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This study examined the statistical relationship between followership style, and courageous follower attributes, and the influence of followership style on the job satisfaction, on hotel customer-contact employee job satisfaction. The research premises were that certain followership styles would exhibit more courageous follower attributes than others, and there was a statistical relationship between followership style and hotel customer-contact employee job satisfaction. An on-site group administration of the three survey instruments collected data to determine the level of courageous follower attributes demographics, reported followership style and level of job satisfaction of the entire population of customer-contact employees of a small Canadian high-end luxury hotel and resort chain. Research revealed high dissatisfaction with nature of work and organizational communication and that nearly two thirds of the respondents self-reported as exemplary followers and there was a statistical relationship between followership style and courageous follower attributes, indicating that the two constructs of followership style, independent critical thinking and active engagement had a direct bearing on the level of courageous follower behaviors displayed, and that all followership styles did display these behaviors to some extent. Research also revealed that demographics had no main effect overall on job satisfaction, except for some facets and that followership style had no effect on job satisfaction except for the facet of nature of work. The principal conclusions were that followership style does not influence job satisfaction of hotel customer -contact employees, but there is a strong relationship between followership style and the level of courageous follower behavior demonstrated. Study limitations,, implications for future research and recommendations for practice are also discussed.
Citation preview
THE EVALUATION OF A PARADIGM: THE CRITICAL EXAMINATION
OF THE INFLUENCE OF FOLLOWERSHIP STYLES
AND COURAGEOUS FOLLOWER ATTRIBUTES
ON HOTEL CUSTOMER-CONTACT EMPLOYEE JOB SATISFACTION
by
Terry Fobbs
KEITH GRANT, Ph.D., Faculty Mentor and Chair
LISA BARROW, D.M., Committee Member
ABDUL KAISSI, D.M., Committee Member
Raja K. Iyer, Ph.D., Interim Dean, School of Business and Technology
A Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment
Of the Requirements for the Degree
Doctor of Philosophy
Capella University
April 2010
UMI Number: 3403225
All rights reserved
INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted.
In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript
and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion.
UMI 3403225
Copyright 2010 by ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This edition of the work is protected against
unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code.
ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway
P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, MI 48106-1346
© Terry Fobbs, 2010
Abstract
This study examined the statistical relationship between followership style (Kelley, R.E.,
The power of followership: How to create leaders people want to follow and followers
who lead themselves, 1992) and courageous follower attributes (Dixon, E. N., An
exploration of the relationship of organizational level and measures of follower
behaviors. Ph.D. dissertation, The University of Alabama in Huntsville, Huntsville,
Alabama, 2003), and the influence of followership style on the job satisfaction, (Spector,
P.E., Job satisfaction: Application, assessment, causes and consequences, 1997) on hotel
customer-contact employee job satisfaction. The premise of this research was the certain
followership styles would exhibit more courageous follower attributes than others, for
example exemplary followers would demonstrate more courageous follower attributes
than conformist followers. The second premise was that there was a statistical
relationship between followership style and hotel customer-contact employee job
satisfaction. An on-site group administration of the three survey instruments was
conducted to collect data to determine the level of courageous follower attributes,
demographics, reported followership style and level of job satisfaction of the entire
population of customer-contact employees of a small Canadian high-end luxury hotel and
resort chain. The univariate analysis of job satisfaction revealed high dissatisfaction with
nature of work and organizational communication and that nearly two thirds of the
respondents self-reported as exemplary followers. The study found that there was a
statistical relationship between followership style and courageous follower attributes,
indicating that the two constructs of followership style, independent critical thinking and
active engagement had a direct bearing on the level of courageous follower behaviors
displayed, and that all followership styles did display these behaviors to some extent. The
study also found that demographics had no main effect overall on job satisfaction, except
for some facets and that followership style had no effect on job satisfaction except for the
facet of nature of work. The principal conclusions of the study being that overall,
followership style does not influence job satisfaction of hotel customer –contact
employees, but there is a strong relationship between followership style and the level of
courageous follower behavior demonstrated. Limitations of the study, implications for
future research and recommendations for practice are also discussed.
iii
Dedication
I want to dedicate this paper to my Heavenly Father and His Son, my Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ. It was through their love, support, blessings, and answers to prayer
that I was able to overcome many trials and tribulations of health, employment, and
personal tragedy to reach this major milestone in my life. To them I give my love and the
glory. I dedicate this work to my loving wife LeAnn for her unfailing love and support in
seeing me through this arduous journey, and basically no life for the past four years plus,
so I could be a PhD. Love you Honey! I dedicate this work to my mother, Geraldine J.
Fobbs, for her unfailing love, support and prayers for all of my accomplishments. Thank
you Mama! I love you! I dedicate this work to my brothers, Evin and Kevin, and sisters,
Cheryl and Angie and sister-in-law, Cheri, for their love and support for everything I
have done. I love you all! I dedicate this work to my children: Monique, Angelique,
Claudia, Sondra, Tamara, and Natalie, stepchildren: Carl, Danielle, Abigail; nieces and
nephews: Katherine, Seann, Michael, Arndrea, Lori, Haley, Jesica and Cristy,
grandchildren: Mercedes, Phoenix, Spencer and Jadyn, as my legacy and example to
perseverance, excellence, hard work and dedication-“So let it be written-So let it be
done!” Love you! I dedicate this work to the memory of my late father, Booker Terry
Fobbs, for his example in my life and his love for me. Thank you Daddy! Love you! I
also dedicate this work to memory of my late Uncle William (Brother) who was always
there for me in my youth. Love you, Uncle Brother! Finally, I want to dedicate this work
to my cousins, Candy, Veta, Suzette, Deborah, and Cindy, specifically and to the rest of
y’all generally, (because I am running out of room!) for all of your love and support
during this PhD journey. Love you!
iv
Acknowledgments
I wish to acknowledge the following individuals: my mentor Dr. Keith Grant as
the Chair of my committee for his patience, encouragement wisdom and guidance to
make this part and final part of my PhD journey possible; Dr. Abdul Kaissi and Dr. Lisa
Barrow, the other members of my committee for their invaluable assistance and guidance
in helping me through this process; Mr. Ira Chaleff, Executive Coaching and Consulting
Associates for his insight into the nature of followership; Dr. Robert E. Kelley, Carnegie-
Mellon University and Dr. Eugene Dixon, East Carolina University for their input and
assistance in the use of their survey instruments in my research, Ms. Kathline Holmes,
President, Gailforce Human Resource Solutions for her friendship, support and
invaluable assistance in my research!; Mr. Terry Schneider, Mr. John LeBleu, Mr.
Benjamin Leversedge, Ms. Kim Nau, Ms. Monique Smit and Ms. Laura Nutini for their
invaluable assistance during the conduct of my research, thank you so much!; Dr. Bruce
Dale, Dr. Bryan Ritchie and Dr. Lindon Robison, Michigan State University and their
families, Rick Winder, George Owen, Dr. Mary Miller, Renee and Mike Arntz, Nadine
Brown-Uddin, Dr. Barbara Bolin, Deb LaPine, Bobbi Woods, Mary Lou Mason, Vicky
Garcia, Russ Hicks, Tristan Harrington and Dave and Cassie Quarnberg, for their
invaluable support, love, friendship and encouragement during this PhD journey, Dr.
Cherice Montgomery, Brigham Young University and Dr. Laura Ann Migliore for their
friendship and support, Mr. Ronald R. Farr and Ms. Rita Canady, my supervisors who
have always given me encouragement and support in this effort, Major General (retired)
Robert W. Smith III and his wife Linda, Jim and Joanne Peppiattt-Combes, Dr. John
Zappala, Central Michigan University and his wife Shirley and Major (retired) Deanna
v
Sinclair who have given me their love, support and prayers every step of the way, Dr.
Diane Bandow who is an icon to me for her support of my journey, my faithful pet cat
Bootsie and my late pet cat Candy, for staying up with me during coursework,
comprehensive examination and dissertation writing late nights to early mornings, my
Capella PhD support group- fellow PhD candidate, soon to be Dr. Elyse Jurman and Dr.
Kristi Dean, who have been great and dear friends who have become a second family to
me and all of my other friends whom I cannot name, because there is no more room, but
whose love, support and prayers have lifted me on eagle’s wings during this entire
journey. You know who you are, I know who you are and Heavenly Father knows who
you are! Thanks to each and everyone one of you. I could not have done it without you!
vi
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments iv
List of Tables ix
List of Figures x
CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION 1
Introduction to the Problem 1
Background of the Study 2
Statement of the Problem 3
Purpose of the Study 5
Rationale 6
Research Questions 8
Significance of the Study 11
Definition of Terms 12
Assumptions and Limitations 15
Nature of the Study 17
Organization of the Remainder of the Study 18
CHAPTER 2. LITERATURE REVIEW 20
Introduction 20
Overview of Leadership Versus Followership-Which is More Important? 21
Analyzing and Synthesizing Definitions of Followership 26
Followership Interactions, Attributes, and Styles 33
Followership Attributes Not Associated with Followership Styles 41
Followership Styles and Associated Behavioral Attributes 49
vii
Leadership Concepts and Followership 72
Analysis of Transformational and Servant Leader Concepts 74
Analysis of Transformational and Servant Leadership 80
Job Satisfaction and Followership 84
Job Satisfaction Theoretical Performance and Supporting Research 86
Follower-Leader Interaction and the Influence on Follower Job Satisfaction 92
CHAPTER 3. METHODOLOGY 96
Purpose of the Study and Research Questions 96
Research Design 96
Sample 97
Setting 98
Instrumentation, Variables, and Levels of Measurement 99
Data Collection 106
Treatment/Intervention 107
Data Analysis 107
Validity and Reliability 108
Ethical Considerations 117
CHAPTER 4. RESULTS 119
Purpose of the Study 119
Data Collection and Setting 119
Section 1: Descriptive Statistics 121
Section 2: Hypothesis Testing 125
Section 3: Conclusion 134
viii
CHAPTER 5. DISCUSSION, IMPLICATIONS, RECOMMENDATIONS 135
Research Overview 135
Research Questions 136
Hypotheses Tested 136
Setting and Sample 138
Instrumentation and Data Collection 140
Discussion of Findings 142
Conclusions of Hypotheses Testing and Evaluation 145
Limitations of the Study 151
Implications for Future Research 154
Recommendations for Practice 156
Conclusion 158
REFERENCES 160
APPENDIX A. THE FOLLOWERSHIP QUESTIONNAIRE 174
APPENDIX B. THE FOLLOWER PROFILE 181
APPENDIX C. THE JOB SATISFACTION SURVEY 194
ix
List of Tables
Table 1. Relationship of Followership Style to Followership Questionnaire Scores 66 Table 2. Dixon’s (2003) Follower Profile Matrix 100 Table 3. JSS Facets and Subscale Contents 104 Table 4 Factor Analysis of Kelley’s (1992) Followership Questions 113 Table 5 Internal Consistency/Reliability for the Job Satisfaction Survey 116 Table 6. Demographic Characteristics of Employees 121 Table 7. Respondents’ Followership Profile and Style 123 Table 8. Job Satisfaction Survey Responses 124 Table 9. Results of Kruskal-Wallis-Test 126 Table 10 MANCOVA Multivariate Tests (c) 127 Table 11 MANCOVA Test of Between Subjects Effects 128 Table 12 MANCOVA Pair-wise Comparisons 132 Table 13 Correlations Analysis Results 133 Table 14 Scoring Criteria-The Followership Questionnaire 141 Table 15 Survey Key-The Followership Questionnaire 141 Table 16 Survey Key-Job Satisfaction Survey 142 Table 17 Revised Survey Key and Scoring Criteria-The Followership Questionnaire 155
x
List of Figures
Figure 1. Seven Paths to Followership 30
Figure 2. Dimensional Relationships of Followership Styles 51
Figure 3. Followership Styles 65
Figure 4. The Theoretical Model 87
Figure 5. Job Characteristics Model 90
Figure 6. Heuristic Model 91
Figure 7. Followership Styles and Scoring 102
1
CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION
Introduction to the Problem
Organizations are seeking various ways to improve the delivery of customer
service, especially in the hotel industry. With all things being equal, customer-focused
service has been the determining factor for many hotel patrons. The question these
organizations face is: How do you motivate the workforce to deliver consistent high
quality service? Chains such as Marriot International have long focused on the employee
as the critical link in providing consistent high quality customer-focused service. The
organizational culture known as the Marriott Way has a simple mantra from the words of
the founder J. Willard Marriott, “Take care of your employees and they will take care of
your customers” (Marriott International, 2009). However, some articles have focused
from the perspective of the senior leader on how this is done, but not from the viewpoint
of the customer-contact employee (Greger & Peterson, 2000; Gregersen & Black, 2002;
Gregersen, Morrison & Black, 1998).
The literature is replete with several examples that demonstrate a connection to
leadership and the quality of customer service, (Chowdary & Saraswat, 2003; Gerhardt,
2006; Jabnoun & Al Rasasi, 2005; Schneider, Ehrhart, Mayer, Saltz & Niles-Jolly, 2005).
Other research studies have demonstrated that there is a correlation with transformational
leadership, employee commitment and employee satisfaction (Emery & Barker, 2007),
transformational leadership, employee satisfaction and customer service (Heskett, Sasser
& Schlesinger, 1997; Parasuraman, Zeithaml & Berry, 1991) and transformational
leadership and organizational culture (van Bentum & Stone, 2005).
2
However, the examination of employee job satisfaction through the lens of
followership versus leadership is both a research and theoretical challenge since the focus
of many research studies is based on leadership theories (Kelley, 1992, 2008).
Background of the Study
Paradigms of organizational behavior and theory focus on hierarchal structure,
power and authority. For example, Bierstadt asserts social power being defined as group
sociological dominance coupled with the ability to employ force (Bierstadt, 1950).
Bierstadt differentiates power as a sociological concept, whereas dominance is
psychological. The author asserted that power is not a component of prestige, but that the
reverse is true. The author further asserted that there is a clear distinction between
influence and power. Power is coercive and requires submission, whereas influence is
persuasive and submission is voluntary. This concept provides three definitions of power,
force and authority as they relate to the concept of social power. Power is the ability to
employ force or sanctions and force is the actual manifestation of power. Authority is
associated with organizational status or position that has the ability to exercise control or
command over other organizational members (Bierstadt, 1950).
Emerson argued that social power is power dependence, balancing relationships
that lend themselves to processes leading to the formation of groups that in turn lead to
power relations that evolve into coalitions that bestow limited legitimized power
(authority), status, group norms, and prescribed roles by coalition members. The theory
treats participants in these power dependence relationships as actors in a power-network.
The hypothetical values measuring the motivational measurement of group members in
3
power relationships seeking balance is based upon the values placed upon mutual
dependence and the values the actors placed on their perceptions of who has power, who
does not, and who should be given authority (Emerson, 1962).
Vanagunas, citing Weber, argued that organizational power relationships fell into
three categories of: (a) traditional authority that is based on a belief system where those
exercising authority are authorized to do so based on established tradition; (b)
rational/legal authority where those exercising authority are authorized to do so based on
established normative rules; and finally (c) charismatic authority, that is bestowed upon
an individual by the devotion of his or her followers based on that individual’s exemplary
or exceptional actions, sanctity or heroism and normative order or patterns ordained by
that individual (Vanagunas, 1989).
Statement of the Problem
The literature has clearly detailed the effects and influence of leadership style and
attributes on organizational performance, employee job satisfaction, organizational
commitment and employee motivation (Bass & Bass, 2008; Emery & Barker, 2007;
Flood, et.al, 2000; Gerhardt, 2006; Miller, 2007;Walumba, F., Orwa, B., Wang, P. &
Lawler, J., 2005). Research has detailed the established relationships between leadership
and followership (Beckerleg, 2002; Dixon, 2003; Pack 2001; Ricketson, 2008; Vrba,
2008).
Greger and Peterson argued that with the advent of globalization and the necessity
for travel, hotel customers seek not only great accommodations but service to match. The
competition for the business traveler is fierce and the common denominator with all
4
things being equal, (i.e. facilities, location, amenities), is good customer service (Greger
& Peterson, 2000).
The pressure of competitive forces and shrinking market share have forced hotel
firms to examine what motivates customer-contact employees to deliver service that
exceeds the customer’s expectations and determine what type of employee is required
that is sufficiently motivated and have the organizational commitment to deliver
exceptional customer service. The service industry has come to the realization that in
order to remain competitive, just meeting customer expectations is simply not enough
anymore and that the major factor in employee motivation in providing quality customer
service, especially in the hotel industry is leadership (Chang, 2006; Greger & Peterson,
2000; Gregersen, Morrison & Black, 1998).
However, the literature shows that little research has been conducted that
addresses the influence of followership style and attributes on organizational
effectiveness, employee job satisfaction, employee commitment, and organizational
performance (Chaleff, 2003, Kelley, 1992, 2008; Pack, 2001). Specifically, the literature
is silent on research that addresses the influence of followership style (Kelley, 1992) and
courageous follower attributes (Chaleff, 2003; Dixon, 2003) on customer-contact
employee job satisfaction.
The problem is that there is insufficient knowledge in the service industry in
general and the hotel industry in particular, regarding how the followership styles and
courageous follower attributes of their customer-contact employees influence their job
satisfaction. This gap in knowledge makes it difficult to evaluate the full effectiveness of
5
new and established programs to improve employee job satisfaction and organizational
commitment (Chaleff, 2008; Jaussi, Stepfanovich & Devlin, 2008; Uken, 2008).
Research is needed to determine the influence of followership style as outlined by
Kelley (1992) and courageous follower attributes as operationalized by Dixon (2003) on
customer-contact employee job satisfaction in order to address the gap in the body of
knowledge.
Purpose of the Study
The purpose of the study will be to test the hypothesis that hotel customer-contact
employees who perceive they are exemplary or star followers (Kelley, 1992, 2008) will
exhibit greater level of courageous follower attributes (Dixon, 2003) and display greater
levels of job satisfaction (Spector, 1997) than those employees who perceive themselves
to be passive followers (sheep), conformist followers (yes-people), alienated followers or,
pragmatic followers (pragmatist) (Kelley, 1992, 2008).
The independent variables of exemplary followership, pragmatic followership,
alienated followership, conformist followership and passive followership (Kelley, 1992)
as measured by The Followership Questionnaire (TFQ) will be compared with the
dependent variables of five followership behaviors: (a) courage to assume responsibility,
(b) courage to serve, (c) courage to challenge, (d) courage to participate in
transformation, and (e) courage to leave as measured by The Follower Profile (TFP;
Dixon, 2003) to determine population distribution differences.
In the second part of the study, the independent variables of exemplary
followership style, pragmatic followership style, alienated followership style, conformist
6
followership style and passive followership style (Kelley, 1992) as measured by The
Followership Questionnaire (TFQ) will be compared with ten dependent variables of job
satisfaction as measured by the Job Satisfaction Survey (JSS; Spector, 1997) to determine
any correlations. The ten facets of job satisfaction will be addressed later in chapter 2.
