Leaders' Upward Influence in the Organization

Abstract

A survey of 183 nurses at two hospitals tested for replication and extensions of previous work on Pelz Effects, defined as the moderating effect of leaders' upward influence on the relationship between leaders' behavior and group members' attitudes. Moderated regressions indicated the Pelz Effect was significantly related to group members'sense of control within the organization, and this result remained significant even after two measures of dispositional internal control were extracted from the regression. The Pelz Effect was also significantly related to members'perceptions of support and cooperation within their work groups. The magnitude of the Pelz Effect was greater for employees with high rather than low job autonomy -a conclusion exactly opposite to previous results. Self-monitoring scores moderated the Pelz Effect only with respect to the dependent variable of work-group support, but the direction of this effect supported prior work that argued low self-monitoring can neutralize the impact of a leader's behavior.