Leadership style and leader perceptions of subordinate attributes: The metamorphic effects of autocratic leadership.
Item
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Title
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Leadership style and leader perceptions of subordinate attributes: The metamorphic effects of autocratic leadership.
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Identifier
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AAI9119628
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identifier
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9119628
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Creator
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Festa, Ronald Michael.
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Contributor
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Adviser: Joel Lefkowitz
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Date
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1991
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Psychology, Industrial | Psychology, Social | Business Administration, Management
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Abstract
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Kipnis (1976, 1987) presented a theory, referred to as "the metamorphic effects of power", which suggests that the successful use of influence or control over an individual could have a number of unintended effects on the "powerholder". It has been hypothesized that these unintended effects may lead a "powerholder" to, among other things, devalue the overall worth of the target individual(s), and desire the use control/influence tactics in future interactions with the target individual(s). The present study attempted to investigate the proposed metamorphic effects of power theory within the context of leader-subordinate relationships. Leadership style (democratic, autocratic) and reported group performance (low, average, high) were experimentally manipulated within a 2 x 3 between-subjects design. Each leader (N = 131) was instructed to portray either an autocratic or democratic leadership style while leading two subordinates in the performance of a problem solving task. In an attempt to investigate the hypothesized metamorphic effects at varying levels of performance, each group was provided bogus performance feedback (low, average, or high) upon completion of the task. The reported group performance manipulation results were also examined to determine whether leaders relied heavily upon implicit theories of group performance in their evaluations of participant performance and attributes. The results show that autocratic and democratic style leaders did not differ significantly in their evaluations of themselves, or of their subordinates. Although these results did not support the hypothesized metamorphic effects of power theory, considerable support was obtained for the implicit performance theory hypotheses. It was found that leaders of "higher performing groups" (as defined by the bogus reported group performance) viewed their subordinates, and themselves, as having exhibited more positive behaviors, and being more effective, during the performance of this task. Future research directions and possible boundary conditions for the hypothesized metamorphic effects of power theory are also discussed.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