For the purpose of this study, a customer-contact employee being defined as an
employee in the service industry who has direct personal contact with a customer
(Aggarwal & Gupta, 2005, Gremler & Brown, 1996; Sergeant & Frenkell, 2000).
Rationale
The majority of the cited studies on transformational leadership style and the
affect on employee motivation and/or customer service (Chang, 2006; Emery & Barker,
2007, Gerhardt, 2006; Jabnoun & Al Rasasi , 2005) all have viewed the transformational
leadership model through the objectivist epistemological lens that informed a positivist
theoretical perspective. The positivist theoretical perspective of these studies informed. a
quantitative methodology through the use of surveys to test their hypotheses using the
transformational leadership model components as independent variables while using
customer satisfaction, employee job satisfaction, or organizational commitment as
dependent variables and using a variety of statistical tools such as correlational analysis,
analysis of variance (ANOVA) or liner regression to obtain a measurable, quantified
fixed view of the relationships of the studied variables thus demonstrating positivist
philosophic assumptions (Barlett, 2005; Crotty, 2003; Fowler, 2003).
The following studies, while not examining job satisfaction or the
transformational leadership model, have examined followership style and behavioral
7
attributes using similar research methods of the transformational leadership and job
satisfaction studies (Baker; 2006; Bell, 2007; Colangelo, 2000; Dixon, 2003; Ray, 2006;
Vrba, 2008). These researchers took an objectivist epistemological stance that in turn
informed their positivist theoretical perspective in explaining their theory of followership
style and attributes. This perspective is indicated by the categorization of the theory’s
followership styles and attributes as independent and dependent variables to be used in a
quantitative research study to prove their hypothesis. The level of analysis embodied in
the theory is that of individuals and groups (Creswell, 2003; Crotty, 2003; Holton III &
Burnett, 2005).
The behavioral attributes and followership styles is observed through the lens of a
positivist theoretical perspective. This theoretical perspective quantifies and measures a
cause and effect relationship that informs a quantitative research methodology using
statistical tools to analyze the observations (Creswell, 2003; Crotty, 2003; Holton III &
Burnett, 2005).
The problem statement identifies job satisfaction, followership style and
courageous follower attributes observable behaviors that will be the subject of research.
Previous research has indicated that these attributes can best be observed, measured and
analyzed using statistical tools to determine the extent of cause and effect relationships
and the predictability of behavior (Baker; 2006; Bell, 2007; Colangelo, 2000; Dixon,
2003; Ray, 2006; Spector, 1997; Vrba, 2008).
By replicating the proven methods and philosophic assumptions in these previous
studies, the use of a factorial design (Russ-Eft & Hoover, 2005) and a multiple analysis
of variance coupled with a correlational analysis will provide an objective, measurable
8
and fixed view of how: (a) followership style as independent variables affect followership
behaviors the dependent variables, (b)followership style as independent variables affect
hotel customer-contact employee job satisfaction as dependent variables, and (c) how
followership style and behaviors as independent variables affect hotel customer-contact
employee job satisfaction as dependent variables. These tools are a proven and
demonstrated research tool in behavioral research (Henderson & Denison, as cited by
Bates, 2005). While the study is not examining all variables associated with customer
service such as facilities, location and availability of rooms, the correlational concept will
move closer in determining if there is a causality relationship between the quality of
customer service and followership style in a future research study.
In addition, Fowler (2003) stated that “the purpose of a survey is to produce
statistics that is a quantitative or numerical description about some aspects of the study
population” (p. 1). Barlett (2005) argued that survey research is used to collect
information from individuals in order to evaluate and measure organizationally relevant
constructs. Spector (1997) asserts that measurements of job satisfaction are quantitative
construct facets of attitudes and perceptions, making them perfect candidates for
statistical analysis using surveys.
Research Questions
The purpose of research questions is to specifically focus the efforts of the
researcher and provide a framework in which to design the research to address the
problem (Creswell, 2003; Swanson, 2005). The proposed research provides such a focus
9
and framework to examine the influence of followership styles and courageous follower
attributes on hotel customer-contact employee job satisfaction.
Phase 1: Research Question:
Are The Follower Profile (TFP) measured indicators of followership behavior the
same for all followership styles of hotel customer-contact employees?
Phase 1 Research Hypotheses
Hypotheses using the Kruskal-Wallis test:
Null Hypothesis 1: There is no difference in the distribution of courage to assume
responsibility, courage to challenge, courage to serve, courage to participate in
transformation and courage to leave followership behaviors for exemplary versus
pragmatic versus alienated versus conformist versus passive followership styles of hotel
customer-contact employees.
Alternate Hypothesis 1: There is a difference in the distribution of courage to assume
responsibility, courage to challenge, courage to serve, courage to participate in
transformation and courage to leave followership behaviors for exemplary versus
pragmatic versus alienated versus conformist versus passive followership styles of hotel
customer-contact employees.
Phase 2: Research Question:
What is the correlation between exemplary, pragmatic, alienated, conformist and
passive followership styles and hotel first line customer-contact employee job
satisfaction?
10
Phase 2 Research Hypotheses
Hypotheses tested using correlation and multiple analyses of co-variance (MANCOVA)
MANCOVA Analysis: DDV= demographic data as control variables
Null Hypothesis predicts that DDV will not interact with hotel customer-contact
employee job satisfaction variables.
Alternate Hypothesis: predicts that DDV will interact with hotel customer-contact
employee job satisfaction variables
Correlation Analysis
Null Hypothesis 2: There is no correlation between exemplary followership style and
hotel customer-contact employee job satisfaction.
Alternate Hypothesis 2: There is a correlation between exemplary followership style and
hotel customer-contact employee job satisfaction.
Null Hypothesis 3: There is no correlation between pragmatic followership style and
hotel customer-contact employee job satisfaction.
Alternate Hypothesis 3: There is a correlation between pragmatic followership style and
hotel customer-contact employee job satisfaction.
Null Hypothesis 4: There is no correlation between alienated followership style hotel
customer-contact employee job satisfaction.
Alternate Hypothesis 4: There is a correlation between alienated followership style and
hotel customer-contact employee job satisfaction.
Null Hypothesis 5: There is no correlation between conformist followership style and
hotel customer-contact employee job satisfaction.
11
Alternate Hypothesis 5: There is a correlation between conformist followership style and
hotel customer-contact employee job satisfaction.
Null Hypothesis 6: There is no correlation between passive followership style and hotel
customer-contact employee job satisfaction.
Alternate Hypothesis 6: There is a correlation between passive followership style and f
hotel customer-contact employee job satisfaction.
The two phases of the research study examines the relationship of followership
style and courageous follower attributes to one another and their influence on hotel
customer-contact employee job satisfaction. The first phase using the Kruskal-Wallis test,
examines whether measured indicators of courageous followership behavior is the same
for all followership styles of hotel customer-contact-employees. The second phase of the
research study first uses a multiple analysis of co-variance (MANCOVA) to determine if
participant demographics will have an effect on the dependent variable of job
satisfaction. The next step following this analysis will be to determine if using a
correlational analysis examines the correlational relationship between exemplary,
pragmatic, alienated, conformist, and passive followership styles on hotel customer-
contact employee job satisfaction.
Significance of the Study
This study will provide an in-depth view of how followership style and attributes
influences job satisfaction from the viewpoint of the follower on hotel customer-contact
employee job satisfaction. As previously stated, several other studies have demonstrated
that there is a strong relationship between followership style and attributes and leadership
12
perceptions and style and organizational performance (Bell, 2007; Deckert, 2007; and
Pitron, 2008) while some studies have been singularly focused on how transformational
leadership style has been successful in motivating customer-contact employees deliver
quality customer service in hospitals (Jabnoun & Al Rasasi, 2005); in the retail industry
(Gerhardt, 2006), and in the banking and retail food industry (Emery & Barker, 2007).
Other studies have demonstrated from the follower viewpoint how employee job
satisfaction is crucial in providing quality customer service, (Hallowell, Schlesinger &
Zormitsky, as cited by Gerhardt, 2006); Heskett, Sasser & Schlesinger, 1997;
Parasuraman, Zeithaml & Berry, 1991) but the literature is relatively silent on the
examination of job satisfaction of hotel customer-contact employees strictly from the
viewpoint of the follower. However, this research study will provide an insight of the
enhancement of hotel customer-contact employee job satisfaction through an
understanding of the influence of the employees’ followership style and key followership
behavioral attributes, provide a means of improving organizational climate and culture,
employee and leadership development and ultimately improving overall customer service
in this important sector of the service industry.
Definition of Terms
The following definitions are provided for these terms used throughout the study
to provide an understanding and context to the research and concepts presented in the
literature review.
• Alienated follower. These followers can think for themselves, are smart, but has
a great deal of negative energy. These are the organizational naysayers who view
13
themselves as mavericks, but are not team players and do not move in a positive
direction. They like to maintain the status-quo (Kelley, 1992, 2008).
• Conformist follower. These followers are sometimes known as yes-people. They
have a great deal of positive energy, but look to the leader for direction, vision and
thinking. They see themselves as doers, but are not innovative and see the leader as
always right regardless of possible negative moral consequences (Kelley, 1992, 2008)
• Courageous follower. The courageous follower (Chaleff, 2003) for the purpose
of this study is synonymous with the exemplary follower (Kelley, 1992, 2008). These
followers think for themselves, have a great deal of positive energy, but question or
challenge a leader’s decision or vision, especially if there are moral or ethical problems,
but will always provide an innovative way to accomplish the project or improve upon a
process a decision. This follower will support and sustain the leader if they buy-in to that
leader’s vision and decisions and serve as an organizational moral example. This follower
will also leave the organization if that organization’s culture violates that follower’s sense
of values, morals and ethics (Chaleff, 2003; Kelley, 1992).
• Courageous follower attributes. These attributes developed as part of the 56
item The Follower Profile (TFP) instrument (Dixon, 2003) based on a non empirical
survey developed by Chaleff, 2003) are: courage to serve, courage to challenge, courage
to assume responsibility, courage to participate in transformation and courage to leave.
• Customer-contact employee. An employee in the service industry who has direct
personal contact with a customer (Aggarwal & Gupta, 2005; Gremler & Brown, 1996;
Sergeant & Frenkell, 2000).
14
• Exemplary or star follower. These followers can think for themselves, are
smart, and have a great deal of positive energy. They will question or challenge the
leader, his or her vision and values if they think the organization is heading in the wrong
direction or in the organization or leader is engaged in activities that are in violation of
the organization’s stated values or the follower’s personal values or both. However, this
follower will always provide constructive feedback on innovative solutions to move the
organization forward or how the leader and organization can best live up to the values.
These followers are team players and will support the team so long as the team is moving
in a positive direction (Kelley, 1992, 2008).
• Follower. For the purpose of the study a follower is an organizational or group
member who interacts and reports to or accepts the authority of another group/
organizational member who is designated as a leader (Chaleff, 2003; Kellerman, 2008;
Kelley, 1992, 2008).
• Followership. For the purpose of the study, followership is the affective,
cognitive and metacognitive processes followers use in terms of style and behavioral
attributes to interact with and/or influence the designated leader (Chaleff, 2003; Kelley,
2008; Lord, 2008; Lord & Emrich, 2001).
• Implicit leadership theory. A cognitive and meta-cognitive approach in
describing follower perceptions of leadership style of their leaders based upon the
leader’s behavior towards them and the leadership style based upon behaviors manifested
by the leaders as a result of their perception of how leaders should interact with their
followers (Lord & Emrich, 2001).
15
• Job satisfaction. How employees feel about their jobs and the various aspects of
their jobs (Spector, 1997).
• Passive follower. These followers are viewed as not being able to think for
themselves and look to their leaders to motivate and direct them. They are content to
follow the direction, decisions and vision of the leader regardless where that direction
takes them (Kelley, 1992, 2008).
• Pragmatic follower. These followers are smart and can think for themselves, but
are always measuring the direction of the winds of the organizational political climate
before they will take a stand. Their focus is always on what is in it for them or what
decision will be for their best benefit (Kelley, 1992, 2008).
Assumptions and Limitations
Assumptions
The study has the following assumptions: (a) the studied organizations will
authorize the study to be conducted at the selected locations, (b) the data collection will
be based on group administration of the selected instruments, (c) the author will obtain
the willing cooperation of a stratified random sample of sufficient statistical power to
provide statistically measurable results, (d) the organizational climate and culture at each
location will be similar so as to not cause significantly changes in customer-contact
employee perceptions of job satisfaction, (e) the demonstrated statistical reliability and
validity of The Followership Survey, TFP and JSS in previous studies will remain
constant and will replicate the same statistical reliability and validity in this study, and (f)
16
normal distribution of the sample population of hotel customer-contact employees cannot
be assumed.
Limitations
The limitations to the study include sample size, selection of respondents,
demonstrated validity of the data instruments, and threats to internal validity including
possible selection-maturation interaction and selection (Ohlund & Yu, 1999) due to the
respondents for the followership and employee satisfaction instruments will come from
the same work areas. Additionally, the cultural backgrounds of customer-contact
employees who may be foreign nationals may also have an effect on their response to the
questionnaire based on their knowledge and understanding of the English language.
These cultural influences are deliberately not being considered as control variables even
though they may have an influence on the dependent variables, as some foreign born
respondents may feel reluctant to identify their ethnicity because of a concern for privacy
and their legal immigration status. Other limitations include the study may not be
generalized to other populations because the focus is solely on the perceptions of hotel
customer-contact employees.
Additionally, as there is not widespread use of the instruments involved in this
study (instrument validity and reliability notwithstanding), like the Pratt (2004) study, the
risk of hidden tautologies in the tested hypotheses may lead to meaningless correlational
analysis due to the ambiguity and complexity of the variables being tested. The self-
reporting aspects of The Followership Questionnaire and The Follower Profile may lead
to respondents answering questions in a way where they perceive that they are in a more
favorable light causing possible over reporting in certain categories. Further, as the data
17
will be gathered at one session at each location versus data being gathered over time in a
longitudinal study, the stability of the observed empirical relationships cannot be firmly
concluded.
Nature of the Study
The following is a synopsis of the nature of the study that provides a depiction of
the study’s concept and research design. In order to replicate procedures obtained in
multiple studies that examine identical variables and similar statistical tools, the research
design of this study is a hybrid of the Colangelo (2003), Ricketson (2008) and Dixon
(2003) studies. The Colangelo (2000) study examined followership style as compared to
leadership style as opposed to employee job satisfaction. While the Ricketson, (2008) and
Dixon, (2003) studiers examined courageous follower attributes and leadership level as
opposed to employee job satisfaction. Job satisfaction and courageous follower attributes
will be substituted as the dependent variables and followership style will serve as the
independent variable. A variant of The Followership Questionnaire used in the Colangelo
(2000) study and a variant of The Follower Profile from the Deckert (2007) study will be
used in this research study in order to reduce bias and provide clarity and understanding
for the instrument respondents. Details of the methodology and instrument characteristics
will be provided in greater detail in chapter 3.
In the first phase of the study, the independent variables of exemplary
followership, pragmatic followership, alienated followership, conformist followership
and passive followership (Kelley, 1992) as measured by The Followership Questionnaire
(TFQ) will be compared with the dependent variables of five followership behaviors: (a)
18
courage to assume responsibility, (b) courage to serve, (c) courage to challenge, (4)
courage to participate in transformation, and (e) courage to leave as measured by The
Follower Profile (TFP; Dixon, 2003) to determine the population distribution using the
Kruskal-Wallis test, a nonparametric version of the ANOVA and the results of the
analysis of the data.
In the second phase of the study the independent variables of exemplary
followership, pragmatic followership, alienated followership, conformist followership
and passive followership (Kelley, 1992) as measured by The Followership Questionnaire
(TFQ) will be compared with ten dependent variables of job satisfaction as measured by
the Job Satisfaction Survey (JSS; Spector, 1997) to determine any correlations and
predictability using a Kruskal-Wallis test, Pearson correlation test, linear regression, and
the results of the analysis of the data.
Organization of the Remainder of the Study
Chapter 2 will be the literature review detailing the definition and concept of
followership, followership styles and associated behaviors will be compared and
contrasted as well as an evaluation of followership at the individual, group and
organizational levels, an evaluation of the similarities and differences between the TLM
and, servant leadership with a comparison and contrasting of the leader-followers
interactions peculiar to each leadership style. Job satisfaction will be analyzed based on
the influence of leadership and followership at the individual, group and organizational
levels as well as the various methods job satisfaction is quantitatively measured.
19
Chapter 3 will detail the methodology used in the study including the research
design, sample, the setting of the study, instrumentation and measures using the, TFQ
(Kelley, 1992), TFP (Dixon, 2003) and JSS (Spector, 1997), data analysis, validity, and
reliability of the TFQ, TFP, and JSS and ethical considerations of the study. Chapter 4
will detail the results obtained in the research and chapter 5 will provide a discussion of
the conclusions reached through the analysis of the data, implications for future research
and recommendations for practice.
20
CHAPTER 2. LITERATURE REVIEW
Introduction
On playgrounds and soccer fields and other places around the world where child
play, the focus is on the leader: The captain of the team, the class president, the
homecoming queen. In the Steven Spielberg film, Saving Private Ryan, Tom Hanks
portrays an American Army Captain of Infantry leading a squad of men to find Private
Ryan, a member of the 101s Airborne Division, a sole surviving son and bring him back
home. Children as they jump rope, chant “Rich Man, Poor Man, Beggar Man, Thief,
Doctor, Lawyer, Indian Chief” outlining a path from riches to jail on one hand and
success and status on the other hand. Jack Bauer, of “24” fame, Indiana Jones on his
multiple adventures, and John Wayne, all conjure up visions of the great hero-leader, who
has come to save the day.
But children never focus on being a poor man, a beggar man, a thief or a legal
assistant, medical orderly or a lone Native-American warrior who is the last to catch the
late watch. Like children, adults in western society focus not on those that follow, but on
those that lead. Kelley (1992) is widely viewed as the seminal author on the concept of
followership. Kelley maintains that the great hero leader, a concept advanced by Carlyle
(as cited by Kelley, 1992), in which the leader is the source of all wisdom, knowledge,
power, and authority is a myth. A myth perpetuated by management schools, education
institutions, and a wide array of scholars and practitioners. Kelley argues that followers
are truly the engine of the organization and leaders use influence to get the followers to
perform in the manner they decide. The power ascribed to these leaders is what was given
to them by the followers, not the other way around. For example, in the recent crash
21
landing of US Airways Flight 1549, Captain Chesley W. Sullenberger used his skill and
training to bring the Airbus down safely on the Hudson River, but it was the flight crew
(followers) who got the passengers out of the aircraft safely and kept them calm until
help arrived. In essence, it was followers who completed what Captain Sullenberger had
started.
