Witnessing interparental violence and leader role occupancy: the roles of insecure attachment and gender

Purpose Given the role leaders play in organizational effectiveness, there is growing interest in understanding the antecedents of leader emergence. The authors consider parental influence by examining how witnessing interparental violence during adolescence indirectly affects adult leader role occupancy. Drawing on the work–home resources (W-HR) model, the authors hypothesize that witnessing interparental violence serves as a distal, chronic contextual demand that hinders leader role occupancy through its effects on constructive personal resources, operationalized as insecure attachment. Based on role congruity theory, the authors also predict that the relationship between attachment style and leader role occupancy will differ for women and men. Design/methodology/approach To test the hypotheses, the authors used data from the National Comorbidity Survey Replication (NCS-R) ( n  = 1,665 full-time employees). Findings After controlling for age, education, childhood socioeconomic status and experienced violence, results showed that the negative indirect effects of witnessing interparental violence on leader role occupancy through avoidant attachment was significant for females only, while the negative effects of anxious attachment hindered leader role occupancy across sexes. Originality/value Results identify novel distal (interparental violence) and proximal (attachment style) barriers to leader role occupancy, showing empirical support for the life-span approach to leadership and the persistent effects of home demands on work.