Followership in an adversarial context: uncovering resistance dynamics

The phenomenon of followership has been neglected due to the premise that followers are a product of leadership. However, over time, followers’ position in the equation has changed, and they are now conceived as explanatory agents of the process. This thesis falls within this approach, arguing that the understanding of followership’s nature emerges from the analysis of resistance/passivity to a destructive leader. The first study analyzes the conceptual nature of followership and proposes a classification of follower types. This study contributes to expand the range of followers’ behaviors by proposing resistance as an expression of followership. The second study analyzes the impact of followers' role beliefs in resistance processes to different destructive leaders. The results suggest that the way followers conceive their role is important in explaining resistance. The third study examines the nature of resistance behaviors and proposes a reinterpretation of an existing scale, in which one of the factors splits into two. The proposal's relevance was tested in a model that suggests nomological differentiation. The last study points out new challenges to leadership/followership processes, where followers are called upon to interact with synthetic (i.e., artificial intelligence based) supervisors. A process explaining obedience behaviors is analyzed, and the results suggest that extant process theory does not apply. Overall, studying followership in an adversarial context broadens knowledge about the nature of the phenomenon and suggests followers are protective agents in such adversarial settings.