This article introduces the concept of combinative aspects of leadership st
yle, which addresses elements of leadership style such as the ordering and
temporal spacing of leadership behaviors. The major purpose is to show that
perceptions of leadership are influenced by the manner in which leadership
behaviors are combined. Different combinations of task-oriented leadership
statements and socioemotionally oriented leadership statements were examin
ed. All of the participants were full-time employees. In all three of the s
tudies, combinative aspects of leadership style clearly influenced percepti
ons of leadership statements. The findings indicate that task-oriented lead
ership should not be provided without socioemotional leadership and that so
cioemotionally oriented leadership should generally be provided immediately
before task-oriented leadership. Further work is needed to investigate the
applicability of combinative aspects of leadership style to components of
transactional and transformational leadership. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science In
c. All rights reserved.