The literature review for this study will examine the premises of followership
style and courageous follower attributes and their influence on hotel customer-contact
employee job satisfaction by (a) analyzing and synthesizing definitions of followership;
(b) evaluating, comparing, and contrasting followership interactions and associated
behaviors at the individual, group and organizational levels; (c) evaluating, comparing
and contrasting the influences and interactions of followership styles at the individual,
group and organizational levels; (d) comparing and contrasting the similarities and
differences of the Transformational Leadership Model (TLM), servant leadership and
their influence on followers; (e) evaluating the various methods of how job satisfaction is
measured; (f) evaluating the definitions of job satisfaction; and (g) analyzing the effects
of leadership and followership styles on employee job satisfaction at the individual,
group and organizational levels.
Overview of Leadership Versus Followership-Which is More Important?
Leadership theories have used aspects of power and authority as assumptions in
defining the relationships between the leader and the follower. For example, the
Transformational Leadership Model (TLM) examines the relationship between the leader
and follower based on upon the leader’s influence and level of power sharing (Bass &
22
Avolio, 1994; Bass & Bass, 2008; Bass & Riggio, 2006) .The situational leadership
theory asserts that the relationship between the leader and the follower is determined by
the level of the follower’s job experience or maturity (Hersey & Blanchard, 1982) while
the contingency theory (Fiedler, 1967) is focused on the relationship of the leader and
follower based upon either the leader’s focus on task accomplishment or the relationship
between the leader and the follower. In the servant leadership concept, defined as leaders
willingly serve as servants to their followers, where the leader places follower interests,
personal development, and empowerment foremost in the effort to achieve a shared
vision (Greenleaf, 1977; Spears, 1998; Spears & Lawrence, 2002; Laub, 1999, as cited by
Smith, Montagno & Kuzmenko, 2004).
In terms of the interactions between leaders and followers, Northouse argued that
the situational leadership theory (Hersey & Blanchard, 1982) and the contingency theory
of leadership (Fiedler, 1967) are leadership models that predict how leaders will behave
based upon certain designated situations. These models have dominated leadership and
management theory and have determined how organization lead and treat their followers.
However, Northouse further asserted that organizations correctly focus more on
behavioral based approaches to leadership and leadership development. Servant
leadership and the transformational leadership model meet that criteria as these two
leadership models focus more on leader behavior to influence and motivate followers
versus a set formula of leadership actions based on certain situations (Northouse, 2007).
In all cases, the thrust of the cited leadership theories is based on the
organizational effects from the standpoint of the leader, while the focus on the follower is
secondary, but it can be argued that the Transformational Leadership Model and the
23
servant-leadership concept moves closer to follower focus that other leadership theories
because of the emphasis on power-sharing (Bass & Bass, 2008; Laub, 1999; Miller, 2007;
and Northouse, 2007). The one noted difference between the cited examples is the leader-
member exchange where the focus is on the dyadic relationship between the leader and
follower where both parties have the power to influence each other (Graen & Uhl-Bien,
1995; Liden, Sparrowe & Wayne as cited by Gertsner & Day, 1997; Liden, Erodgan,
Wayne & Sparrowe, 2006).
Followership as a Primary Focus
The nature of followership then is not secondary but should be a primary focus.
Because of power differential between leaders and followers and levels of responsibility
leaders have in organizations, much organizational research is focused through the lens of
leadership (Chaleff, 2003; Kelley, 1992). Brookfield, (1995) in his discussion on critical
reflection for teachers, argues that teachers have a leadership role in their classrooms,
where they are to facilitate student learning through the lenses of the teacher’s
autobiographical experiences, the student perspective, peer viewpoints, and theoretical
literature. Critical reflection occurs through the assimilation of these various perspectives
while sharing power in the classroom with the student. Brookfield further argued that true
learning and enhanced student performance occurs when a teacher truly embraces the
student’s viewpoints and willingly shares classroom power. The viewpoint of the student
to determine if student learning occurs is captured with the Critical Incident
Questionnaire (CIQ; Brookfield, 1995). In this regard, the student is the follower and by
extension in organizations outside of the classroom, this concept could provide a new
24
means of organizational relationship avenues to enhance organizational performance
where the focus is more on the follower than that of the leader (Densten & Gray, 2001;
Reynolds, 1999).
Kelley argued that after over 10,000 studies and 2500 years of research,
humankind has still failed to develop the perfect leader. The major religions have
demonstrated that followers are the true wielders of power and influence. The focus on
leaders has relegated followers to either being apprentice leaders or sheep-like
submissive subordinates, but the concept of leadership and followership actually exist
side by side. Citing the example of Cincinnatus, a Roman farmer and general who in 458
B.C. was recalled to active duty to save Rome, and rather than accept the title of Leader
of the Empire after the battle was won, went back to his farm, content to being a common
citizen. Kelley further argued the democratic experiment that became the United States of
America demonstrated the power of the common citizen, the follower (Kelley, 1992,
2008).
If there is a problem facing the nation, Kelley asserted, it is because there is a
problem of followership, not leadership. In essence, we are responsible for hiring those
who lead us. In our organizations, most people spend 70-90% of their time following and
10-30% leading since all organizational members are followers regardless of their level in
the organization. Kelley argued that followership is a process consisting of seven paths
that are reflective of self-expression and reflection and one that is shaped by relationships
with others. These paths are aligned with five distinct followership styles (Kelley, 1992).
25
Leadership, Followership and Employee Job Satisfaction
Several studies have demonstrated that the transformational leadership style is the
most successful in motivating customer-contact employees to deliver quality customer
service in hospitals (Jabnoun & Al Rasasi, 2005), in the retail industry (Gerhardt, 2006),
and in the banking and retail food industry (Emery & Barker, 2007). While other
follower-focused research has demonstrated that employee job satisfaction is crucial in
providing quality customer service (Hallowell, Schlesinger & Zormitsky, as cited by
Gerhardt, 2006; Heskett, Sasser & Schlesinger, 1997; Parasuraman, Zeithaml & Berry,
1991). One follower based study examined follower motivation and job satisfaction
among secondary schoolteachers (Webb, 2007). A few research studies have examined
the influence of followership style and attributes on organizational performance and
organizational leader behavior (Bell, 2007; Deckert, 2007; Pitron, 2008). Others have
focused on the influence of followership style and attributes on team development and or
operationalized instruments to measure followership styles and attributes (Dixon, 2003;
McSkimming, 2006). While some research studies have focused on the relationship
between leader behavior and followership style (Bearden, 2008; Beckerleg, 2002;
Colangelo, 2000; Kilburn, 2007; Vrba, 2008). However, there are few if any studies that
examine how followership style and attributes impact customer-contact employee job
satisfaction in the hotel industry.
Chaleff (2003) takes the concept of followership styles even deeper by the
development of six specific followership behavioral attributes that are aligned with the
dynamics of the leader-follower relationship. Both Chaleff and Kelley focus on the role
26
of the influence of followers on organizations through the lens of followership as the
primary versus secondary focus (Chaleff, 2003; Kelley, 1992).
Analyzing and Synthesizing Definitions of Followership
Kelley (1992) is viewed as the seminal author of followership. His work outlines
seven paths to followership and five styles of followership that will be covered shortly. In
an earlier work, Kelley (1988) argued that followers and leaders are merely roles that
people within organizations play and while these roles dominate the lives of people, only
the leadership aspect dominates the thinking, while followers and followership is
relegated into the background. Kelley asserted that an effective follower is less of a
subordinate, who waits for guidance and orders to be obeyed without question and more
of a team member and trusted advisor who is self-managed, committed to the
organization, and a principle and purpose separate from themselves, are competent and
self-improving, while applying that competence for maximum organizational effect and
have moral courage, credibility and integrity. He acknowledged that not all leaders want
these types of effective followers and would rather have passive followers who do as they
are told or those who enthusiastically support their decisions or agendas without question
(Kelley, 1988).
Kelley (2008) argued that the concept of followers being inferior, passive beings
who like a blank slate, are in dire need of the leader’s protection, direction, and
motivation in order to be effective and contribute to the organization is outdated and not
relevant to today’s organizational realities. Maroosis (2008) described followership as a
discipline, where the follower maintains a state of readiness to act and to learn by giving
27
and receiving feedback, where the leader is more like a teacher and the follower is the
learner. However, depending on the situation, the follower may become the teacher, and
the leader becomes the student. Maroosis introduced the moral component to the leader
and follower relationship where both are responsible for moral actions and thinking as
well as being partners in organizational change and being part of a transformative process
(Maroosis, 2008).
In contrast, Rost viewed followership as an irrelevant, dysfunctional, and
destructive concept in the postindustrial world. He simply defined followers as people
who follow and followership is a process that is used to follow. He contends that this
process is separate and distinct from the process leaders use to lead. He asserts that
collaborative leadership is not followership and that the use of the term follower is an
anathema to many leaders who by training, education, and culture have a very negative
perception of a follower. For many of them, an effective follower is one who does what
they are told, is loyal to the leadership, and enthusiastically carries out their instructions.
In order for the concept of followers and followership to be accepted, he asserts the terms
must be changed in order to gain positive acceptance, as many people still see followers
and leaders and followership and leadership as separate and distinct entities with no
connection and no real relevance to each other, other than their separate and distinct
organizational roles (Rost, 2008).
Atchison (2004) viewed followership and followers on the basis on what the
leader can bring to them with the followers being dependent upon the leader for
inspiration, recognition of achievements, direction, and character that inspires trust. This
view differs from that of Rost who sees no connection and Kelley who views the leader-
28
follower relationship as almost symbiotic. Kellerman (2008) argued that there is a global
awakening for followers who realize that power is not vested in the few, but is available
to the many. This does not mean that the world is descending into mob rule, but that “The
Great Man” theory of leadership is dead and that in order for societies or organizations to
be successful and thriving, leaders must be cognizant of the wants, needs and concerns of
those they lead as well as be willing to share power in terms of empowering their
followers to be co-captains of their own destiny. Chaleff (2003) takes the concept of
follower empowerment even further and asserted that if followers are to be empowered,
they must understand the power that is available to them and assume responsibility for
not only their roles, but that of their leaders.
In the 1975 edition of Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary a follower is defined as
“(a) one in the service or another; (b) one that follows the opinions or teachings of
another (and followership is defined as) the capacity or willingness to follow a leader’ (p.
446, G & C, Merriam and Company, 1975). From these definitions it can be seen that
followers are more than just those who follow or serve as subordinates in an organization.
Followers have a key role in both society and organizations and wield a measure of
influence that has an effect on the direction of a group, organization or even a society
(Atkinson, 2004; Chaleff, 2003; Kelley, 1992, 2008; Kellerman; 2008; Maroosis, 2008).
This concept leads to a working definition of a follower who is an organizational or
group member who interacts and reports to or accepts the authority of another
group/organizational member who is designated as a leader (Chaleff, 2003; Kellerman,
2008; Kelley, 1992, 2008). Followership, therefore is defined as the affective, cognitive,
29
and metacognitive processes followers use in terms of style and behavioral attributes to
interact with and/or influence the designated leader (Chaleff, 2003, Kelley, 1992, 2008,
Lord, 2008; Lord & Emrich, 2001).
Paths to Followership
Followership has been defined as the affective, cognitive and metacognitive
processes followers use in terms of style and attributes to interact with the designated
leader. Burns (1978) supports this definition by arguing that followership is activated by
a perceived want or need of the follower, who is motivated to pursue that want or need by
his or her interaction with an individual who can fulfill it. That want or need may be
power, influence, recognition, a sense of belonging, a set of values or principles, temporal
needs, wants, or spiritual fulfillment. He further asserts that the follower and leader
interaction is best defined as a relationship based upon mutuality where future motives
replace those of the present that may be already fulfilled or blocked by current
circumstances. This sense of mutuality between the leader and follower leads to a greater
sense of follower empowerment and organizational effectiveness (Bass, Avolio, Jung &
Benson, 1994; Jablin, 1980; Miller, 2007; Nahabetian, as cited by Bass & Bass, 2008;
Pelz, as cited by Bass & Bass, 2008; Ronken & Lawrence, as cited by Bass & Bass,
2008).
Both Burns (1978) and Bass and Bass (2008) have highlighted the affective,
cognitive and meta-cognitive actions that motivate individuals to become followers.
These motivations are viewed as being framed through the lenses of self-expression,
personal goals, relationships, and self-transformation (Kelley, 1992). Kelley asserted that
the lens of self-expression is used by individuals who walk the loyalist or lifeway paths to
30
followership. The dreamer and apprentice paths are used by those whose paths to
followership are shaped by personal goals. Those individuals whose paths to followership
are based on relationships use the comrade or mentee paths. Those that seek to transform
themselves follow the disciple path to followership. Kelley further argued that these
individual motivations fly in the face of conventionally held paradigms that maintain that
people follow because of a leader’s motivation or vision. Figure 1 demonstrates how
these seven paths to followership and the lenses of perception are characterized:
Figure 1. Seven Paths to Followership
31
Kelley asserted some people are motivated to contribute their skills and abilities
toward achieving organizational goals, are for the most part comfortable with their
accomplishments, talents and current lifestyle. These individuals generally view
followership through the lens of expressing oneself. One path is that of the loyalist. This
is based on a deep emotional commitment to another where the follower is in a position
of trust and confidence, where there is a bond of integrity and a one-to-one relationship.
The other path is that if the lifeway, where the individual chooses this path out of
personal preference. Kelley argued that this follower’s motivation is simply to serve
others and the primary interest is for another versus self. This may manifest itself as
others being content to be in the background supporting and encouraging others on their
road to success. They are happy to be where they are and they need no more. Kelley
referred to this metacognitive concept as enoughness (Kelley, 1992).
The next lens is that of personal relationships. Kelley argued that some
individuals treasure interpersonal relationships more than the pursuit of goals and dreams.
The strength and bond of friendships and group interaction have more personal meaning,
provide more motivation, and provide more intrinsic rewards than any extrinsic ones.
One path is that of the comrade. The bonds between comrades are forged by life changing
circumstances. Examples include students in a rigorous doctoral program, those engaged
in life threatening occupations such as law enforcement, firefighting and the military, or
those who are working together for a good cause such as a medical team or a sports team
at a championship game. Kelley explained that the affective, metacognitive and cognitive
processes that evolve around comradeship are based on the intimacy associated with
belonging. In this case, it is not the leader where most of the interaction occurs, it is
32
relationships and interactions between the followers themselves. In contrast, Kelley
asserted that the mentee has a developmental and emotional one on one relationship with
the leader. The follower in this instance surrenders himself or herself to the influence of
the leader. The developmental aspect is not that of skills, but of personal maturation and
the mentor then can shape and direct the skills of the mentee to the achievement of
personal satisfaction and growth (Kelley, 1992).
The next lens, asserted Kelley, is one that is shaped by personal goals. These
individuals have a sense of drive to achieve a life’s goal. This motivates them to seek
paths of followership that serve as a vehicle to achieve these goals. One path is that of the
apprentice. Unlike the mentee where the focus is relationships and personal maturation,
the apprentice seeks to develop and improve skills that will assist him or her in
succeeding in the chosen profession. This focus includes learning from a skilled leader
who will assist the apprentice to succeed in his or her learning. In the case of the military
as an example, the follower is an apprentice leader, learning to follow in order to learn
how to lead, thus satisfactory service at each lower level leads to positive consideration
for elevation to the next level. The other path is that of the dreamer. Unlike the
apprentice, the dreamer is focused solely on the dream, with the leader taking a secondary
role or no role at all. The only guiding force for the dreamer, according to Kelley is the
achievement of the dream itself. Kelley refers to this affective process as internalization.
If the goals of the dreamer and organization coincide, then there is a good fit. If the goals
do not coincide, then there is conflict and in many cases for the follower, disappointment
and a change of careers to one that coincides with the dream (Kelley, 1992).
33
The final lens is that of self-transformation and the path of discipleship, where
unlike the mentor to mentee relationship, the teacher passes on a body of knowledge to a
group of students and the maturation is not personal or emotional, but intellectual instead.
Discipleship follows the metacognitive process of identification. The disciple want to be
part of something larger than themselves and give up who they are to become part of
something better and more important that their individual selves. At the organizational
level, disciples serve as valuable transporters of organizational knowledge and culture
and can serve as missionaries to others carrying forth messages of organizational change
from the leadership (Kelley, 1992).
Followership Interactions, Attributes, and Styles
Much has been said, written and researched about leadership styles, attributes and
the interactions leaders have with their followers, but, strictly through the lens of the
leader’s perspective. For example, in the situational leadership model (SLM; Hersey &
Blanchard, 1982) where the influence of the leader is important in follower development
in accomplishing designated tasks, the premise behind the SLM is that leadership
behavior and style can be predicted based upon the developmental or readiness level of
the follower and the difficulty of the task to be performed. In another example, the
contingency theory (Fiedler, 1969) like the SLM predicted leadership style based on
situations and like the SLM, there is a variable that includes task structure. However,
unlike the SLM, the contingency theory does not examine the developmental level and
willingness of the follower to complete the task. The contingency theory includes the
variable of the position power of the leader and the relationship the leader has with the
34
follower. The position is based on the official and legal authority the leader has to mete
out rewards and punishments to the followers. Leader-follower or leader-member
relations (LMR) are the attitude and feelings that exists between the leader and the
follower(s) (Fiedler, 1969).
There is little to no focus on the attitudes, perceptions or effective/ineffective
followership style from these examples. The key to understanding the effect followers
have on leaders and organizations is to first examine the nature of follower-leader
interactions and secondly examine positive and negative behavioral attributes of
followers (Kelley, 1992; Lord, 2008).
Follower-Leader-Interactions
Chaleff asserted that followers operate on four different levels in terms of their
interactions within organizations. Chaleff argued that on the first level, the follower is a
dedicated “other focused” servant serving internal and external organizational
stakeholders. On the second level, the follower juggles the ability to simultaneously serve
themselves, organizational leaders, internal, and external stakeholders with no apparent
conflict of interests. On the third level, followers turn towards being completely self-
serving, ignoring the needs of organizational stakeholders, while serving themselves and
organizational leaders. Chaleff argued that at this level, the seeds of organizational failure
are planted. At the fourth level self-serving behavior of the follower can be described as
unethical and/or immoral behavior. It is at this level the follower only serves the leader
while permitting that leader to engage in unethical and/or immoral behavior that harms
the organization and its stakeholders, while at the same time engaging in the same
behavior themselves (Chaleff, 2003).
35
With these levels of follower organizational interaction as a backdrop, Kellerman
(2008) posited why people follow. Kellerman (2008), citing Freud from his book Moses
and Monotheism, reported that Freud asserted people follow for four reasons. The first
reason is that people have a strong need for authority that, secondly, is derived from our
earliest relationship with a strong dominant male figure, usually the father. Third, people
follow because of the connection between one’s need for authority and the need for
religion deriving from our first submissive relationship to parents. Finally, people follow
because of the nature of power relationships where there is envy and admiration on one
hand and loathing and fear on the other (Kellerman, 2008).
In contrast, Kellerman argued that people follow because of human desires such
the need to belong, having a sense of togetherness, being loved and having a sense of
safety and community. She asserted since humans are social creatures, the need for group
belonging is strong, hence the desire to follow other followers and playing the part of the
follower meets at least some of those needs and it is in one’s best interest to do so. In
essence, “followers follow not only because it is in their interest to conform to their
leaders, but also it is in their interests to conform to their fellow followers… [by
providing]…crucial reference points” (Kellerman, 2008, p. 56).
