Provoking Preferences: Leaders, Organizations, and Inspiration

Abstract: Current political-economic theories of organizational life and, more specifically, leadership treat members’ willingness to go along with a leader as a purely instrumental decision; the members benefit sufficiently from the leader’s knowledge and coordination abilities that they are willing to tolerate various forms of leadership "rents." Such models leaves precious little room for the inspirational role some leaders seem to play and fails to anticipate important facets of organizational governance as well as clear evidence that organizational participation can profoundly transform the beliefs and, possibly, the interests of some members. In this paper we suggest a theoretical framework that can help us account for the observed transformation of some members. While some people have specific and deeply held political commitments, most people appear to hold only vague or ill-formed beliefs, revising and acting on them only when challenged to do so in particular contexts. Presenting members with an organized opportunity to act jointly and coherently forces them to crystallize their preferences and presents them with information about their own efficacy. Participation in an activist organization opens up the possibility that at least some members’ beliefs and actions can be transformed. Leaders embedded in specific organizations help create that context. We present oral histories and interview data to document self-reported changes in political beliefs among members of two politically activist labor unions in the United States and Australia.