Masters Theses

Date of Award

8-1981

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science

Major

Industrial and Organizational Psychology

Major Professor

John M. Larsen

Abstract

Path-goal leadership theorists have proposed that effective leader behavior should complement the task structure inherent in the work situation. That is, under conditions of low task structure, leader initiating structure would facilitate subordinate motivation, performance and satisfaction. Conversely, in highly structured situations, leader consideration would facilitate subordinate motivation, performance and satisfaction. Research exploring these proposed relationships, however, has often revealed conflicting results. In an effort to improve upon predictability of path-goal relationships, it has been suggested that subordinate characteristics as well as environmental factors moderated the relationships between leader behavior and subordinate outcomes. Such suggestions indicated that self-esteem may have an important impact upon path-goal relationships. In an effort to resolve some of the mixed support for path-goal theory in the present study the extent to which subordinate self-esteem moderated the leader behavior and task structure interaction for subordinate satisfaction, role clarity and performance was investigated.

A review of the literature has suggested that the classroom setting could serve as a useful model for the study of leadership. All subjects who participated in the study were male and female undergraduate and graduate students enrolled at The University of Tennessee, Knoxville. A total of 317 students from fifteen sections of nine separate courses within the area of statistics, business, and management responded to a questionnaire which was administered during the regular class period.

The results of the present study did not support the hypothesis that task structure would negatively moderate initiating structure-subordinate outcome relationships for students with high self-esteem but not for students with low self-esteem. It was found that Self-Esteem positively moderated the Instrumental Leadership and Task Structure interaction for student Satisfaction. The Instrumental Leadership and Task Structure interaction was stronger under high levels of Self-Esteem than low levels of Self-Esteem. In addition, the results did not confirm the hypothesis that task structure would positively moderate consideration-subordinate outcome relationships for students with low self-esteem but not for students with high self-esteem. Task Structure was found to negatively moderate three Leader Behavior-subordinate outcome relationships. Task Structure negatively moderated Consideration-Satisfaction and Consideration-Role Clarity relationships. Also, Task Structure negatively moderated the relationship between Supportive Leadership and Satisfaction.

Results of the study did not generally support the effectiveness of Self-Esteem and Task Structure as moderating variables of path-goal relationships. Nonsupport for the hypotheses may have been attributable to the inability to account for leadership processes using path-goal theory and inadequate operationalizations in the present study of path-goal constructs. It was concluded that future research on path-goal theory should develop reliable and valid operational measurements of the theory's constructs. A statement can be made regarding the efficacy of path-goal theory only after the theory's constructs are reliably and validly measured.

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