Publication Type

Journal Article

Version

submittedVersion

Publication Date

10-2011

Abstract

A perennial question facing managers is how much decision latitude to give their employees at work. The current research investigates how decision latitude affects employees'' perceptions of managers'' personalities and, in turn, their leadership effectiveness. Results from three studies using different methods (two experiments and a survey) indicate an inverted-U shaped relationship between degree of decision latitude and leadership effectiveness perceptions. The increase in leadership effectiveness perception between low and moderate decision latitude was explained by an increase in perceived agreeableness; the decrease in leadership effectiveness perception between moderate and high decision latitude was explained by a decrease in perceived conscientiousness. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

Keywords

Leadership perception, Personality, Autonomy, Decision latitude

Discipline

Business | Organizational Behavior and Theory

Research Areas

Organisational Behaviour and Human Resources

Publication

Leadership Quarterly

Volume

22

Issue

5

First Page

863

Last Page

880

ISSN

1048-9843

Identifier

10.1016/j.leaqua.2011.07.008

Publisher

Elsevier

Additional URL

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2011.07.008

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