What traits do citizens value in leaders during war?: Experimental and panel-based evidence from Ukraine in 2022
Laustsen,Lasse Mazepus,Honorata van Leeuwen,Florian Bartusevičius,Henrikas van Vugt,Mark
Laustsen,Lasse
Mazepus,Honorata
van Leeuwen,Florian
Bartusevičius,Henrikas
van Vugt,Mark
Abstract
When do citizens want a dominant political leader? A prominent Conflict-Sensitivity Hypothesis suggests such preferences arise during intergroup conflict, yet it remains untested in a real war. We report results from an experiment embedded in a two-wave panel survey with 1,081 Ukrainians (811 re-interviewed) at the start of Russia’s 2022 invasion. We find that respondents generally value competence and warmth over dominance in leaders. Yet, war increases preferences for dominance and reduces preferences for warmth and competence. Emotional reactions to war also relate to leader trait preferences: Ukrainians who react with aggressive emotions display enhanced preferences for all leader traits, whereas fearful reactions leave trait preferences mostly unaffected. These findings advance our understanding of how war shapes leader preferences.
Description
Date
2025-10-07
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Research Projects
Organizational Units
Journal Issue
Keywords
character traits, emotions, political leadership, Russian invasion of Ukraine, voter preferences, war
Citation
Laustsen, L, Mazepus, H, van Leeuwen, F, Bartusevičius, H & van Vugt, M 2025, 'What traits do citizens value in leaders during war? Experimental and panel-based evidence from Ukraine in 2022', Political Science Research and Methods. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/y5mbp, https://doi.org/10.1017/psrm.2025.10047