Kellerman’s argument suggests that the nature of followership is behavioral based
and dependent on the social, emotional and temporal needs of the follower (Kellerman,
2008). In contrast, Chaleff agreed that the nature of followership is behavioral, but he
argues that unlike Freud, who asserts that in a secular way, human beings are seeking
some type of higher authority to obey and follow, human beings are socialized from early
childhood to conform to obey and be compliant and submissive. In some cases,
36
nonconformity to this rigid societal framework can bring punishment or being ostracized.
Here, the follower-leader relationship is like that of parent to child, where the follower is
dependent and who cannot relate to the leader on an equal footing. He maintained it is
natural for human beings to seek to be courageous followers who retain their own sense
of being, the right to be wrong and the right to retain their own interpretations of their
own experiences and perceptions (Chaleff, 2003).
Kelley supported this premise in his argument that leadership can only take
followers so far. He maintained that people have power that is inherently theirs to
improve themselves, maximize their potential and build upon the talents and abilities that
are also inherently theirs. In essence, people naturally follow, to learn, grow, strengthen
and build up themselves, their organizations and the people around them and are eager to
engage in those behaviors to bring those things to pass, provided they can break free of
the socialization processes that have trapped them (Kelley, 1992).
Townsend and Gebhardt in their examination of leadership, teamship and
followership, argued that the nature of the relationships between leaders, teams and
followership indicate that leadership is not a position, but a behavior. By extension,
followership, like leadership is a behavior versus being a position. This view of
followership suggested affective and cognitive components to followership where the
follower establishes a framework for their own understanding of events and their social
world (Townsend and Gebhardt, 2003). This process or sensemaking often dictates how
followers perceive the leadership style displayed by their leaders and determines how
they will react to those perceptions (Lord, 2008). The implicit leadership theory (Lord &
Emrich, 2001), strengthened this assertion by arguing that leaders display the leadership
37
style that they do, because, they perceive that the behaviors associated with that style are
proper, effective and in keeping with the perceptions of the position power they wield.
However, followers engage in metacognitive processes and develop constructs of
perceived leadership style, based upon their observations of the behaviors displayed by
their leader or leaders (Lord & Emrich, 2001).
In essence, leadership behavior is a function of the environment that includes a
social relationship and perception of the leader with the follower, the task involved, the
context of the nature of the task, the feedback provided from the task accomplishment,
and the follower. The leader can influence organizational learning by having situational
awareness of the factors that align organizational performance with social and safety
needs of the followers. This in turn, requires the leader to know and understand his or her
followers in order to obtain that awareness (Chaleff, 2003; Kelley, 2008; Lord & Emrich,
2001; Townsend & Gebhardt, 2003).
Lord and Emrich further argued that followers gain their perception of their
leaders through observation of the leader’s behavior and linking that observation to their
mental definition of the leader’s style or type. The leader on the other hand, behaves in a
certain fashion based upon his or her perception of their personal implicit leadership
theory. The authors posited that cognitive and metacognitive processes of both leader and
follower are not separate but linked together. These cognitive and metacognitive
processes then drive both the leader in influencing the followers and the followers in
either completing or not completing the tasks assigned to them by the leader (Lord &
Emrich, 2001). When these processes are not synchronized, the result is the leader loses
38
influence and control of the organization and the followers pursue goals that may not be
in the interest of the organization, leading to disastrous results (Kelley, 1988).
Dvir and Shamir (2003) echoed Lord and Emrich’s argument and asserted that
leaders that demonstrate charismatic leadership must also demonstrate value congruence
with their followers in order for them to be effective and that effective leadership is
dependent upon the match between a leader’s identity, values, and the cognitive
structures erected by the followers (Lord, Brown & Freiberg, 1999; Shamir & Howell, as
cited by Dvir & Shamir, 2003).
In an examination of transformational leadership, and follower personality,
Schyns and Felfe (2006), argued that on the theoretical level, followers perceiving their
leaders as transformational tend to share those same characteristics. Their assumptions
are based on the evidence from three separate areas of research. The first is leader
prototypicality is defined as the leader’s displays attributes defining the group and
represents the identity of the group (van Knippenberg, van Knippenberg , de Cremer &
Hogg, as cited by Schyns & Felfe, 2006). This concept was demonstrated by the work of
Hains, Hogg and Duck (as cited by Schyns & Felfe, 2006) and van Knippenberg, Lossie
and Wilke (as cited by Schyns & Felfe, 2006) who found when group membership is
important, followers perceive the leader as more effective and can exert more influence
on followers than leaders who do not share the same group membership. The second is
contagion where followers who have similar personalities as the leader are more likely to
share the same perception of the leader than those who do not (Meindl, 1993; Schneider,
as cited by Schyns & Felfe, 2006). The last concept is that of assumed similarity where
followers who tend to share certain leadership characteristics tend to see those same
39
characteristics within their own leaders (Cronbach, 1955; Watson, Hubbard & Wise, as
cited by Schyns & Felfe, 2006).
The premises advocated by Schyn and Felfe (2006) were tested in a mixed
methods study by Ehrhart and Klein (2001). In this study of 267 college students, the
authors examined eight follower characteristics “achievement, risk-taking, self-esteem,
need for structure, intrinsic work value, and extrinsic work value, interpersonal; relations
work value, security, work value and participation work value…”(Ehrhart & Klein, 2001,
p. 157) and three leadership styles “charismatic, relationship-oriented and task-oriented”
(Ehrhart & Klein, 2001, p. 157).
The authors found that followers that were focused on high achievement had
positive correlations with charismatic and task oriented leaders, but negative correlations
with relationship oriented leaders. Followers that exhibited risk taking characteristics
showed a positive correlation with charismatic leaders, but negative correlations with
relationship and task oriented leaders. Followers that described themselves as having high
self-esteem had positive correlations with charismatic and task-oriented leaders, but
negative correlations with relationship oriented leaders. Followers who indicated a need
structure showed negative correlations with charismatic and relationship oriented leaders
and a positive correlation with task-oriented leaders. Followers who valued intrinsic work
values such as work challenges; taking the initiative and taking responsibility showed
positive correlations with charismatic and task-oriented leaders. No hypothesis was made
concerning the relationship-oriented leadership style (Ehrhart & Klein, 2001).
Ehrhart and Klein found that followers who valued extrinsic work values such as
work hours, compensation, and fringe benefits showed a positive correlation with task-
40
oriented leaders. There were no hypotheses tested with charismatic and relationship-
oriented leadership styles. Followers who valued the quality of interpersonal work
relationships showed positive correlations relationship and task-oriented leaders. There
was no hypothesis tested with the charismatic leadership style. Followers that valued job
stability and security had positive correlations with relationship and task-oriented leaders.
Finally, followers who displayed a high participation work value exhibiting influence,
sharing decision making, and working for the mutual benefit for the organization, showed
positive correlations with charismatic and relationship-oriented leaders, but there was no
hypothesis tested task-oriented leadership style (Ehrhart & Klein 2001).
The results of the Ehrhart and Klein (2001) study were validated by Dvir and
Shamir (2003) whose longitudinal field study of 90 non-commissioned officers and 729
recruits of the Israeli Defense Force revealed that the follower developmental constructs
motivation, empowerment, and morality resulted in a change in leader behavior based
upon follower shared perceptions of transformational leader attributes. However, in
some cases the relationship became negative if leaders perceived that the followers who
were outside of the direct supervision were shown to be independent, innovative and
critical and thus posed a threat to that leader’s leadership. This negative relationship
resulted in a suppression of transformational leader attributes, both in actions by the
leader, and perceptions by the indirect followers (Dvir & Shamir, 2003).
Lord argued that the influence followers have on organizations is seen in the
premises of the complexity theory where structures spontaneously arise because of the
interaction between units. In the interactions between followers and leaders, emergent
internal structures arise as followers build their own self-perceptions or develop
41
perceptions of others. These emergent internal structures given rise to multiple internal
and external emergent strictures outside of formally established organizational structures
that build upon existing informational networks and collective knowledge structures that
are informal, yet weld power of their own, outside of the formally established
organizational power structure (Carver & Scheier, 2002; Cilliers, 1998: Sparrowe &
Liden, as cited by Lord, 2008). This phenomenon can best be observed by the election of
a new Governor or President, who along with their new political appointees, have to cope
with, and deal with, the existing bureaucracy and the permanent civil servants who build
new networks or strengthen existing ones to maintain as much of the status quo as
possible.
Followership Attributes Not Associated with Followership Style
Effective Followers
The literature has shown that the interactions between followers and leaders are
not simple and are indeed complex and have far reaching consequences for organizations.
Lundin and Lancaster (1990) argued that leaders and organizations must establish an
environment and culture that embraces the concept of empowered followership. Lundin
and Lancaster asserted that in essence, helping organizational members to develop or
strengthen those follower attributes that will enhance their ability to develop their
abilities and make positive contributions to the organization. The authors further argued
that effective followers have four key attributes. The first is integrity. While this is both
an individual and organizational value, integrity for the follower, according to the
authors, is both a demonstration of loyalty and acting according to one’s beliefs. The
42
second attribute is own the territory, meaning gaining and building an understanding of
the organization and the contributions they make to the operational and strategic goals of
the organization. The third is that of versatility. This means that the follower must
demonstrate flexibility in both upgrading and modifying their skills to meet
organizational needs and being adaptable in addressing the waves of change they may
face. The final attribute is that of self-employment. This means that the follower must
assume personal responsibility for their personal development, careers, and actions,
leaving them in a position to be effective followers while providing viable openings for
other career options (Lundin & Lancaster, 1990).
Followership Attributes as a Group
Kellerman (2008) identified followership attributes that are more group
descriptors than that of an individual group member. However, these descriptors may
apply to one individual who bands together with other like minded people. One example
is this activist follower type.
Activists
Using the backdrop of the sexual abuse of young boys by Catholic priests in the
Boston area and the subsequent cover-up by Church authorities, Kellerman described the
rise of the group called the Voice of the Faithful to illustrate her point. She asserts that
activists are followers who are determined to be change agents. Activists demonstrate as
a group they care deeply about their leaders, in the sense they are solidly behind them or
they want them to go. Activists are engaged, have a great deal of energy, and are
extremely passionate. They are extremely involved in their cause, people and attendant
43
processes and will work very hard to support and sustain their leaders or to take action to
oust them (Kellerman, 2008).
Diehards
The next follower group, Kellerman describes, is diehards. Using the backdrop of
Operation Anaconda, a military combat operation that occurred early in the war in
Afghanistan, Kellerman examines the hardened Al Qaeda fighters and the United States
military, specifically senior and junior leaders within the 10th Mountain Division of the
United States Army. Diehard followers are described as those who are willing to die if
necessary for a cause or an individual idea or even both. Diehards demonstrate deep
devotion to their leaders or like activists will work to remove them. However, unlike
activists, diehards will go to extremes using any means necessary to remove those
leaders, if required. These followers are defined by the level of dedication, their
willingness to sacrifice their all, up to and including their own lives to the idea or cause.
Being a diehard, according to Kellerman is all consuming, determining who you are and
what you do (Kellerman, 2008).
Participants
Another follower group, Kellerman describes is the participants. The author used
the backdrop of the legal difficulties faced by the drug manufacturer Merck over the drug
Vioxx to illustrate this concept. Participants are described by Kellerman as being
engaged, but not to the same extent as an activist or diehard. It is clear that participants
either clearly favor their organization, cause, or leader or they do not. However, they are
willing to make some effort, no matter how small, in order to have an impact, but not to
44
the same level of commitment as an activist or diehard, especially when it comes to
undermining or ousting a leader.
Bystanders
Finally, the last follower group is that of the bystander. Using Nazi Germany and
the atrocities of the Holocaust as a backdrop, Kellerman describes bystanders as those
followers who may observe what is occurring within their organizations or society, but
make a deliberate decision to not engage. They participate with their leaders or group in
the activity that constitutes the status quo, but the disengagement of the bystander, in
effect, is giving tacit approval to their activities and behaviors that are occurring
(Kellerman, 2008).
Negative Follower Attributes: The Dark Side of Followership
From Kellerman’s descriptors of the follower group attributes of the bystander,
participant, activist, and diehard, one can see that connection of follower-leader
interaction where the follower may choose to either ignore leader behaviors or activities
or embrace them in varying degrees of support and loyalty or oppose them in the same
varying degrees. Opposition may be in the form of subtle sabotage of the leader to
outright mutiny where the leader’s life may be in jeopardy in a bid to oust him or her by
the follower group Kellerman, 2008). The literature has provided some research and
theory on toxic leadership or destructive leadership styles and their attendant attributes.
However, the literature is largely silent on the negative side of individual follower
attributes, where a toxic leader may be upheld and enabled by the followers or efforts
taken by the followers to undermine or destroy the leader. The literature cited examples
of petty tyranny, abusive supervision, narcissistic leadership, autocratic leadership,
45
negative charisma and pseudo-transformational leadership have been described in terms
of behavioral attributes, organizational effects and influence on followers (Ashforth,
1994; Bass & Steidlmeier, 1999; Clements & Washbush, 1999; Conger, 1990; and
Schmidt, 2008). Other authors have looked at the specific behavioral aspects to what is
termed dark leadership
McIntosh and Rima assert that all leaders have dark sides. It is that lack of
acknowledgement of these dark attributes that ultimately lead to leader derailment. The
attributes of narcissism, negative charisma and the attendant effects of manipulation,
deception, arrogance, emotional illiteracy, mirroring, and lack of integrity (Clements &
Washbush, 1999, Sankar, 2003; and Leslie & Velsor, 1996) are all symptoms of the dark
leadership tendencies. The negative charisma, or narcissism, didn’t just flair into
existence in a leader; it was the result of some traumatic event that led to a hierarchal
need being met. The manifestations of the behaviors characterized by dark leader
attributes are the attempts of that individual to overcompensate for those unmet needs
through the repayment of existential debts. This repayment manifests itself as those dark
leader behaviors. The emotional explosion is one such manifestation of those behaviors
(McIntosh & Rima, 1997).
By extension, it would stand to reason that if there are dark leaders, there must be
dark followers. Kellerman (2008) alludes to this by her description of the negative
aspects of bystanders, participants, activists, or diehards through their own behavior
providing strong support for the actions and behaviors of the dark leaders. The Enron and
Salomon Brothers scandals, terrorist suicide bombers and the mass suicide of the
followers of Jim Jones in Guyana are such examples. The influence of these dark leaders
46
immediately impact organizations through the actions of that leader’s followers. The
actions of the followers of these dark leaders are known as dark followership (Howell &
Avolio, 1992; Raelin, 2003; Kellerman 2004). However, there is little research to support
the concept of dark followership since so much focus is on the leadership side of the
follower-leader interaction (Clements &Washbush, 1999).
However, authors such as Kellerman have provided some contributions to the
body of knowledge on the subject of bad followership. She argues that if a follower (a)
chooses to remain passive and uninvolved; (b) supports an unethical, immoral, abusive
and inefficient leader; or (c) opposes an ethical, moral and effective leader, then that
follower is engaged in bad followership (Kellerman, 2008).
Clements and Washbush go even further in describing six specific behavioral
attributes or more specifically behaviors associated with a dark follower type, drawing of
the work of Kets de Vries (as cited by Clements and Washbush, 1999).
The Controller
The first behavioral type is the controller. The controller sees the world in terms
of dominant and submissive relationships as a leader, the controller would be micro-
managing and autocratic, but as a follower, the controller would do anything ordered by
his or her superiors regardless of the consequences and would be ingratiating and
extremely deferential when dealing with individuals that are in higher authority. The
behavior of the controller is defined by their position in the organizational hierarchy. The
controller is unwilling to provide critical and objective feedback to the leader as they feel
that this is not their place or job to do so (Clements & Washbush, 1999).
47
The Histrionic
The authors described the second dysfunctional follower type as that of the
histrionic. The histrionic have a desperate need to draw attention to themselves regardless
of the costs. These followers overreact to external stimuli and allow the desires and
moods of others to define their behavior. Like controllers, they respond positively to
strong authority figures, are very impressionable, and demonstrate strong loyalty
particularly to charismatic or transformational leaders. The histrionic will not provide
critical and objective feedback to the leader because they may feel this may upset the
leader (Clements & Washbush, 1999).
The Passive-Aggressive Follower
The third dark follower type described by the authors is that of the passive-
aggressive follower. While outwardly this follower may appear to be compliant and
obedient, inwardly they are a seething cauldron of anger, resentment and pessimism.
Their outward behaviors make them difficult to confront, especially when they engage in
covert resistance and sabotage of the leader’s efforts. The passive aggressive follower
will not provide the leader any critical objective feedback, because that will not play into
their need to covertly resist (Clements & Washbush, 1999).
The Dependent Follower
The fourth dark follower type the authors described is that of the dependent
follower. Dependent followers are those individuals who have strong unmet dependency
needs. As a result they attach themselves onto those individuals who can meet those
needs, to include the need for constant direction. These followers may be willing to
sacrifice anything, to include reality; in order to have those needs met. The dependent
48
follower will intentionally place themselves in a dependent situation so that they can be
followers. These types of followers will be unwilling to provide their leaders with critical
feedback for fear of endangering their dependent status (Clements & Washbush, 1999).
The Masochistic Follower
The authors describe the fifth dark follower type as that of the masochistic
follower. This follower will intentionally place themselves in positions so that others can
take advantage of them, accept blame for outcomes and things for which they are not
responsible and view their hard luck as positive emotional reinforcement. Some may
view them as the classic martyrs. The masochistic follower will not provide objective and
critical feedback to the leader, as this may deprive them of positive feedback in the event
something goes wrong (Clements & Washbush, 1999).
The Machiavellian Follower
The final example cited by the authors is that of the Machiavellian follower
(Christie & Geis, as cited by Clements & Washbush, 1999). These followers are
dangerous to leaders and the organization as they tend to be sycophants who purposely
deprive the leader of critical feedback in order to enhance their own position, power and
organizational political standing, while setting up their current leader for failure and
removal. Like the other dark follower types, Machiavellian followers are unwilling to
provide the leader critical objective feedback, but unlike the other dark follower
attributes, these followers view any corrective action taken by the leader, as a means to
thwart their plans to set the leader up for failure and/or jeopardize their own quest for
power or enhanced organizational political position (Clements & Washbush, 1999).
49
Followership Styles and Associated Behavioral Attributes
Chaleff (2003) and Kelley (1992) have developed defined followership styles that
have identifiable behavioral attributes. In addition these behavioral attributes have been
operationalized as empirical constructs and used quantitative instruments.
