Subordinate's assigned level of discretion as a function of leader's personality and situational variables

Abstract

Investigated relationships between leader's dominance, attitude toward delegation, authoritarianism, subordinate's capacity (as a situational variable), and the level of discretion the leader assigns to the subordinate. 101 undergraduates in a personnel management course were given items from the Personality Research Form, California F Scale, and Leadership Opinion Questionnaire. S's dominance and the hypothetical subordinate's capacity were found to have significant relationships to the level of discretion assigned. S's attitude toward delegation and his authoritarianism were not significant factors. In contrast to recent leadership models, the interaction effects were not significant. Findings suggest that the interaction hypothesis proposed by these models cannot be generalized to all personality and situational variables without limitation. (15 ref.) (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)