William D. Spangler

Validity of questionnaire and TAT measures of need for achievement: Two meta-analyses.

Proponents of the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT), most notably McClelland, have argued that the TAT and questionnaires are valid measures of different aspects of achievement motivation. Critics of the TAT have argued that questionnaires but not the TAT are valid measures of the need for achievement. Two meta-analyses of 105 randomly selected empirical research articles found that correlations between TAT measures of need for achievement and outcomes were on average positive; that these correlations were particularly large for outcomes such as career success measured in the presence of intrinsic, or task-related, achievement incentives; that questionnaire measures of need for achievement were also positively correlated with outcomes, particularly in the presence of external or social achievement incentives; and that on average TAT-based correlations were larger than questionnaire-based correlations. The theoretical implications of these findings are discussed. Over the course of 4 decades, McClelland, Atkinson and their associates have studied the motivational bases of human behavior. Much of their work has focused on the sources and effects of achievement motivation. This work has ranged from laboratory studies of the effects of need for achievement on performance (Atkinson & Litwin, 1960), studies of performance and success of people such as entrepreneurs in vocational settings (McClelland & Winter, 1969), training efforts aimed to increase the need for achievement of individuals (McClelland, 1965), as well as studies linking the achievement motive to the economic growth and decline of civilizations (McClelland, 1961). During this period a number of theories of motivation have been developed (e.g., Atkinson, 1957; McClelland, 1985). At the same time, McClelland, Atkinson, and their colleagues have devoted much research to the issue of measuring the need for achievement in individuals. The focus of this work has been the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT; Atkinson, 1982; McClelland, 1972, 1980, 1985; McClelland, Atkinson, Clark, & Lowell, 1958; McClelland, Clark, Roby, & Atkinson, 1958). TAT presents the subject with a set of pictures, general instructions to be creative, and a set of four questions to guide the respondent in writing stories. The respondent writes a short story interpreting each picture, and the stories are then coded for the presence of various types of achievement imagery. The TAT method of measuring the achievement motive has inspired substantial criticism as well as defense. Critics have charged that TAT measures of the achievement motive demonstrate poor test-retest and internal consistency reliability (Entwisle, 1972; Fineman, 1977; Weinstein, 1969) and have low and inconsistent correlations with actual achievement-oriented be

Transformational leadership and team performance

Despite transformational leadership enjoying success and attention as an exceptional leadership theory, few scholars have investigated a specific link between transformational leadership theory and team performance. As such, we discuss how transformational leadership theory can provide a framework in which to investigate a leaders impact on team performance. We posit that idealized influence/inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation and individualized consideration could produce intermediate outcomes such as shared vision, team commitment, an empowered team environment and functional team conflict. In turn, these intermediate outcomes may positively affect team communication, cohesion and conflict management. Implications for team development, team training and team structure are presented. Limitations and future directions are also discussed.

Transformational Leadership: An Initial Investigation in Sales Management

Numerous conceptual and empirical articles in sales management emphasize the influence sales managers can have on various job-related responses of sales personnel, such as job satisfaction, motivation, and performance. When examining this issue, the preponderance of literature has considered a leadership style where sales managers clarify for and communicate to salespeople the selling role and indicate to them how they can receive valued organizational rewards in exchange for successful performance (i.e., “transactional leadership”). Recent research in organizational behavior has found that an alternate leadership approach—”transformational leadership”—can engender improved work-related responses of employees over those produced through transactional leadership. This paper reports results of a study, however, which found that a transactional approach may be preferable to a transformational style for enhancing salespeoples affective and behavioral responses.

Transformational and contingent reward leadership: Individual, dyad, and group levels of analysis

Abstract Using multiple levels of analysis in both conceptualization and testing procedures, this study sought to enhance understanding of relationships between transformational and contingent reward leadership and key consequences. Multi-source data were collected from a sample of salespersons, their superiors (sales managers), and company records. Confirmatory factor analysis using LISREL and Within and Between Analysis (WABA) procedures were conducted. Contrary to the hypotheses that included levels of analysis specifications, dyad-level effects and group-level effects were not obtained. Results indicated that relationships among transformational and contingent reward leadership and consequences were based solely on individual differences, individual-level effects. In other words, leaders and followers did not link in dyadic- nor group-based relationships as suggested by transformational leadership theory. Compatibility of the results with previous work and implications of the findings for future leadership research are discussed.

Presidential effectiveness and the leadership motive profile.

As much as 59% of the variance in measures of presidential performance may be explained by individual differences in power (positive), affiliation (negative), achievement (negative), and number of nots appearing in presidential speeches and letters (positive). Motives and the interactions of power and nots independently predicted presidential performance. An overall index of the leadership motive syndrome did not predict presidential performance independently of motives and the interaction of power and nots. Three supplementary analyses indicated that the nots index measured a style of using power, institutional versus personalistic, rather than activity inhibition, as had been proposed by McClelland, Davis, Kalin, and Wanner (1972)

Leadership and Corporate Audit Committee Effectiveness

Audit committees are standing committees of corporate boards of directors with responsibility for overseeing the companys annual audit and coordinating the efforts of external auditors, senior management, and internal auditors. Despite the growing importance of audit committees in corporate governance and despite the increasing attention given to corporate financial fraud by the media and by the U.S. Congress, little research has inquired into the determinants of audit committee effectiveness. The purpose of this study was to examine audit committee effectiveness in terms of the leadership styles of audit committee chairpersons. Results of a survey mailed to audit committee members, external auditors, and senior management suggest that transformational leadership and active management by exception, as defined by Bass (1985), have a substantial impact on the performance of audit committees.

Single-Source Response Bias in the Job Diagnostic Survey

Tests of the job characteristics model using the Job Diagnostic Survey have been criticized in the literature for having single-source response bias. To test this criticism, undergraduate and graduate students used the Job Diagnostic Survey to describe their job as “student” (the pretest). The same students then worked at and described a contrived job using the survey. Results from the current study suggested that personality and instrument characteristics had relatively minimal effects on interscale correlations of the scores in the survey within and across situations. However, response biases attributable to priming, consistency, and implicit theories artificially inflated interscale correlations.

DIRECT VERSUS INDIRECT MEASURES OF UTILITIES

Utilities may be measured directly by questionnaire or indirectly through the statistical analysis of choices individuals make among profiles of jobs or products. In the present research, 211 undergraduate students directly rated the importance to themselves of 10 factors such as location and starting salary thought to be relevant to students seeking their first full-time jobs. Participants also rated 32 hypothetical job profiles, from which indirect measures of job factor utilities were calculated. Finally, participants rated and ranked four additional job profiles. The present research suggested that both measures of utilities may predict job-choice behavior better than either measure used alone.