Determinants of charismatic leadership
Speech content
When the language of leaders is vivid and emotional, they are more likely to be perceived as charismatic. Specifically, leaders who highlight sensory details as well as emotional experiences in their speeches are regarded as charismatic. Examples of words that represent such sensory and emotional sensations are vigor, impels, values, spirit, tearfully, and so forth.
This proposition was substantiated by Naidoo and Lord (2008). In their study, participants heard one of two speeches. One of the speeches included many vivid, emotional terms. The other speech was identical, except the vivid, emotional terms were replaced with more abstract, conceptual words.
The individuals who heard the speech with vivid imagery were subsequently more likely to report positive affect than were the other participants. In addition, these individuals were more likely to assume the leader was charismatic if vivid imagery was presented. Hence, both positive affect and imagery during speeches represent antecedents to charisma.