader openness moderates the relationship between leader popularity and team cohesion. Leader openness moderates the indirect relationship between leader popularity and leadership effectiveness through team cohesion. This indirect relationship is stronger when leader openness is high. The study’s conclusion supports integrating the concept of popularity into organizational behavior research. It also offers practical insights for organizations and leaders to enhance leadership effectiveness.