Leadership Pathways & Outcomes
External empirical finding · Supporting · 2016
Both leader and follower sleep deprivation reduced ratings of charismatic leadership
In two laboratory experiments involving 88 and 109 business students, manipulated sleep deprivation reduced ratings of charismatic leadership. Sleep-deprived speakers made less effort to generate the emotions they wanted to convey. Sleep-deprived followers experienced less positive emotion and consequently rated leaders as less charismatic.
Research basis
Two laboratory experiments. Business students assigned to sleep-deprived or control conditions; 88 participated in the leader-expression experiment and 109 in the follower-perception experiment.
What it supports
Causal evidence that sleep-related state can affect leadership expression and follower perception through measured affective pathways.
Boundary
These experiments measured perceptions of charisma in simulated leadership situations. They did not involve organizational leaders, actual teams, leadership effectiveness, decision quality, or company performance.
BOL relevance
Supports leadership behavior and follower perception as explanatory pathways, not additional BOL pillars.
Source class
Peer-reviewed research
Role in BOL
Supporting
Population context
Leaders or executives
Evidence basis
Objectively measured or experimentally assessed
Sample
88 and 109 business students across two experiments
Comparator
Sleep-deprived versus control conditions
Endpoint
Ratings of charismatic leadership
Full source review pending. Status last assessed 26 July 2026.