WHEN THE FEELING OF BEING HUMBLE IS NOT HUMBLE: EXPLORING (IM)MODESTY EFFECTS ON LEADERS

The paper shows how leaders' humility predicts leaders' balanced processing (a dimension of the authentic leadership construct) and followers' trust in leaders.Humility was measured through self-reports (n = 53) and informants-reports (n = 53 supervisors; n = 389 peers; n = 162 subordinates).Subordinates described leaders' balanced processing and trust in leaders.The main findings are: (a) humility as reported by peers and by subordinates are valid predictors of balanced processing, and/or trust; (b) immodest leaders (those who overestimate their humility) adopt less balanced processing and are less trustful.While the "modesty effect" (i.e., the actual humility being inversely related to selfenhancement of humility) is not pervasive in the sample, being an immodest versus a modest leader has consequences for how the leader behaves and relates with followers.