James S. Phillips

Causal attributions and perceptions of leadership

Abstract The potential importance of causal ascriptions in determining perceptions of leadership were investigated. Observer—subjects (N = 128) viewed one of two videotapes of the same four-person problem solving group with the salience of the groups leader, the existence of alternative causal explanations for performance, and the groups performance being manipulated. Although causal ascriptions and perceptions of leadership were each affected by the experimental manipulations as hypothesized, our results suggested that explicit causal analyses were unnecessary for explaining leadership perceptions. The data appeared to be more consistent with cognitive categorization processes that have recently been proposed as a model of leadership perceptions.

Notes on the Practical and Theoretical Consequences of Implicit Leadership Theories for the Future of Leadership Measurement

The accuracy of leadership questionnaires has been the subject of considerable debate in recent years. Although research has demonstrated that such measures can often be systematically biased indices of leader behavior, the issues surrounding the appropriate use of questionnaires are far from resolved. To help clarify some of these concerns, the present article attempts to (a) present a meaningful definition of accuracy in the measurement of leadership, (b) summarize the conclusions from existing research concerning leadership questionnaires, (c) assess the consequences of this research, and (d) offer several practical recommendations for the future of leadership questionnaires.

The Changing Nature of Research on Women at Work

A thematic review of the recent literature on women at work indicates that women continue to fair more poorly than men in organizational reward decisions. Otherwise, gender related differences are more prevalent than actual sex differences in many research contexts. These differences are, however, inconsistent across studies. Our evaluation of the most recent research on women at work suggests that more emphasis on information processing models for explaining gender relevant attitudes and behavior might not only resolve some of the inconsistencies, but also provide valuable new insights into the variability that exists among women. Each of these advances could significantly improve our understanding of the role of women in modern organizational life.

Gender-related biases in evaluations of sex discrimination allegations: Is perceived threat the key?

Hypotheses derived from defensive attribution theory and social identity theory were tested in 3 laboratory experiments examining the effects of plaintiff and observer gender on perceived threat, plaintiff identification, and sex discrimination. In Study 1, women differentiated plaintiffs on the basis of gender, whereas men did not. Study 2 showed that this bias occurred because employment discrimination was personally threatening to women but not to men. In Study 3, the bias was reversed in a child custody context. As predicted, men found this context to be significantly more threatening than did women and subsequently exhibited a similarity bias. Mediation analyses suggested that responsibility attributions explained most of the variance in discrimination judgments associated with the plaintiff gender by observer gender interactions.

SUBJECT RECRUITMENT BIAS: THE PAID VOLUNTEER SUBJECT

To assess the potential bias introduced by subject recruitment procedures, differences in perceptual style, personality, and performance on an auditory selective attention task were investigated for a sample of 47 female, volunteer research participants. Half of the subjects (N = 24) had been recruited as unpaid volunteers while the others (N = 23) received

The task-related competency and compliance aspects of goal setting: A clarification

2.50 per hour for their participation. Stepwise discriminant analysis indicated that unpaid volunteers tended to be significantly more interpersonal in orientation, were more field-dependent, and committed fewer omission errors on a selective attention task than subjects who had volunteered for pay. The findings were discussed in terms of the problems associated with generalizing from one sample to other samples and to the criterion population as a function of experimental boundary conditions.

Goal utility, task satisfaction, and the self-appraisal hypothesis of Type A behavior.

Abstract The relative salience of the competency information and compliance aspects of the goal-setting context was manipulated to study its effect on affective task reactions to an interesting and a boring task. The results indicated that task satisfaction was the highest when goal attainment was essential for obtaining monetary incentives but highly salient competency information was also provided. This effect, however, held only for the boring task. On the interesting task, there was no evidence of an adverse effect for goals on task satisfaction regardless of the relative salience of the two aspects. Subjects performing either task were, however, significantly more satisfied with the goal-setting process itself when the goals conveyed competency information than when the goals failed to convey this information.

Attributing Corporate Responsibility for Sexual Harassment The Supervisory Connection

Strubes (1987) self-appraisal model of Type A behavior suggests that externally mediated performance goals that are useful for assessing task-related competencies will possess greater utility and be more satisfying to Type A persons than to Type B persons. In contrast, because Type Bs may have an aversion to competency verifications, they should be more satisfied than Type As when goals are uninformative about task-related competencies. The 102 undergraduate Ss performed either a word puzzle or proofreading task under 1 of 4 goal conditions that varied in terms of the goals instrumentality for assessing competencies and for obtaining a financial incentive. Results are generally consistent with this prediction, thereby providing verification for one of the more basic propositions derived from the self-appraisal model.

Worksite Stress Management Interventions.

This study examines circumstances under which observers might consider an organization to have responsibility for its employees’ actions, based on their reading of a scenario of sexual harassment. By changing the details of the scenario, we examine the influence of (a) the harasser’s organizational role (i.e., a supervisor or coworker), (b) the existence of corporate sexual harassment policies, and (c) the company’s past responses to sexual harassment complaints. The results suggested that the harasser’s organizational role is the most important factor for predicting whether an individual would consider pressing a sexual harassment claim. Respondents’ assessment that the victim should make a claim is higher when the harasser is an immediate supervisor rather than a nonsupervisory coworker. Perceived organizational responsibility is also a direct predictor of intent to make a claim. The results provide a clearer understanding of when an individual is more likely to favor making a claim in response to perceived sexual harassment. The practical implications include the following: (a) Sexual harassment training for supervisors is important because their sexual harassment is most likely to lead to a legal claim, (b) antisexual harassment policies have the effect of reducing the likelihood that a victim will perceive the organization as responsible for failing to prevent a supervisor’s action, and (c) organizations should make clear their opposition to sexual harassment both to discourage harassers and to divert a victim’s attribution for responsibility away from the organization if an incident takes place.