As part of workshop activities, Chaleff developed a non-operationalized 20 item
self-reporting survey with a 6-point Likert scale that determined the extent the respondent
was a courageous follower by examining the extent the respondent exhibited loyal and
enthusiastic support to the leader and the extent the respondent challenged the leader
when that leader’s behavior and/or policies proved to be harmful to the organization or
was in violation of organizational values (Chaleff, 2003). The Follower Profile (Dixon,
2003) is a 56 item quantitative instrument that operationalized Chaleff’s survey and
measured the six constructs of courage to serve, courage to challenge, courage to assume
responsibility, courage to participate in transformation and courage to leave. More detail
on Dixon’s instrument will be provided later in chapter 3.
Kelley (1992) developed a 20 item 6-point Likert scale self-reporting instrument
(The Followership Questionnaire - TFQ) respondent followership style and the strength
of follower skills as well as follower attributes that stand in need of improvement. More
detail on this instrument will be provided later in chapter 3.
Chaleff’s Followership Styles
Chaleff (2003) viewed followership two dimensionally. The first dimension was
the extent followers loyally and enthusiastically supported their leader(s) and the second
dimension was the extent the follower challenged the leader when that leader’s behavior
and/or policies proved to be harmful to the organization or was in violation of
50
organizational values. These dimensions posited the author, are divided into four
quadrants that are defined by Quadrant 1 which viewed followers as high support and
high challenge; Quadrant 2 which views followers as high support and low challenge,
Quadrant 3 as low support and high challenge and Quadrant 4 as low support and low
challenge. Within each of the quadrants, there are four distinct styles that fall into each
dimension. In Quadrant 1, the partner provides enthusiastic support for the leader, but
will question the leader’s policies or behaviors if it is perceived that those policies or
behaviors may prove harmful to the organization or are in violation of organizational
values. The attributes of this style include confronting sensitive issues, purpose driven
and mission focus and viewing authority in terms of peer relations. In Quadrant 2, the
implementer will enthusiastically support the leader and carry out their duties but are
unlikely to challenge their leader. Attributes of this style include being respectful of
authority, dependable and an advocate of the leader’s policies and behaviors. In Quadrant
3, the individualist has little regard for the leader and will not hesitate to question or
criticize the leader’s polices or behavior. Attributes of this style include being a reality
checker, confrontational and being not being intimidated by authority. In Quadrant 4, the
resource is the individual who just does their job, nothing more, nothing less. They are
focused on things other than the organization and are uncommitted to either the leader or
the organization. Attributes of this style include complaining to third parties about
organizational issues, only contributing the bare minimum for work requirements and
studiously avoids the attention of authority (Chaleff, 2003). The dimensional relationship
of these followership styles and their attendant behavioral attributes are depicted in
Figure 2.
51
Figure 2. Dimensional relationship of followership styles
High Support
Quadrant 2 Quadrant 1
"IMPLEMENTER" "PARTNER"
Dependable Purpose-driven
Supportive Mission-oriented
Thoughtful Risk-taker
Advocate Cultivates Relationships
Defender Holds self and others accountable
Team Oriented Confronts sensitive issues
Compliant Focuses on strengths and growth
Respectful of Authority Peer relations with authority
Low Challenge High Challenge
Quadrant 4 Quadrant 3
"RESOURCE" "INDIVIDUALIST"
Present Confrontational
Available Forthright
Extra pair of hands Self-assured
Brings specific skills Independent thinker
Uncommitted Reality-checker
Primary interests lie elsewhere Irreverent
Executes minimum requirements Rebellious
Makes complaints to third parties Self-marginalizing
Avoids the attention of authority Unintimidated by authority
Low Support
From "The Courageous Follower: Standing Up to and For Our Leaders," By I. Chaleff, 2003, pp. 41-43. Copyright, 2003 by I. Chaleff.
Chaleff’s Follower Behavioral Attributes
Chaleff views follower-leader interaction as a symbiotic relationship. The
courageous follower is the image partner in the Quadrant 1. The courageous follower,
according to Chaleff exhibits five specific behavioral attributes. The first attribute is the
courage to assume responsibility. This behavioral attribute is characterized as (a) eliciting
honest constructive feedback from leaders, colleagues and other stakeholders about
performance and value based behavior. This 360 degree feedback is essential in enabling
52
the follower to recognize opportunities for improvement and strengthen organizational
relationship; (b) engaging in personal growth through critical reflection (Brookfield,
1995), in order to recognize dark behaviors and attributes so that they may be overcome;
(c) shows passion about their work, the organization and the stakeholder being served,
bringing excitement and energy to the workplace; (d) strives for balance in their lives so
that they are not overwhelmed by the demands of both home and work; (e) takes the
imitative. If things need to be done, the courageous follower doesn’t worry about whose
job it is, or that someone else will take care of the problem. If it will serve the
organizational and its stakeholders, the effort is taken to take the necessary action without
waiting for instructions; (f) influences the organizational culture, by adhering to his or her
own values, respecting the values of the current organization, but providing positive
suggestions and example for others to embrace new values that enhance organizational
commitment and service to stakeholders; (g) sometimes breaks the rules within their own
sphere of influence in order to improve service to stakeholders and enhance
organizational effectiveness. Essentially following the old saw “It is better to ask
forgiveness than permission”; (h) breaks the organizational mindset by providing
evidence that information that challenges current organizational assumptions and enables
the leadership to examine fresh information that can lead to improved organizational
performance and better service to stakeholders; (i) improves processes through active
advocacy for flawed processes that impede effective stakeholder service and
organizational performance and provides constructive suggestions on improving
processes that may be redundant or outdated; and (j) testing new ideas through
advocating for pilots to demonstrate their effectiveness and efficacy (Chaleff, 2003).
53
Chaleff argued that the second attribute is the courage to serve. This attribute is
characterized and includes: (a) conserving the leader’s energy. This is done by enabling
the leader to make choices about actions or activities that allow their own lives to go out
of balance and providing the leader information that is based on fact and is as accurate as
possible, avoiding wasting the leader’s time with rumor and idle gossip; (b) manages the
communications process so that the organization and stakeholders have a clear
understanding of intent and messages throughout the organization and to external
stakeholders; (c) managing and acquiring leader access. is a delicate balance with
safeguarding the leader’s time and ensuring the leader hears important organizational
information; (d) managing crises through effective value centered crisis preparation,
supporting the leader, or acting leader, throughout the crisis, unburdening the leader of
extra or normal duties and reaffirming the sense of purpose of the group; (e) not being
afraid to admit when you don’t know and take the necessary actions to find out; and (f)
building natural and sustainable relationships with leaders so that the leader and the
common organizational purpose are served. The third attribute is that of having the
courage to challenge. This attribute is characterized by (a) using nonthreatening skillful
open-ended non judgmental questions that encourage introspection about the leader’s
behavior and leadership style and methods; (b) preparing a leader for feedback by using
defusing statements that convey both honesty and respect and are linked to specific
outcomes; (c) providing the leader feedback through value free statements that highlight a
specific behavior and the effects and future consequences of that behavior or action if it
continues; (d) providing the leader input on actions or decision already made through
focusing on future actions and involving key stakeholders in the decision process; (e)
54
avoiding “knee-jerk rejection” by proving a brief observation and recommendations to
the leader and providing room for the leader to think about the proposal so that the
subject may be broached at a later time; (f) overcoming groupthink by providing
evidence based information that challenges the status quo while providing well thought
out recommendations for consideration by the group; (g) obeying the leader even if the
follower’s recommendations were not followed, unless the decision is unethical or
immoral, then the follower has a duty to challenge the decision; (h) standing up to
abusive language and arrogant behavior by the leader, by firmly and respectfully in a
private place confronting the leader about the language and behavior and offer
alternatives that can be used so that the leader is not embarrassed or feels threatened to
include an agreement on engaging in acceptable language and behavior; and (i) privately
and tactfully confronting those whose personal behavior is threatening the reputation of
the organization and violates its values (Chaleff, 2003).
Chaleff asserted that the next attribute is the courage to participate in
transformation. This attribute places the follower in the position of being a change agent.
However, the transformation that Chaleff refers to is not organizational change or
transformation; it is personal change or transformative behavior of followers and leaders
from behaviors that endanger the common purpose and violates organizational and
personal values. Chaleff asserts that this type of transformation is one of transforming
behavior and attitudes. This involves an awareness of one’s core personality shaped by
life’s experiences, environment, and sense of reality and identity. This core ordering
process shapes who and what we are and is not easily changed. The core ordering process
is affected by new environments, crisis, and challenges. If there is too much of a threat,
55
the person seeks to address it using old processes based on their own sense of reality and
experience. If that effort fails, then physical, mental, and/or emotional breakdown may be
the result. The pain from this breakdown becomes a clear signal that a change in core
ordering processes is urgently needed. This pain leads to fear of the personal changes that
have to take place, but change is possible if the leader realizes that resistance to change is
a natural fluctuating process where openness to experimentation to new behaviors and
integration of realistic and achievable outcomes are major factors in making positive
behavioral change. Followers have a major role in being change agents or catalyst for this
behavioral change. They have a choice to enable the dysfunctional behavior, allow the
leader to self-destruct by doing nothing or facilitating a pathway to acceptable behavior
(Chaleff, 2003).
In order to be effective, Chaleff, further argued that followers have to be willing
to undergo a self-reflective process themselves to bring about positive behavioral change
within themselves and establish credibility with the leader. This change will certainly
bring about frustration as the leader realizes that the behavior is dysfunctional and they
are confronted with it. Chaleff maintains that the follower must assist the leader in
channeling this frustration and recognize they will have to face reactions such as anger by
the leader when they are confronted that they do need to change for the benefit of
themselves and the organization. Followers must also be cognizant of delaying behaviors
such as justification of the end as a reason for the behavior or denial that a problem even
exists or transference of responsibility to others as reasons for the behavior. Followers
should assist the leader by suggesting outside resources or an outside facilitator to help
with the change process. But above all, Chaleff asserts followers should be
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compassionate and empathic in the process, while modeling the appropriate behavior
themselves and validating the leader as a good person, but being persistent in helping the
leader through the change process (Chaleff, 2003).
The final follower attribute Chaleff asserted is the courage to take moral action
that Dixon (2003) refers to as the courage to leave. Chaleff outlines several aspects of this
attribute that go beyond simply leaving an organization. Chaleff outlines several aspects
of this attribute that go beyond simply leaving an organization. Chaleff asserts that this
attribute is the one that takes more courage than any of the other attributes combined
because of the risk it poses to the follower. Leaving an organization certainly is an
extreme move. Chaleff argues that taking a moral stand when an organization is engaged
in actions that unnecessarily risk human life, health and safety for expediency’s sake,
violate the tenets of common decency, sacrifice stakeholder needs, concerns, basic
service, ignores the rule of law, overrides the common good in favor of the needs of
special interests and undermines the organization’s common purpose. Leaving an
organization requires extraordinary courage for the follower as there is little to no
personal benefit to disobey the order, question the assignment, defy the unreasonable
leader, resigning or threatening to or blowing the whistle. In fact in many cases, followers
have endured harsh treatment, being ostracized within their profession, fired and
subjected to public humiliation for taking moral action (Alford, 2008). However, Chaleff
asserts that the follower must weigh these risks through self- examination, reviewing
personal and organizational values and developing personal and financial contingencies
to protect themselves in the event they either have to leave the organization voluntarily or
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involuntarily (Chaleff, 2003), in essence following the principle of self-employment
advocated by Lundkin and Lancaster (1990).
However, Chaleff strongly argued that followers have a moral duty to oppose evil
and immoral behavior, but using a balanced and vigorous approach to oppose it, while
being cognizant and being prepared for actions that may be taken against them in reprisal
for their opposition, especially by those leaders and enabling followers in positions of
greater power and authority than themselves. Chaleff cautioned that if followers choose
to stay and fight from within, especially if the follower feels that the price to leave is
simply too high to pay, then the follower must be aware that they have the responsibility
to either make incremental changes to mitigate the damage and victimization the leader
and/or organizational actions or policies are taking. Also, the follower must be aware that
by staying they may be accused of giving tacit approval to the harmful behavior or policy
and that stating that because of their position, they had no choice but to follow, will not
stand up in a court of law, public opinion or on moral grounds. In essence, Nazis accused
of war crimes tried to use the “they were only following orders” pleas as a defense, were
not successful either (Chaleff, 2003).
Research on Chaleff’s Concepts
As previously indicated, Dixon (2003) developed a 56 item 6-point Likert scale
instrument that operationalized Chaleff’s (2003) instrument into five constructs defining
followership in terms of Chaleff’s (2003) five behaviors associated with the courageous
follower, specifically, (a) courage to assume responsibility; (b) courage to serve; (c)
courage to challenge; (d) courage to participate in transformation; and (e) courage to
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leave. The behaviors were then taken and the research conceptualized in terms of these
two hypotheses:
“Null Hypothesis: There is no difference in measures of follower behavior
relative to organizational level.”
“Alternate hypothesis: Measures of follower behavior change with organizational
level” (Dixon, 2003, p. 41).
Dixon (2003) asserted that level of followership increases as one rises in the
organizational hierarchy based on the rationale that leaders must demonstrate good
followership in order to be promoted. By extension, Dixon argues that measures of
followership are more evident the higher one goes in the organization. Dixon further
asserts that Chaleff’s (2003) premises about the framework of followership behaviors for
courageous followers are measurable and that the sum of these behaviors constitutes a
measure of followership.
The objectives of Dixon’s research were to determine if followership is indeed
measurable and if there is a relationship between followership and an employee’s level
within the organization. Dixon posits that according to Adam’s equity theory
subordinates within organizations devote less energy to responsibility and work to lower
their status within the organization. However, if their expectations are raised, then higher
performance will result (Adams, Gibson, Ivancevich & Donnelly, Hollander &
Offermann, Vanderslice, as cited by Dixon, 2003). These expectations would be in the
form of defining followership in terms of stewardship, behaviors associated with shared
power and influence and proactive actions to improve organizational performance and
adherence to values, not as passive subordinates who only do as they are told, have no
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role in decision making and have no power or influence. Dixon further argued that the
higher status accorded to followers will reap dividends to the follower and greater
organizational contributions (Dixon, 2003).
The sample population in the Dixon study was 364 engineering and technology
employees from seven to ten organizations consisting of government contracting and
industrial organizations. Using TFP, the response rate was 44% with a 99% completion
rate of the instrument. The results of the study demonstrated that for four out of the five
behaviors measured if follower behavior did change with organizational level. In this
case, the executive level employees had higher mean response scores in all five behaviors
than the other three levels comprising middle level managers, supervisors and operational
staff. The operational staff had lower scores in all categories than the other organizational
levels. Scores ranged from 4.18 to 3.81 for executive employees in comparison to 3.39 to
3.60 for operational level staff. The scores for the middle level managers and supervisors
scores were relatively close statistically, 3.58 to 3.88 and 3.59 to 3.96 respectively with
actual supervisor scores in each category demonstrating slightly higher numbers. The
behavioral attribute of courage to participate in transformation did meet the null
hypothesis with scores reflecting mean response of 3.81 for both executive and
supervisor level employees and 3.74 and 3.66 for middle level and operational employees
respectively (Dixon, 2003).
Criterion and construct validity and instrument reliability were established for The
Follower Profile instrument. Specific details of the statistical values for validity and
reliability will be discussed in chapter 3.
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In a quantitative study of fast food restaurants with sample population of 80
hourly employees and 21 managers, Ricketson (2008) examined the relationship of
leadership styles using the Transformational Leadership Model (Bass, 1990; Bass &
Avolio, 1994; Bass & Bass, 2008; Bass & Riggio, 2006) and measuring transformational
leadership, transactional leadership and laissez-faire leadership using the Multi-factor
Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ; Bass & Avolio, 2004) and courageous followership
attributes (Chaleff, 2003) as measured by The Follower Profile (Dixon, 2003).
Leadership styles served as the independent variables and courageous followership
attributes served as the dependent variables.
Ricketson, with permission of Dixon (2003), modified The Follower Profile
instrument for greater readability and translated into Spanish for employees whose
primary language was Spanish. The author found that although there were no significant
correlations with transformational leadership style and courageous follower attributes,
there were positive correlations indicating positive relationships in terms of the
interactions between mangers who displayed a transformational leadership style and
followers who exhibited courageous follower attributes. This relationship was posited by
the author to lead to higher levels of productivity and increased employee job
satisfaction. The research indicated that there was no significant statistical relationship
between the transactional leadership style and the courageous follower attributes.
However, the results did show that followers did have a higher positive correlations for
the attribute of the courage to take moral action (r=.214) than the other attributes and
negative correlations for the courage to assume responsibility (r= -.096) and the courage
to challenge (r=-.089) indicating a relationship where the followers were more likely to
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take a position different from their leader and were more willing to quit their
employment. For laissez-faire leaders, there were negative correlations for the
relationships with all five follower attributes, indicating that this relationship could lead
to lower employee productivity and lower employee job satisfaction (Ricketson, 2008).
In a modification of the Dixon (2003) study, Ray (2006) examined the low
technology environment of North Carolina community colleges. The sample population
was the 57 schools comprising the North Carolina Community College system (N =
1168). One school served as the pilot study to test the validity of the instruments. The
independent variables were three levels of leadership, Level One comprising the senior
college leadership (N= 73), Level Two, comprising college middle management (N=
403) and Level Three comprising first line leadership of the colleges (N= 692). The
research hypotheses were that “Ho= followership behaviors and hierarchal levels are not
related and Ha = followership behaviors and hierarchal levels are related” (Ray, 2006, p.
41).
Ray found that the mean response for the courage to assume responsibility
attribute indicate the greater the hierarchal level the greater the demonstration of this
attribute, (4.038, versus 3.868 versus 3.777. This finding indicates that at each hierarchal
level, the leader perceives that he or she has the obligation, by virtue of their position, to
assume more responsibility. For the courage to serve attribute, there were statistically
significant differences between each level. While each level exhibited positive mean
responses, Level 3 had a lower positive response (3.806) than the other two levels and
Level 2 had a lower positive mean response than Level 1 (3.945 versus (4.196). The
author posited that in the lower levels, these leaders were more involved in taking care of
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the next level supervisor to some extent. For the courage to serve attribute, all three levels
exhibited positive mean responses with Level 3 demonstrating a lower positive mean
response than the other two levels (3.758 versus 3.937 versus 4.089) indicating a culture
where the lower the level of leadership, the greater the reluctance to challenge the next
level. For the courage to participate in transformation attribute, there were no statistically
significant differences between groups, by all mean responses were positive (4.092,
versus 4.002 versus 3.901 indicating reluctance at all levels to engage in organizational
change and to serve as change agents, while recognizing there is a need for change. For
the courage to take moral action there was an increase of means response between each
level with a significant statistical difference between Level 1 and Level 2 (4.003 versus
3.811) Level 1 and Level 3 (4.003 versus 3.713). These results indicated that the greater
the level the greater the display of the attribute to take moral action, indicating the
perception that the higher the level, the more a leader has the power and authority to take
moral action. In essence Ray’s findings supported the research of Dixon indicating that
for the most part, the greater the hierarchal level of the leader, the greater the
manifestation of courageous follower attributes (Ray, 2006).
