Perceptions of Leaders' Behavior: Situational and Personal Determinants

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Abstract
The present study focused on the process of encoding leaders' behaviors. Subjects in the study were 475 employees of four schools for the mentally retarded, who represented a variety of jobs and hierarchical levels in those institutions. Results indicate that highly competent subordinates cluster their perceptions of leader behaviors in a distinctly different manner than their less competent counterparts. Fewer, yet troublesome, differences in the clustering of leaders' behaviors were found when perceivers were classified by their reported role ambiguity. Over-all, the results suggest that for certain moderator variables currently used in research on leadership, the traditional classification of behavior descriptive items may not be justified.