Personality traits and implicit leadership theories of Bruneians

Research in leadership has seen a shift in focus from one that is leader-centric to one that is followercentric. It is argued that a leader's effectiveness is also affected by the followers' acceptance of the leader as their leader. Followers rely on their cognitive schema to judge whether someone deserves to be considered a leader. This cognitive schema is the implicit leadership theory (ILT) individuals have on what are the qualities of a leader. Research evidence shows that there is considerable variation in the ILT held by people across nations. This paper will present the findings of study on the ILT held by Bruneians. It will also examine the relationship between ILT and a number of personality variables