Kelley’s Followership Styles
As previously indicated, Kelley (1992, 2008) like Chaleff (2003) have served as
the seminal authors for the importance of recognizing the influence of followers within
organizations and the concept of followership as a companion versus being an appendage
of leadership. While Chaleff viewed followership in terms four styles contained within a
two dimensional framework divided into four quadrants, Kelley takes a more hierarchal
approach to followership styles based on behavioral attributes and interactions with the
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leader, group, and organization and cognitive abilities based on independence of thought
and critical thinking. Kelley’s first concept of followers is based on their outward
demonstration of action towards leaders, groups, and the organization, which is defined
as follower active or passive engagement. The second half of Kelley’s concept is the
extent followers are independent critical thinkers and the extent they are dependent
uncritical thinkers. Independent and dependent being defined as the extent the follower
thinks for himself or herself versus the extent they allow the leader to do their thinking
for them as it relates to their direction, assignments, opinions, values and organizational
status, organizational goals, objectives, and direction.
Kelley divides followership into five distinct styles. Exemplary or star followers
are highly independent critical thinkers, have a great deal of positive energy, but
question, or challenge a leader’s decision or vision, especially if there are moral or ethical
problems, or if they feel the organization is heading in the wrong direction, but will
always provide an innovative way to accomplish the project or improve upon a process a
decision. This follower will support and sustain the leader if they buy-in to that leader’s
vision and decisions and serve as an organizational moral example. They are also team
players and will support the team so long as the team is moving in a positive direction,
but also will take action to facilitate the positive direction and not sit on the sidelines.
Exemplary followers will leave the organization if that organization’s culture violates
that follower’s sense of values, morals and ethics (Kelley, 1992). These followers share
many of the same behavioral characteristics of Chaleff’s partner followership style.
The second style is that of the alienated follower. Kelley argued that individuals
characterized by this style are also independent critical thinkers, but have a great deal of
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negative energy. These are the organizational naysayers who view themselves as
mavericks, but are not team players and do not move in a positive direction. They like to
maintain the status-quo. They will not offer constructive criticism, but will highlight the
problem while offering no innovative solution and withholding their effort to solve the
problem (Kelley, 1992). This style shares many of the behavioral characteristics of
Chaleff’s individualist followership style.
The third followership style is that of the conformist. Kelley asserted that
followers who exhibit this style are sometimes known as yes-people. They are not critical
thinkers but have a great deal of positive energy and are dependent upon the leader for
direction, vision and thinking. They see themselves as doers, but are not innovative and
see the leader as always right regardless of possible negative moral consequences
(Kelley, 1992). This followership style shares many of the behavioral attributes of
Chaleff’s implementer style.
Kelley asserted that the fourth followership style is the passive follower also
referred to as a sheep. Followers who exhibit this style are not critical thinkers and like
the conformist they are not innovative and are dependent upon the leader to motivate and
direct them. These followers are content to follow the direction, decisions, and vision of
the leader regardless where that direction takes them, but display no opinion of the leader
one way or another and display neither positive nor negative energy (Kelley, 1992).
These followers exhibit many of the behavioral attributes ascribed to Chaleff’s resource
follower style.
The final followership style Kelley describes has no corresponding followership
from Chaleff’s model. The style is known as the pragmatist. Followers who exhibit this
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style are independent critical thinkers, but are completely self-centered who are always
measuring direction of the winds of the organizational political climate before they will
take a stand. Their focus is always on what is in it for them or what decision will be for
their best benefit (Kelley, 1992). Figure 3 graphically depicts the relationships of those
followership styles to independent critical thinking and dependent uncritical thinking on
the Y axis and passive and active follower leader interactions on the X axis.
Figure 3. Followership styles
From “The Power of Followership”, by R. E. Kelley, 1992, p. 97. Copyright 1992 by R.E. Kelley
Kelley argued that by using The Followership Questionnaire, one can determine
through this self-reporting mechanism what followership style best describes them. The
questionnaire, through the scoring protocol, outlines where each followership style falls
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in terms of scores for active engagement and critical thinking. The instrument consists of
twenty questions using a 6-point Likert scale that measured the level of active
engagement (the X axis) and critical thinking (on the Y axis). Followership styles are
then assessed based on the scores obtained from the survey. Table 1 outlines this
relationship (Kelley, 1992).
Table 1. Relationship of Followership Style to Followership Questionnaire Scores
Followership Style
Independent Thinking Score
Active Engagement Score
Exemplary High High Alienated High Low Conformist Low High Pragmatist Middle Middle Passive Low Low
Note. From “The Power of Followership”, by R. E. Kelley, 1992, p. 97. Copyright 1992 by R.E. Kelley
Research on Kelley’s Concepts
Several studies have examined Kelley’s followership styles using The
Followership Questionnaire. Beckerleg (2002) examined the extent of followership styles
perceived by a random stratified sample of 600 elementary and secondary Minnesota
school principals. The purpose of the study was to determine the extent these educational
leaders exhibited these followership styles based upon their personal demographic
characteristics and temperament. This quantitative study used three instruments to obtain
the data. The Followership Questionnaire (Kelley, 1992) was used to measure
followership style, Keirsey Four Types Survey (Keirsey, as cited by Beckerleg, 2002)
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was used to measure individual temperament (Idealist, Rational, Guardian and Artisan)
and the Administrative Demographic Survey (Beckerleg, 2002) was used to determine
the respondent demographic characteristics such as age, gender, educational level,
experience etc. The dependent variables were the five followership styles and the
independent variables were the four temperament styles and eleven personal demographic
characteristics. The research revealed that 86.7% of the respondents self-reported
themselves to be exemplary followers, while 13.7% of the respondents identified
themselves as pragmatists. The results indicated positive correlations and established
relationships using Chi-Square test between exemplary and pragmatist followership
styles all categories of temperament and three of the personal demographic characteristics
(number of staff supervised, annual salary and highest degree attained). There were no
statistically significant positive correlations and established statistical relationships
between followership style and the remaining eight personal demographic characteristics
of gender, age, years of experience, previous positions held, type of community, school
district size, level administered, and student population (Beckerleg, 2002).
The second study (Colangelo, 2000) examined whether there was a significant
statistical relationship between the immediate leader’s leadership style as measured by
the Leadership Effectiveness and Adaptability instrument (LEAD; Hersey, as cited by
Colangelo, 2000) and followership style as measured by The Followership Questionnaire
based on four specific behavioral attributes.
Colangelo, using the situational leadership theory (SLT) examined followership
as a product of influence of leadership style, specifically an analysis of task and
relationship behavioral aspects of the SLT and active versus passive engagement and
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independent critical thinking versus dependent uncritical thinking strictly through the lens
of organizational goal achievement versus any interaction or relationship between the
follower and the leader, though he does argue that there is a shared relationship between
leaders and followers where both share the responsibility for organizational success or
failure. The author sought to determine the differences between the levels of influence of
democratic versus autocratic versus laissez-faire leadership styles have on the
followership style of those they supervise (Colangelo, 2000).
The setting of Colangelo’s research study was the College of Enlisted
Professional Military Education and a stratified random sample of 567 United States Air
Force enlisted respondents samples were obtained from three out of five enlisted
leadership schools from three separate locations in the United States Air Force in Europe
(USAFE). The author conducted a factor analysis to establish and confirm the statistical
validity and reliability of The Followership Questionnaire. Some minor changes were
made in order to improve readability and reduce confusion in responses, and the author
added two additional dimensions to followership not contained in the original instrument,
these dimensions were passion and team-mindedness. These two dimensions were
defined as the level of a follower’s enthusiasm in aligning their personal goals with
organizational goals and the extent that followers assisted others in achieving
organizational goals respectively. Dependent variables were the four specific
followership attributes; active engagement, critical thinking, passion and team
mindedness and independent variables were the democratic, autocratic and laissez-faire
leadership styles (Colangelo, 2000).
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The results of Colangelo’s study revealed that respondents who had autocratic
leaders scored them significantly lower on the followership components of active
engagement, passion and team mindedness than those who had democratic leaders at the
.02, .00 and .02 significance levels. Respondents with laissez-faire leaders had no
significant differences in scores on all four followership components as compared to
autocratic or democratic leaders. The author concludes that although there is a significant
statistical relationship between leadership style and the four components of followership,
there is not sufficient evidence to determine if it is causal relationship (Colangelo, 2000).
Pack (2001), in a mixed methods study on nurses examined: (a) the predictability
of followership styles based upon collaborative leadership attributes, (b) whether the five
followership styles are equally frequent among the sample population, and (c) whether a
particular followership was more predominant among nurses than the others and if the
predominant followership style has a relationship with collaborative leadership. Like the
studies of Beckerleg (2001) and Colangelo (2000), Pack examined followership through
the lens of a particular aspect of leadership. However, in this case Pack viewed
followership in the context of collaboration and mutual influence and she examined
leadership as a construct of collaborative behaviors, processes and structure (Chrislip &
Larson, as cited by Pack, 2001) that seeks more to achieve organizational goals through
dialogue and mutual collaborative effort between leaders and followers versus being
more directive in nature (Pack, 2001).
The other major difference from the studies of Beckerleg (2002) and Colangelo
(2000) is the focus of the influence of followership style on leadership and follower-
leader interaction versus the influence of leadership style on followers in terms of
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follower behavior and achievement of organizational goals. The Pack (2001) study used
The Followership Questionnaire (Kelley, 1992) as modified by Colangelo to measure
followership style by adding the constructs of passion and team-mindedness to that of
critical thinking and active engagement (Pack, 2001).
In a convenience sample of 125 nurses throughout the eastern United States, in
the qualitative portion of the study, Pack sought to obtain perceptions of how they viewed
the concept of followers as an open-ended question added to The Followership
Questionnaire (Kelley, 1992). Collaborative leadership was measured using the Working
Together: A Profile of Collaboration Questionnaire (Chrislip & Larson, as cited by Pack,
2004). Like the followership instrument, an open-ended question to obtain the
perceptions of the respondents to describe the one change needed to improve the
effectiveness of collaborative efforts (Pack, 2001).
The author’s qualitative portion of the study in terms of followership revealed that
four common themes describing followers emerged: “(1) lack of initiative, (2) passive (3)
unable to make decisions (and) (4) implied lack of initiative” (p. 162). These results are
supported in the literature concerning the common negative perceptions associated with
the terms follower and followership. The reported frequency of these themes were 4 no
responses and 121 responses. Frequencies based on sentence responses were 32
respondents indicating the term follower implied a lack of initiative, 14 respondents
indicating the term follower meant a lack of initiative, 17 respondents indicating the term
follower meant a passive person, 8 respondents indicating that the term follower meant
they were unable to make decisions, 25 respondents indicated that the term follower also
implied having leadership qualities. Shorter responses of less than a sentence indicated 14
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respondents viewed the term follower as passive, 5 respondents viewed the term follower
in a negative light, and 6 respondents viewed the term follower in a positive light (Pack,
2001).
In the quantitative research portion of Pack’s study, the dependent variables were
the followership constructs of active engagement, critical thinking, passion and team-
mindedness. The independent variables of collaborative leadership were divided into five
constructs, “(1) context, (2) structure, (3) members, (4) process and (5) results” Pack,
2001, p. 138).
In terms of the relationships of demographic data to followership constructs, the
results of Pack’s study indicate that critical thinking had a positive relationship to age and
technical expertise. Correlation results with p= .05 and **=.01 showed high positive
correlations, ranging from .988 to .817, between the followership variables of active
engagement and team-mindedness all variables of collaborative leadership and moderate
to low correlation values, ranging from .761 to .186, for the followership variables of
critical thinking and passion and all variables of collaborative leadership (Pack, 2001).
In terms of statistical predictors, Pack found that the followership variable,
passion, demonstrated to be a better predictor of collaborative leadership than the other
followership variables. Colangelo (2000) had eliminated Question 12 of The
Followership Questionnaire instrument because it had highly loaded the factors of team-
mindedness and active engagement. Pack compared the results of Colangelo’s study by
conducting an additional analysis using 125 nurses in Michigan. The results of this
additional analysis revealed that by including Question 12, the only predictors of
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collaborative leadership was active engagement and team-mindedness, validating
Colangelo’s results (Pack, 2001).
Because of the self-reporting aspect of The Followership Questionnaire, and the
social desirability factor as reported by Kelley (1992), Pack’s study revealed that the
results of the reported followership styles of the respondents may be skewed. 117
respondents or 93.6% reported themselves to be exemplary followers. Six respondents, or
4.8%, reported themselves to be pragmatists, one respondent, or .08%, reported to be
conformist and one respondent, or .08%, reported to be a passive follower. No
respondents reported to be alienated followers (Pack, 2001). These results mirror the
results in Colangelo’s (2000) and Beckerleg’s (2002) studies that revealed that an
overwhelming number of survey respondents reported that they were exemplary
followers.
Leadership Concepts and Followership
In the previous section, the literature outlined how followership styles and
attributes influenced interactions within groups, organizations and between leaders.
Theoretical models of leadership such as the situational leadership theory (Hersey &
Blanchard, 1982) and the contingency theory of leadership (Fiedler, 1967) have
determined the way leaders lead and how organizations have approached leadership
development over several years. Both the ‘situational leadership’ and ‘contingency
theory’ models of leadership are predictive, meaning that the leader’s style could be
predicted based on a certain designated situation. Whereas, now the current focus of
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organizations centers on a more behavioral based approach to leadership and leadership
development (Northouse, 2007).
Organizations throughout the world have sought the ideal behavior based
methodology and paradigms to strengthen leaders and organizational leader development
efforts (Bass & Bass, 2008). The foundation of which is the establishment of an
organizational culture that builds on positively motivating and influencing organizational
members while simultaneously building the foundation for enhancing organizational
performance (Schein, 2004). Schein further asserted the primary organizational culture
embedding mechanisms are leader based. The follower-focused activities included in
these mechanisms are coaching, deliberate role modeling, teaching, allocation of rewards
and promotions (Schein, 2004). This premise is in contrast to the view that followers
exert more influence on organizations and groups than do leaders (Chaleff, 2003;
Kellerman, 2008; Kelley, 1992).
These support activities tie into the concept that leadership is a focus of group
processes where there is an interaction between two or more group members involving
the structuring or restructuring of a situation and group member perceptions and
expectations (Bass, 1990; Bass & Bass, 2008). Burns (1978) argued that leadership is an
interaction between two or more group members where one is a leader and the others are
followers closely mirrors Bass’ concept of leadership. This leader-follower interaction,
according to Burns, is an inducement of the followers by the leader to accomplish
specific goals that is a reflection of the motivations and values of both the leader and
follower(s) (1978). This indicates that leader-follower interaction is mutual based on a
common moral framework and organizational purpose (Burns, 1978).
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This concept of leadership proposed by Burns (1978) is applicable to two
leadership theories, transformational leadership defined as the engagement or interaction
of two or more persons, defined as the leader and follower(s), resulting in both leaders
and follower(s) raising each other to higher planes of motivation and morality (Burns,
1978). The second concept is that of servant leadership defined simply as leaders
willingly serve as servants to their followers, where the leader places follower interests,
personal development, and empowerment foremost in the effort to achieve a shared
vision (Greenleaf, 1977; Spears, 1998; Spears & Lawrence, as cited by Smith, Montagno
& Kuzmenko, 2004; Laub, 1999; Spears, 2004). Both approaches focus on the behavioral
relationship with the leader, the follower, and the influences on them and the
organization, but from differing perspectives. An analysis of both leadership concepts
will provide an understanding of the similarities and differences and the following
synthesis of the best of both concepts will provide a model for use by organizations and
practitioners.
Analysis of Transformational and Servant Leadership Concepts
Transformational Leadership Model
The common component of both theories is that of moral leadership. This
concept, argued Burns, is one of shared leader and follower power, values, needs and
aspirations. The leader openly provides followers with alternatives and provides the
followers the opportunity to choose those alternatives and finally, the leader fulfills his or
her commitments to their followers, their organizations and to society in general. Other
authors have also argued that authentic leadership must have a moral component (Conger
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& Kanuungo, 1998; Greenleaf, 1977; Kouzes & Posner, 1993; Wren, as cited by Bass &
Steidlmeier, 1999). This moral component was expanded into the transformational
leadership model where the authentic transformational leader is viewed as one with a
moral foundation centered upon legitimate values (Bass, 1990; Bass & Steidlmeier,
1999).
In addition to the moral leadership component, the ‘transformational leadership
model’ is centered upon the behavioral relationship between the leader and followers, as
well as, the influences on them and the organization where the leaders and followers raise
one another to higher levels of morality and motivation (Burns, 1978). Burns further
argued that the transformational leader engages the follower a whole person, while
looking for their potential motives and seeking to satisfy their higher needs. This
relationship of mutuality between the leader and follower as argued by Miller (2007)
citing Burns (1978) results in the conversion and elevation to followers into leaders and
influences leaders to become moral agents. In essence, Miller (2007) and Burns (1978)
asserted that the transformational leader looks beyond the task, but has in mind the
mutual development of the followers and the needs of the organization, while focusing on
a higher moral and ethical plane.
Bass took the Burns concept of the transforming leader a step farther. The
transformational leadership model is a broad base concept. Transformational leaders are
strong positive role models for their followers. They are engaged in positive
organizational change, they are visionary, looking beyond the horizon for organizational
opportunities for success and they are the architects of positive changes in the
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organizational culture so that employees are empowered and are motivated to achieve
(Bass, 1985).
Flood, Hannan, Smith, Turner, West, and Dawson supported this concept citing
Bass (1997) and Burns (1978) and assert the authentic transformational leader looks
beyond their immediate self interest in goal achievement and focuses on doing the right
thing while motivating followers to strive for higher order outcomes while accomplishing
more than what is expected (Flood, et al., 2000). Bass (1985, 1990) formalized Burns’
(1978) concept of the transformational and transactional leader into a theoretical model
called transformational leadership model.
The model contains seven factors and three components: ‘transformational
leadership’, ‘transactional leadership’ and ‘laissez faire leadership’. The first four factors
describe the leader-follower interactions of the transformational leader and three factors
describe the leader-follower interactions of the transactional leader. The category of
laissez-faire leadership describes the absence of leader-follower interaction. Seltzer and
Bass (1990) citing Burns (1978) argue that Burns viewed transformational and
transactional leadership as opposite ends of a continuum whereas Bass (1985) conceived
both to be independent unidirectional dimensions where transformational leadership built
upon and was an augmentation to transactional leadership.
In this regard, transformational leadership leader-follower interactions contributed
to follower satisfaction, effectiveness and effort, while producing higher levels of
follower performance and effort than could occur solely by a transactional approach
alone (Dvir, Eden, Avolio & Shamir, 2002; Sarros & Santora, 2001). The leader-follower
interactions of transactional and laisez-faire leadership are outside the relevant continuum
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of leader behavioral interactions that are relevant to those described by servant leaders
are not part of this discussion, however, the leader-follower interactions of
transformational leadership are (Russell & Stone, 2002; Smith, Montagno & Kuzmenko,
2004).
