Doctoral Dissertations

Date of Award

12-1990

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Major

Education

Major Professor

Patricia A. Beitel

Committee Members

Madge Phillips, Thomas Hood, Joy Desensi, Ralph Jones

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to test Chelladurai's model (1979) which suggested that situation characteristics and member characteristics influence the relationship between leader behavior and subordinate satisfaction and to evaluate the interaction of the following theoretical or hypothetical frames of reference: (a) path goal theory (House, 1971), (b) discrepancy theory (Yukl, 1971), (c) the sex role congruency hypothesis (Nieva & Gutek, 1981), and (d) situational leadership theory (Kersey & Blanchard, 1988). Central to the investigation was the relationship between satisfaction with leadership and (a) actual perceived leader behavior and (b) the discrepancy score for leader behavior. Subjects for this study were 73 female athletes and 141 male athletes from one National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I institution. Women's and men's sports represented in this study were: (a) tennis, (b) basketball, (c) volleyball, (d) swimming and (e) track and field. Men's baseball was also included. General and specific satisfaction with leadership were measured by using forms of one and five questions respectively. Preferred and actual perceived leader behaviors, were measured using the Preferred and Perceived Forms of the Leadership Scale for Sports (Chelladurai & Saleh, 1980) in the following dimensions: (a) training and instruction, (b) social support, (c) positive feedback, (d) democratic behavior, and (e) autocratic behavior. Pairwise correlation (Safer, 1985) and stepwise regression (Joyner, 1985) procedures were employed. The results of the data suggested: (a) the contingency model (Chelladurai, 1979) was supported as member and situation characteristics were found to influence the leader/follower relationship, (b) path goal theory (House, 1971) was generally supported as ambiguity was found to influence the leader/follower relationship, (c) discrepancy theory (Yukl, 1971) was generally supported as lower discrepancy scores tended to be related with higher levels of satisfaction with leadership for all dimensions except autocratic behavior, (d) the sex role congruency hypothesis (Nieva & Gutek, 1981) was supported as the sex of the follower was found to influence the leader/follower relationship, and (e) situational leadership theory (Hersey & Blanchard, 1988) was partially supported as readiness levels were found to influence the leader/follower relationship.

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