Subordinates’ Resistance and Managers’ Evaluations of Subordinates’ Performance

Authors

Bennett J. Tepper, University of North Carolina at CharlotteFollow
Mary Uhl-Bien, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Gary F. Kohut, University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Steven G. Rogelberg, University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Daniel E. Lockhart, University of Kentucky
Michael D. Ensley, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Date of this Version

4-2006

Comments

Published in Journal of Management 32:2 (April 2006), pp. 185-209; doi 10.1177/0149206305277801 Copyright © 2006 Southern Management Association; published by Sage Publications. Used by permission. http://jom.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/32/2/185

Abstract

The authors explored the validity of two perspectives as to how managers evaluate subordinates who resist downward influence attempts: a uniformly dysfunctional perspective (i.e., managers regard all manifestations of resistance as indicators of ineffective influence and rate subordinates unfavorably when they resist) and a multifunctional perspective (i.e., managers regard some manifestations of resistance as more constructive than others and rate subordinates more favorably when they employ constructive resistance tactics). The results of two studies provided support for an interactive model, which predicts that the uniformly dysfunctional perspective is characteristic of lower quality leader-member exchange (LMX) relationships and that the multifunctional perspective is characteristic of higher quality leader-member exchanges.