As stated previously, transformational leadership consists of four factors. These
factors are: (a) idealized influence - is described by several authors as ethical charisma
(Conger & Kanuungo, as cited by Parry & Proctor-Thomas, 2002; Howell & Avolio,
1992; Kanuungo & Mendonca, as cited by Bass & Steidlmeier, 1999; Parry & Proctor-
Thomas, 2002). Bass and Avolio (1994), Bass and Bass (2008) and Bass and Riggio
(2006) asserted that leader-follower interactions demonstrated through in several ways.
Leaders engage in ethical and moral behavior, and through follower identification, their
followers emulate the leader behavior. The leader is respected, trusted and admired. The
leader shares the same risks as his or her followers; followers are treated consistently
versus in an arbitrary manner with their needs considered ahead of those of the leader.
The leader shares power and refrains from using it for personal gain and uses the power
to benefit the follower and/or the organization; (b) inspirational motivation – in this
factor, leaders provide challenging and meaningful work for the followers, which in turn
generate follower enthusiasm and optimism. This work motivates and inspires the
followers through a greater sense of espirit de corps. Leaders provide clear performance
expectations of their followers; engage the followers in building a shared vision and goals
and commits to that shared vision and goals; (c) intellectual stimulation – in this factor,
the leader challenges followers to be innovative and creative. The leader challenges old
paradigms, old processes and procedures. The leader solicits and encourages new
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innovative ways from followers to solve problems without publically criticizing their
ideas, suggestions or mistakes (Bass & Avolio, 1994; Bass & Bass, 2008; Bass & Riggio,
2006).
The final factor, (d) individualized consideration - leaders serve as coaches and
mentors to their followers to develop and encourage them. Leaders delegate tasks and
provide the followers with new learning opportunities in order promote growth and
experiences tailored to their individual differences, needs and desires. In order to enhance
follower confidence, the leader provides a supportive role. In addition, the leader takes
genuine interest in the follower as an individual versus being an organizational member.
The leader demonstrates genuine care and concern about the follower, (Avolio, Bass &
Jung, 1999; Bass & Avolio, 1994; Bass & Riggio, 2006).
Servant Leadership
As previously indicated servant leadership was defined as leaders willingly serve
as servants to their followers, where the leader places follower interests, personal
development, and empowerment foremost in the effort to achieve a shared vision
(Greenleaf, 1977; Laub, 1999, as cited by Smith, Montagno & Kuzmenko, 2004; Spears,
1998; Spears & Lawrence, 2002). Russell and Stone (2002) citing Nair argue that service
and not power is the core of a higher standard of leadership. Burns (1978) supported this
argument by asserting leaders may be holders of power, but there is a distinct difference
in terms of personal interactions; power wielders may treat people as things while a true
leader may not. “(In essence)…naked power wielding can be neither transactional nor
transforming, only leadership can be” (Burns, 1978, p. 20). Greenleaf (as cited by Laub,
1999) argues that servant leaders use their power to promote the good of their followers.
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Greenleaf (as cited by Smith, Montagno & Kuzmenko, 2004), viewed as the
seminal author of servant leadership asserted that servant leadership is other-focused
versus self-focused on status or power, where the servant leader is characterized by
specific personal attributes and the influence on followers. DePree argues that servant
leadership is not a position but a fulfilled task where the leader is willing to follow as
well as lead. Through this process, the leader allows him or herself to become vulnerable
through personal accountability (as cited by Laub, 1999). Laub (1999) as part of his
servant organization model, defines servant leadership more comprehensively as
understanding and practicing leadership that places the welfare of the follower over
leader self-interest, by promoting the value and development of the follower, building the
community, practicing authenticity and sharing power and status to develop followers
and promoting organizational and stakeholder common good. While DePree (1992)
asserted some key attributes of the servant leader through his observations, Spears (as
cited by Russell & Stone 2002) synthesized Greenleaf’s writings, to provide a more
detailed listing of attributes associated with servant leadership. These attributes are: (a)
listening, (b) empathy, (c) healing, (d) awareness, (e) persuasion, (f) conceptualization,
(g) foresight, (h) stewardship, (i) commitment to follower growth, and (j) community
(Russell & Stone, 2002).
In the development of an empirical model to evaluate servant leadership and the
servant organization, Laub (1999) developed six attributes as constructs and based upon
the listing synthesized by Spears (1998). These constructs are: (a) values people: the
leader believes in his/her followers and places their needs before their own. The leader is
receptive to the input of their followers, refrains from judging and listens to their
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followers; (b) develops people: the leader provides the follower with opportunities for
growth and learning. The leader models appropriate behavior while offering
encouragement and affirmation; (c) build community: the leader develops strong personal
relationships while collaborating with others. The leader is tolerant and values diversity;
(d) displays authenticity: the leader displays openness and is accountable to others. The
leader is willing to learn from others while maintaining trust and integrity; (e) provides
leadership: the leader is visionary, takes the initiative and clarifies goals; and (f) shares
leadership: the leader facilitates a shared vision while sharing power and releasing
control. The leader shares status and promotes his or her followers. The constructs
developed by Laub (1999) provided a more effective conceptual comparison with
transformational leadership construct than other servant leader empirical models (Smith,
Montagno & Kuzmenko, 2004).
Analysis of Transformational Leadership and Servant Leadership
There are many similarities but some differences in the transformational and
servant leader concepts. In general, both concepts share the concept of moral leadership
as described by Burns (1978), but differ in the approach to leader-follower relationships.
Greenleaf (as cited by Smith, Montagno & Kuzmenko, 2004) argued servant leader
leadership is centered upon the attributes of the leader and the influence on the followers,
whereas in transformational leadership, is characterized by leader-follower interactions
where there is more a mutual beneficial influence resulting from those interactions (Bass,
1990, Burns, 1978; Miller, 2007).
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In the first factor of transformational leadership, idealized influence, it speaks to
moral and ethical leader behavior being emulated by the follower. In addition, leaders
place the needs of the follower before themselves, selflessly sharing risks, while fairly
treating their followers and sharing power, or using it to benefit their followers the
organization, but not for their personal gain. The transformational leader’s ethical
charisma determines the level of their followers’ respect, admiration, and trust (Bass &
Avolio, 1994; Bass & Bass, 2008; Bass & Riggio, 2006).
In contrast, none of the factors of servant leadership describes any leader
attributes that are equivalent to ethical charisma. In fact, the focus of servant leadership is
not so much as follower reaction, but how the leader treats the follower. The other
previously described leader-based interactions of idealized influence are components of
values people, displays authenticity, and shares leadership. However, servant leadership
is restricted to power sharing versus including some type of limited exercise of power. In
addition, risk sharing is not a component of servant leadership (Smith, Montagno &
Kuzmenko, 2004).
In the second factor of transformational leadership, inspirational motivation, the
leader’s focus is generating motivation, enthusiasm and espirit de corps by providing
meaningful and challenging work for the followers. In addition, the leader is visionary
and facilitates shared goals and vision with followers, while committing to them. In
contrast, servant leadership while not addressing the work aspect, follower motivation in
any of the constructs, does share the concept of facilitating a shared vision and goal
clarification in the provides leadership and shared leadership constructs (Bass & Avolio,
1994, Bass & Bass, 2008; Bass & Riggio, 2006; Smith, Montagno & Kuzmenko, 2004).
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In the third factor of transformational leadership or intellectual stimulation, there
is no equivalent component in servant leadership with the exception of the values people
construct, which addresses valuing and not critically judging follower input.
In the fourth factor of individualized consideration, the leader grooms and
develops the followers, empowers them through delegation and opportunities for learning
and advancement, and shows genuine care and concern for them as individuals. In
contrast, the servant-leader uses the constructs of values people, develops people,
provides leadership, and shares leadership (Smith, Montagno & Kuzmenko, 2004).
In the servant leadership build community construct, there is a holistic approach
in the leader providing service and building meaningful collaborative relationships with
the larger community and society, whereas the transformational leader constructs only
deals with the leader’s organization. Finally, in the authenticity construct of the servant-
leader, the leader is vulnerable by being personally accountable and open with others,
displaying a willingness to learn while maintaining trust and integrity. In the final
comparison of these constructs, personal accountability can indirectly be referred to
through the idealized influence; inspirational; motivation; intellectual stimulation and
construct of transformational leadership as an aspect of moral leadership (Laub, 1999;
Smith, Montagno & Kuzmenko, 2004).
In essence, according to Schein, organizational culture is the foundation by which
organizations can positively motivate and influence its members while enhancing
organizational performance. Schein further argued that the primary mechanisms for
organizational culture are leader based (Schein, 2004). Leadership style is considered part
of that mechanism and is defined as interactions involving two or more group members
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where there is structuring and restructuring of a situation and group member perceptions
and expectations (Bass, 1990). These interactions are further refined when one group
member is termed the leader and the other, or others, are followers (Burns, 1978). These
leadership definitions describe the two concepts of transformational leadership and
servant leadership.
Both concepts are characterized by a moral component, where both the leader and
follower share power, values aspirations and needs (Burns, 1978). Transformational
leadership is a symbiotic relationship between the leader and follower that raises both to a
higher-level of performance and morality placing the needs of the follower before those
of the leader (Burns, 1978; Bass, 1990; Miller, 2007). The concept expanded beyond the
moral component, serves as the higher end of the transformational leadership model
involving transactional and laisez-faire leadership styles. The focus of the concept is the
leader-follower interactions at the organizational level. The transformational leadership
style consists of the components of idealized influence, inspirational motivation,
intellectual stimulation and individualized consideration (Bass, 1985, Bass, 1990; Bass &
Avolio, 1994).
Servant leadership, originally a concept developed by Greenleaf (1977), views the
leader as the servant of the follower, sharing power, placing the needs of the follower
before his or her own and empowering the follower in order to achieve a shared vision.
Greenleaf saw servant leadership primarily as personal attributes of a leader. Spears (as
cited by Russell & Stone 2002) synthesized Greenleaf’s writings and complied the ten
servant leader attributes: (a) listening, (b) empathy, (c) healing, (d) awareness, (e)
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persuasion, (f) conceptualization, (g) foresight, (h) stewardship, (i) commitment to
follower growth, and (j) community.
Laub (1999) combined these attributes and developed the servant organization
model consisting of the quantitative constructs of: (a) values people, (b) develops people,
(c) build community, (d) displays authenticity, and (e) provides leadership. These
constructs proved to be more compatible in a comparative analysis with the
transformational leadership constructs (Smith, Montagno & Kuzmenko, 2004).
A comparative analysis with transformational and servant leader constructs
revealed many similarities and few differences. The servant leader constructs showed
relationship with transformational leaders constructs with the exception of the ethical
charisma component of idealized influence. In addition, the displayed authenticity
component of servant leadership demonstrated an indirect versus a direct relationship
with the idealized influence component of transformational leadership. The build
community component of servant leadership had no equivalence among the
transformational leaderships constructs (Smith, Montagno & Kuzmenko, 2004).
Job Satisfaction and Followership
In the previous two sections of this review, the literature has demonstrated that
followership attitudes and perceptions are shaped and formed by the interactions of the
follower and leader manifested through various leadership and followership styles, it
further has been demonstrated that these interactions in effective organizations tend to be
mutually beneficial symbiotic relationships. Like in many of the studies cited, the
examination of leadership and follower interaction and organizational effects has been
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primarily through the lenses of leadership style and influence. The same is true of the
examination of job satisfaction. Several studies have examined employee job satisfaction
through the lens of leadership style (Amburgey, 2005; Emery & Barker, 2007;
Kaltenbaugh, 2008; Kruglanski, Pierro & Higgins, 2007; Madlock, 2008; Walumba,
Orwa, Wang & Lawler, 2005), mutual leader follower interaction, organizational culture
and organizational commitment (Emery & Barker, 2007; Van Dick, Hirst, Grojean &
Wieseke, 2007; and Walumba, Orwa, Wang & Lawler, 2005), while some research has
been conducted in examining job satisfaction strictly through the lens of the follower
perspective looking at factors such as organizational culture (Johnson, 2001), occupation
(Strappe, 2002; Markle, 2006; Tewari, 2009 and Tillman & Tillman, 2008), employee
attitudes (Saari & Judge, 2004), education level (Poloski-Vokic, Klindzic & Dakovic,
2008), teamwork and organizational innovation (Lee & Chang, 2008) and family friendly
policies (Frye & Breaugh, 2004; Gainey, Kelley & Hill, 1999; Kurland & Cooper, 2002;
Saltzstein, Ting & Saltzstein, 2001; Spector, 1997; Thomas & Ganster, 1995).
Rathi and Rastogi argued that multiple organizations conduct annual Job
Satisfaction Surveys to measure the pulse of their organization. The management
problem may be high employee turnover, an excessive amount of job related grievances
or customer service reacted problems and viewing these issues as strictly leadership or
management issues or in some cases job satisfaction data is collected and analyzed by
organizations to retain outstanding and promising employees and to promote those
behaviors most beneficial to organizational success (Rathi & Rastogi, 2008). Spector
argued that using a facet approach of multiple constructs to examine job satisfaction
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provides a more comprehension picture of the level of a respondent’s attitudes and
perceptions surrounding job satisfaction (Spector, 1997).
Job Satisfaction Theoretical Perspective and Supporting Research
In order to evaluate job satisfaction, the concept must be defined. Commonly, job
satisfaction is viewed generally as the employee’s attitude toward their job (Oshagbemi,
1999). Other authors have developed more refined definitions. Oshagbemi citing other
authors, such as Locke, described employee job satisfaction as “a pleasurable or positive
emotional state, resulting from the appraisal of one’s job performance” (Locke, as cited
by Oshagbemi, 1999, p. 1, HTML) and the concepts proposed by Wanous and Lawler
(1972) that also viewed employee job satisfaction as the affective reaction to the
employee’s appraisal of job performance as related to their deserved, anticipated or
desired outcomes. Other authors such as Tewari (2009) viewed employee job satisfaction
as simply the degree to which employees like their job. Spector (1997) has taken the
affective aspects of job satisfaction and examined other aspects of employee job to
develop a more comprehensive definition. Spector defines job satisfaction as “…simply
how people feel about their jobs and different aspects of their jobs” (Spector, 1997, p. 2).
This definition is the one that will be used in this study.
Authors Lawler and Porter argued that early assumptions about job satisfaction
were based on early studies examining correlations between job satisfaction with
demographics such as age, gender education or occupation. Citing Brayfield and Crockett
(1995) the authors asserted that employee morale was a major part of the foundation
behind employee job satisfaction. Other later studies revealed that there was a consistent
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but low link between employee job satisfaction and job performance (Herzberg, Mausner,
Peterson & Capwell, and Vroom, as cited by Lawler & Porter, 1967), but these studies
failed to identify the cause of the link between the two. Later studies suggested that this
link was a path goal approach to job satisfaction where employees are motivated to do
things when there is a high expectation of receiving valued rewards such as pay,
promotions or other types of incentives (Lawler & Porter, 1967 and Vroom, as cited by
Lawler & Porter. 1967). Lawler and Porter, citing Vroom (1964), maintained that
employee job satisfaction is closely linked to the amount of rewards employees receive
from their jobs and the level of employee job performance is therefore linked to the
attainment of those rewards. Thus satisfaction does not cause performance, but the actual
performance itself is the proximate cause of job satisfaction. This premise is illustrated in
Figure 4.
Figure 4. The Theoretical Model
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The authors explained that the wavy line between performance and rewards
indicated that extrinsic rewards, defined as those controlled by the organization such as
promotions, compensation, status, and pay, and intrinsic rewards, or those controlled by
the employee such as feelings of accomplishment or enhanced self-esteem as a result of
the work accomplished are imperfectly related to job performance. They further asserted
that extrinsic rewards are more likely to result in job satisfaction for employees at lower
levels of the organization versus intrinsic rewards which would likely result in greater job
satisfaction at the higher level or professional ranks of the organization. They maintained
that the level of job satisfaction is tempered by their perception of whether the level of
rewards is equitable, or not, based upon their effort and performance put into their work.
Thus this model predicts that employee job satisfaction is dependent upon employee
performance and the employee perception of whether the amount of rewards received for
that performance is equitable or not (Lawler & Porter, 1967).
In a test of the theory, the authors conducted a study of 148 middle and lower
level managers in five different organizations. The results of the study revealed moderate
correlations for the predictions that: (a) an employee’s degree of need for job satisfaction
is related to his or her satisfaction as rated by both their peers and manager, and (b) the
statistical relationship is stronger for managers than for non-managers. The third
prediction that examined the relationship between satisfaction and effort revealed
moderate correlations exist between satisfaction and performance and were higher than
the correlations between satisfaction and effort, validating the premise. The study also
revealed that intrinsic rewards were more closely related to performance than extrinsic
rewards. In essence, job satisfaction is more closely aligned with higher order needs such
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as self- actualization than lower order needs such as compensation or status (Lawler &
Porter, 1967).
Spector’s definition suggested other aspects of the employee’s job are linked to
his or her job satisfaction. Citing Hackman and Oldham’s job characteristics theory,
Spector asserted that employees are motivated by the intrinsic satisfaction derived from
the successful completion of job tasks. In essence, if employees find meaning in their
work, enjoy what they do, and they will then be motivated to perform their job well.
Figure 5 outlines this theory that describes key psychological states: (a) job
meaningfulness, (b) job responsibility, and (c) employee knowledge of results that are
induced by five core job characteristics: (a) skill variety, (b)task identity, (c) task
significance, (d) autonomy, and (e) job feedback lead to employee job motivation,
performance and turnover (Spector, 1997).
Spector reported that Hackman and Oldham (1976) developed the Job Diagnostic
Survey (JDS) to assess the validity of their theory. He reports that follow-on studies that
modified the JDS (Sims, Szilagyi & Keller, as cited by Spector, 1997) or developed more
extensive versions of the instrument such as the Multi-methods Jobs Design
Questionnaire (Campion, Campion & Thayer, as cited by Spector, 1997) revealed that
significant correlations exists between job characteristics, job satisfaction and motivation
(Spector, 1997).
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Figure 5. Job Characteristics Model
Another aspect of employee job satisfaction theory takes into account the
interaction between leaders and followers is their Heuristic model proposed by Van Dick,
Hirst, Grojean and Wieseke (2007). The authors argue that leader organizational
identification is also related to follower organizational identification. This organizational
identification then influences follower attitude and behaviors that lead to enhanced
organizational citizenship behaviors and increased follower job satisfaction (Van Dick,
Hirst, Grojean & Wieseke 2007). This is related to the previously described concept of
leader prototypicality where the leader’s display attributes defining the group and
represents the identity of the group (van Knippenberg, van Knippenberg , de Cremer &
Hogg, as cited by Schyns & Felfe, 2006). This aspect of group identification also
compares favorably to the findings in the Dvir and Shamir (2003) study.
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Figure 6 depicts the relations advanced by Van Dick, Hirst, Grojean and Wieseke
(2007).
