Implicit motives and leadership performance revisited: What constitutes the leadership motive pattern?

Previous research suggests that a combination of high need for power, low need for affiliation, and high activity inhibition—the so-called leadership motive pattern—is related to high leader effectiveness. However, when studying this relation, research has mainly relied on a typological approach based on dichotomous configurations of motives instead of using a dimensional approach via regression analysis with interaction terms. Applying the latter approach, we explored separate and interactive effects of need for power, need for affiliation, and activity inhibition on managerial performance. We administered picture story exercises to 70 managers, and found the three-way interaction between predictors to account for increases in income and team goal attainment. Follow-up analyses indicated that managers are most successful when they are high in all three predictors.