Rh. Humphrey et Rd. Berthiaume, THE USE OF TRAIT LISTINGS TO MEASURE RECOMMENDATIONS FOR MANAGERIAL BEHAVIOR UNDER DIFFERENT LEVELS OF TASK COMPLEXITY, The Journal of social psychology, 133(3), 1993, pp. 279-291
Previous research has indicated that information about leaders is prim
arily stored in memory in trait form. Hence, it was hypothesized that
a trait listing technique would be more accurate than traditional meth
ods in eliciting recommendations about leadership style. Sixty-four ev
ening MBA students made recommendations about appropriate managerial b
ehavioral under four different types of relative task complexity. Accu
racy was judged by comparing the recommendations with a previous study
that varied relative task complexity and rates of order-giving. Recom
mendations made by the students using a trait-listing technique accura
tely matched the amount of directive behavior to the situation. Recomm
endations made by the students using more traditional close-ended item
s, however, failed to reflect the complex relationship between manager
ial behavior and relative task complexity.