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LEADER-SUBORDINATE ATTITUDE MODELING: A MULTI-METHOD FIELD STUDY (ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR, OB MOD, SOCIAL LEARNING)
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to examine naturally-occurring modeling relationships between leader and subordinate attitudes in work settings. Particular attention was given to the effects of behavioral and situational conditions on these modeling relationships. Independent behavioral observations, demographic data, and psychometric measures were used to determine conditions affecting leader-subordinate attitude modeling. The study used 108 leaders and 356 subordinates from four functioning organizations--a large bank, a commercial production plant, a state government agency, and a campus police department. Seven attitude dimensions were selected as modeling indicators: organizational commitment, role conflict, and satisfaction with supervision/work/pay/promotion/coworkers. Seven modeling-relevant conditions were also utilized: status/success of the model, subordinate's tenure with the model, leader interactive management activity, leader self management activity, and leader network-building. Specifically, it was hypothesized that: (1) modeling was occurring naturally in leader-subordinate relationships in work settings; (2) that subordinates model job-related attitudes of their leaders more closely than attitudes of other organization members, or of society at large; and (3) that attitude modeling can be an important cognitive component of social learning/OB Mod processes. As such, attitude modeling was expected to occur or not occur under the same conditions that regulate more traditionally examined behavior modeling. Results of the study supported these hypotheses: (1) Leader-subordinate modeling is occurring in work settings; (2) subordinates model leaders' job-related attitudes more closely than they model the attitudes of either other organization members or society at large; and (3) the factors that have been identified to affect behavioral modeling appear to exhibit the same relationships with attitude modeling. Thus, this study provides beginning empirical support for convergence among cognitive-behavioral dimensions of social learning, OB Mod, and attitude formation/change theories.
Subject Area
Management
Recommended Citation
ROSENKRANTZ, STUART A, "LEADER-SUBORDINATE ATTITUDE MODELING: A MULTI-METHOD FIELD STUDY (ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR, OB MOD, SOCIAL LEARNING)" (1984). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI8521474.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI8521474