MANAGERIAL SEARCH ACTIVITY - THE IMPACT OF PERCEIVED ROLE UNCERTAINTYAND ROLE THREAT

This empirical study examines both the individual and combined effects of role uncertainty and role threat on managerial information search activity. Results from a survey of 215 managers in six organizations s uggest that search is a function of a complex interaction between leve ls of uncertainty and threat in the role context. Findings suggest tha t previous conceptualizations of the relationships among uncertainly, threat, and search activity may have been overly simplistic.