Rh. Humphrey et Rd. Berthiaume, JOB CHARACTERISTICS AND BIASES IN SUBORDINATES APPRAISALS OF MANAGERS, Basic and applied social psychology, 14(4), 1993, pp. 401-420
This article develops a general model relating job characteristics to
biases in the perception of managers' abilities. A 2 x 2 x 2 between-s
ubjects design was used to vary managerial task complexity, subordinat
e task complexity, and managers' rates of giving orders. The subjects
were 216 upper-level undergraduate students who were randomly assigned
to 72 three-person groups. Relative, but not absolute, levels of task
complexity biased subordinates' evaluations of managers. This finding
is consistent with equity theory and with leadership theories that em
phasize the relative contributions of leaders and group members. Proce
dures that increased order-giving increased subordinates' appraisals o
f managers when managers performed either relatively more or relativel
y less complex work than did subordinates, but had no effect under equ
al complexity conditions. The results are discussed in terms of leader
-member exchange theories and contingency theories of leadership (Dien
esch & Liden, 1986; Fiedler & Chemers, 1984; Graen, Novak, & Sommerkam
p, 1982; Kerr & Jermier, 1978).