PSYCHOLOGY MASTER'S THESIS ABSTRACT

Lisa Tinti

Industrial/Organizational
August 1995

The Effect of Leadership Behavior on Subordinate Employees’ Perceived Level of Organizational Support,
Organizational Commitment, and Job Satisfaction

    The purpose of this study was to assess the effect of leadership behavior on employees’ work attitudes.  Leaders were classified into two behavioral dimensions (task-oriented and people-oriented) to determine if a relationship existed between leader type and employees’ perceptions of organizational commitment, organizational support, supervisory support and job satisfaction.  Employees with a people-oriented leader were predicted to have higher levels on the attitudinal constructs than employees with a task-oriented leader.

Subjects completed a 57-item survey measuring the attitudinal variables.  Leader type was determined by supervisors’ responses to a 16-item bipolar scale.  A comparison was made between leader groups to assess whether averages of the two groups of employees differed on any of the dependent variables.
    A statistically significant difference between groups was not found.  Strong positive correlations were found between the attitudinal variables.  Additional analyses confirmed the existence of differences between organizational groups.

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