Figure 6. Heuristic Model
In their research, the authors conducted a series of three studies of 515
elementary, middle and secondary schoolteachers across several German states. The
second study sample consisted of 464 elementary and secondary school teachers and the
third study sample consisted of 388 travel agents from several German states. All samples
were stratified and random. The two studies measured organizational identification using
the School Identification Questionnaire (Van Dick, Wagner, Stellmacher and Christ, as
cited by Van Dick, Grojean and Wieseke, 2007). Leader organizational identification was
the independent variable and both job satisfaction and organization citizenship behavior
(OCB) were the dependent variables (Van Dick, Hirst, Grojean and Wieseke 2007).
Job satisfaction was measured by Van Dick, Hirst, Grojean and Wieseke (2007)
using the Job Diagnostic Survey (Hackman & Oldham, as cited by Van Dick, Grojean
and Wieseke, 2007) only in the first study. OCB was measured in both studies using a
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customized instrument developed by Christ, Van Dick, Wagner and Stellmacher (as cited
by Van Dick, Grojean and Wieseke, 2007). In the second study, job satisfaction was
measured from a survey developed by Uber (as cited by Van Dick, Grojean and Wieseke,
2007).
In both studies, head teacher organizational identification was significantly related
to follower organizational identification. In the first study, head teacher organizational
identification was not related to follower organizational citizenship behavior, but were
related to follower job satisfaction. However, follower job satisfaction was significantly
related to both their organizational identification and their organization citizenship
behavior. Results for Study 2 were consistent with Study 1, with the exception of the
authors finding significant indirect effects of head teacher organizational identification on
follower job satisfaction after the Sobel procedure was used. In the third study,
organizational identification was measured using an instrument developed by Mael and
Ashforth (as cited by Van Dick, Grojean and Wieseke, 2007). OCB was measured using
an instrument developed by the authors. Job satisfaction was not measured. The results of
study were consistent with the findings of the first two studies where manager
organizational identification was significantly related to follower organizational
identification and follower organizational identification was significantly related to
follower OCB (Van Dick, Hirst, Grojean & Wieseke 2007).
Follower-Leader Interaction and the Influence on Follower Job Satisfaction
As the focus of this study is from the perspective of the influence followership
style and attributes on hotel customer-contact employee job satisfaction, this final section
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of the literature review examines job satisfaction and the influence of transformational
leadership. It has been demonstrated that transformational leadership is based on mutual
influence by the leader and the follower, so that the follower maximizes his or her
potential and develops a symbiotic relationship with the leader so that both learn and
grow from each other (Bass & Avolio, 1994, Bass & Bass, 2008 and Miller, 2007). In a
comparative study of American and Kenyan financial firms Walumba, Onwa and Lawler
(2005) examined transformational leadership, organizational commitment and job
satisfaction. In a study of the banking and retail industry Emery and Barker (2007)
examined the influence of transformational and transactional leadership styles on
customer-contact employee organizational commitment and job satisfaction. In both
studies, leadership style was measured by the Multi-factor Leadership Questionnaire
(Bass & Avolio, 2004). In the Walumba, Onwa and Lawler (2005) study, organizational
commitment was measured using an instrument developed from Mowday, Steer and
Porter (as cited by Walumba, Onwa and Lawler 2005). Organizational commitment was
measured using an earlier version of the first study (Porter, Steer, & Mowday, as cited by
Emery & Barker, 2007). In both studies, employee job satisfaction was measured using
modified versions of the Job Description Index (Smith, Kendall & Hulin, as cited by
Emery & Barker and Walumba, Onwa and Lawler (2005).
Research Results
The Walumba, Onwa and Lawler (2005) study compared the effect of
transformational leadership, job satisfaction and organizational commitment on two very
distinct cultures. The stratified random sample of tellers and clerks were from seven
foreign and local Kenyan banks and five American banks with 164 respondents from
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Kenya and 197 respondents from the United States. The transactional leadership style
was not examined. The data revealed that there were no distinct differences between both
sample in terms of correlations between transformational leadership style, organizational
commitment and job satisfaction. In both samples, correlations were significantly
positive. Significantly positive correlations occurred in both samples for the variables of
organizational tenure and age, with no significant differences. Correlations for
organizational tenure and organizational commitment and organizational commitment
and job satisfaction were overwhelmingly negative for the Kenyan samples compared to
moderately low for the American samples. These findings suggest that employees with
low organizational tenure have lower organizational commitment and job satisfaction as
compared to employees who have been with their firms longer (Walumba, Onwa &
Lawler 2005).
What is significant in this study is that data was similar to the findings of Van
Dick, Grojean and Wiseke (2007) where follower organizational commitment is
significantly related to employee job satisfaction. The study found that in both samples,
the follower-leader interactions, when the transformational leadership style was used
resulted in a reduction in power distance (Hofstede, 1980), between the follower and
leader, especially in the Kenyan sample, resulting in more open communication and
facilitating the symbiotic relationship between the follower and leader (Miller, 2007).
In the second study, Emery and Barker (2007) used participants from three
regional banks and one national food chain. Seventy-seven branch managers and 292
bank tellers and 47 store managers and 97 cashiers participated in the survey. The
findings of the second study were very similar to that of the Walumba, Onwa and Lawler
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(2005) study, where the transformational leadership style showed significant positive
correlations for job satisfaction for both population samples. Organizational commitment
showed moderate positive correlations for transformational leadership style. However,
negative correlations were evident for both organizational commitment and job
satisfaction for transactions leadership styles for both samples. This differs from the
Walumba, Onwa and Lawler (2005) study where the transactional leadership style was
not examined. Since the transactional leadership style relies more upon contingent
rewards and variations of management by exception and a lower level of follower-leader
interaction, it stands to reason than the higher level of positive follower-leader
interaction would contribute to increased levels of follower satisfaction and motivation
when followers have a leader who uses the transformational leadership style (Bass &
Avolio, 1994, Bass & Riggio, 2006; Dvir, Eden, Avolio & Shamir, 2002; Sarros &
Santora, 2001). Based on the results of the above cited research and other studies cited in
this literature review, it is indicated that positive interactions between followers and
leaders stemming from the influence of a leaders transformational leadership style
contributes to increased employee job satisfaction. These findings support the premise
argued by Kelley (1992) and Chaleff (2003) where greater the level of positive
interactions between followers and leaders, the greater the likelihood of followers being
motivated to adopt exemplary follower styles and demonstrate more attributes associated
with the courageous follower and contribute to increased employee job satisfaction based
on intrinsic factors associated with job satisfaction (Lawler & Porter, 19967; Spector,
1997).
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CHAPTER 3. METHODOLOGY
Purpose of the Study and Research Questions
The purpose of the study will be to test the hypothesis that hotel customer-contact
employees who perceive they are exemplary or star followers (Kelley, 1992, 2008) will
exhibited greater level of courageous follower attributes (Dixon, 2003) and display
greater levels of job satisfaction (Spector, 1997) than those employees who perceive
themselves to be passive followers (sheep), conformist followers (yes-people), alienated
followers or, pragmatic followers (Pragmatist; Kelley, 1992, 2008). The study will
examine two questions. The first question is: (a) are The Follower Profile (TFP)
measured indicators of followership behavior the same for all followership styles of hotel
customer-contact employees? The second question is: (b) what is the correlation between
exemplary, pragmatic, alienated, conformist and passive followership styles on hotel first
line customer-contact employee job satisfaction?
Research Design
The proposed research will be a two phase quantitative study using an exploratory
factorial design (Yang, 2005) which will include the use of factorial Kruskal-Wallis test,
linear regression (Holton III & Burnett, 2005) which will include a correlational analysis,
and a multiple analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) so that “the effect of the independent
variable(s) can be examined after controlling for the effect of other variables that are
predicted to be related to the dependent variable” (Bates, 2005, p. 135). In this instance,
this means testing for any effects of demographic data on the dependent variables of job
satisfaction. The use of the exploratory factorial design will be used to examine ten
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independent ordinal variables, (followership styles-exemplary; pragmatic; alienated;
conformist and passive; courageous follower attributes-courage to assume responsibility;
courage to serve; courage to challenge; courage to participate in transformation and
courage to leave), ten ordinal dependent variables (overall job satisfaction, pay,
promotion, supervision, fringe benefits, contingent rewards, operating conditions, co-
workers, nature of work and communications) and seven control variables consisting of
demographic data (age, gender, education, income, length of employment, length of time
working for current supervision, and area of employment demographic data) which will
include nominal and ordinal levels of measurement serves as a means of testing in order
“to discover the common factors that drive the interrelationships among the observable
variables” (Yang, 2005, p. 184).
In order to produce predictors that will be capable of producing a statistically
significant regression model, simultaneous variable entry will be used (Bates, 2005).
Additionally, a Kruskal-Wallis test, a nonparametric version of the one-way analysis of
variance will be conducted so the population distribution differences of five ordinal
dependent variables, and five ordinal independent variables can be examined (Norusis,
2006).
Sample
The sample will be stratified random sample of first line customer-contact hotel
employees from a major hotel chain that is of sufficient size to attain necessary statistical
power to significantly reduce the possibility of Type II errors. In order to achieve this
result, the sample size will be at least 250 participants (Barlett, 2005, Fowler, 2003;
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Passmore & Baker, 2005). The target population of these employees will be from the
following areas: front desk, business center, concierge, bellhop, housekeeping, restaurant,
reservations, switchboard, lost and found, security, parking and valet. The sample
population will be drawn from one shift of employees and from properties that are widely
geographically dispersed. The rationale being that using the same hotel chain,
organizational level, occupation and shift will ensure a similarity in organizational
climate and culture, and similar organizational operating environments, while ensuring
differences based on random geographically dispersed settings. In addition, having all
aspects of customer-contact employee represented in the sample, will ensure that the
sample population has several common characteristics. The selected strata are
represented by one shift of employees as they can be viewed as a homogenous sub-
population. In addition, obtaining samples from four locations should result in obtaining a
large enough evaluative sample in order to meet statistical power requirements of the
study (Passmore & Baker, 2005). Participants will be accessed through permissions
obtained from the corporation, general manager of the property, and each participant
signing the Implied Consent Form.
Setting
The proposed setting will be two three or four star hotel properties in the Midwest
United Sates, (Michigan and Illinois) and two three or four star hotel properties in the
Southeast United States (Georgia and Florida).
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Instrumentation, Variables, and Levels of Measurement
Independent variables:
Courageous follower attributes will be measured using The Follower Profile
(TFP) Questionnaire (Dixon, 2003). Previous studies have validated the construct,
criterion and content validities and internal consistency of the psychometrics of the
instrument (Dixon, 2003; Ray, 2006; Ricketson, 2008). The Dixon (2003) study validated
the reliability of the instrument. Details of instrument reliability and validity from these
cited studies will be addressed later in this chapter.
Using a similar method from the Ricketson (2008) study, the following aspects of
courageous follower attributes will be measured: (a) courage to assume responsibility, (b)
courage to serve, (c) courage to challenge, (d) courage to participate in transformation,
and (e) courage to leave. These attributes serve as the constructs for the instrument and
like the Ricketson study, the same version of the instrument will be used with the
exception of a Spanish language version. The revised version from Ricketson changed 13
items out of the 56 item survey to improve readability, specifically items 1, 9, 15, 17, 18,
20, 22, 24, 30, 33, 36, 38 and 45, and in the process affecting, each of the instrument
constructs with the most affected construct being that of leave with four changes and the
challenge construct being the least affected with one change (See Figure 8). The Spanish
language version will not be used in this study, nor will any managers complete the
survey as the focus of the study will be strictly through the lens of the follower, unless the
manager is functioning as a customer contact employee.
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The instrument is a 56 item survey based on a five point forced choice self rated
5-point Likert scale consisting of the responses of “1 (strongly disagree), 2 (disagree), 3
(somewhat agree), 4 (agree), and 5 (strongly agree)” (p. 42) and an ordinal level of
measurement. The number of items for each construct is based upon the description of
the associated behaviors that Chaleff has indicated for each of the behavioral attributes
(Dixon, as cited by Ricketson, 2008). Table 2 depicts the relationship to the instrument
questions and associated behaviors identified in each of the constructs.
Table 2. Dixon’s (2003) Follower Profile Matrix
From “An exploration of the relationship of leadership styles and dimensions of courageous followership, Ph.D. dissertation” by R. S. Ricketson Sr., 2008, p. 42. Copyright, 2008 by R.S. Ricketson Sr.
Unlike some instruments such as the Multi-factor Leadership Questionnaire (Bass
& Avolio, 2004), The Follower Profile does not have a multi-rater function, which could
be used to reduce bias to avoid an over reporting of courageous follower behaviors as
was identified in a study of transformational leadership model influence on job
satisfaction when an overwhelming majority of managers self-reported their leadership
style was transformational (Gerhardt, 2006). The courageous follower attributes will be
Behavior – Courage to Survey Item Number Assume responsibility 3, 7, 11, 14, 17, 21, 23,
26, 28, 32, 34, 35, 36, 39, 41, 44, 45, 46, 50, 51
Serve 10, 15, 19, 24, 25, 27, 29, 31, 47, 54
Challenge 4, 16, 33, 40, 42, 52, 53 Participate in Transformation 1, 5, 6, 22, 30, 55, 56 Leave (Take Moral Action) 2, 8, 9, 12, 13, 18, 20,
37, 38, 43, 48, 49
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measured as ordinal dependent variables in the first phase of the study and be an
independent variable in the second phase of the study.
The second independent variable will be that of followership style as measured by
The Followership Questionnaire (TFQ; Kelley, 1992). This was originally designed as a
20 item, self-reporting, with a 7-point Likert scale from 0 to 6, instrument. Rarely is
scored as zero, occasionally is scored as 3 and almost always is scored as 5. The level of
independent thinking is based on questions 1, 5, 11, 12, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19 and 20. The
level of active engagement is based on instrument questions 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 13, and
15. The scores are then tabulated and then followership is based on where the scores fall
with independent thinking on the Y axis and active engagement on the X axis. Total
scores on both axis range between 0 and 60. In a modification of Figure 3, this
relationship is depicted in Figure 7. As indicated in Table 1, exemplary followers tend to
score high in the areas of independent critical thinking and active engagement. Alienated
followers tend to score high in independent critical thinking and low in active
engagement. Conformist followers tend to score high in active engagement and low in
independent critical thinking. Passive followers tend to score low in both independent
critical thinking and active engagement. Pragmatic followers tend to have centrist scores
in both independent critical thinking and active engagement.
Kelley cautioned that the scores reflect only a point in time and the follower’s
perceptions at that point in time. He argues that followership styles tend to change over
time based on experience and environment and illustrate perceptions not personality
types (Kelley, 1992). It is also noted that while the instrument is based on a Likert scale
indicating an ordinal level of measurement as they do not have an order of magnitude,
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scores are tabulated as though they were based on a scale level of measurement where
there is a level of magnitude with a consistency between values (Fowler, 2003; Mirabella,
2006; Norusis, 2006.
Figure 7. Followership styles and scoring
INDEPENDENT, CRITICAL THINKING
Alienated 60 ExemplaryFollowers Followers
45
40
PASSIVE ACTIVE0 1 5 2 0 3 0 4 0 4 5 6 0
Passive 20 ConformistFollowers Followers
15
0
DEPENDENT, UNCRITICAL THINKING
PragmatistFollowers
From “The Power of Followership”, by R. E. Kelley, 1992, p. 97. Copyright 1992 by R.E. Kelley
In the cited studies, all followership styles are converted to variables with ordinal
levels of measurement (Beckerleg, 2002; Colangelo, 2000; Pack, 2001). In the Colangelo
study, the instrument was modified to avoid respondent bias and align survey adjectives
with scores. In this instance, the word “rarely” was replaced with the word “never” at the
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zero score to avoid respondent confusion as the author argued that the word “rarely”
implies sometimes and the word “never” most closely represents the score of zero. In
addition, the author developed two additional constructs to be evaluated, team-
mindedness and passion (Colangelo, 2000). In the Pack study, the same modification was
used in the instrument also with a question to address the qualitative portion of the study.
Respondents were asked to use a response no longer than a paragraph to address their
perceptions of the word follower (Pack, 2001). In the Beckerleg (2002) study, no changes
were made in the instrument. In order to improve statistical accuracy and reduce
respondent bias, this study will use a version of the modified instrument used in the
Colangelo (2000) study with a change of adding the response of “Always” and scoring
this response as a six (6).
Dependent variables
Ten dependent variables are aspects of customer-contact employee job
satisfaction as measured by the Job Satisfaction Survey (JSS; Spector, 1997) which as
developed in the Spector study after some problems were discovered in measuring job
satisfaction of service sector employees. The JSS was instrumental in “bringing more to
the forefront aspects of satisfaction of remuneration, promotion, management styles and
relations, welfare, incentive, operation procedures, associate relationships, job
description, and communication” (Hwang & Chi 2005, p. 286). Spector reports that this
instrument measures overall job satisfaction as well as nine separate facets of employee
job satisfaction. The JSS is a 36 item, self reporting survey with a 6-point Likert scale
that ranges from “1 (disagrees very much), 2 (disagrees moderately), 3 (disagrees
slightly), 4 (agrees slightly), 5 (agrees moderately) (to) 6 (agrees very much)” (pp. 75-
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76). The instrument provides the researcher the opportunity to examine an employee’s
total job satisfaction while also examining nine distinct components the scores range for a
total of 36 per facet to a total of 316 for a maximum score of total job satisfaction.
Spector cautioned that the instrument contains several negatively worded items
that have to be reverse scored in order t capture employee dissatisfaction. For example
the author cited Question10 that states “Raises are too few and far between” (p. 9). A
review of the instrument revealed that in addition to Question 10, half of the questions are
negatively worded will have to be reversed in order to accurately capture employee
perceptions of dissatisfaction.. These questions are: 2, 4, 8, 12, 14, 16, 18, 19, 21, 23, 24,
25, 29, 31, 32, 34, and 36 (Spector, 1997). Table 3 outlines the associated instrument
facets (subscales), description and subscale item numbers.
Table 3. JSS Facets and Subscale Contents
Facet(Subscale
Description
Item Number Note: r denotes item should be reversed
scored. Pay Satisfaction with pay and pay
raises. 1, 10r, 19r, 28
Promotion Satisfaction with promotion opportunities.
2r, 11, 20, 33
Supervision Satisfaction with the employee’s immediate supervisor.
3, 12r, 21r, 30
Fringe Benefits Satisfaction with fringe benefits. 4r, 13, 22, 29r Contingent Rewards Satisfaction with rewards (not
necessarily monetary) given for good performance.
5, 14r, 23r, 32r
Operating Conditions Satisfaction with rules and procedures.
6r, 15, 24r, 31r
Co-workers Satisfaction with co-workers. 7, 16r, 25, 34r Nature of work Satisfaction with type of work
done. 8r, 17, 27, 35
Communications Satisfaction with communications within the organization
9, 18r, 26r 36r
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From “Job Satisfaction” by P.E. Spector, 1997, pp. 8-9.Copyright, 1997 by P.E. Spector. Researchers Hwang and Chi (2005) modified the instrument to examine certain
occupations. In a variant using hotel management practices as the guiding criteria,
reduced the number of questions on the Job Satisfaction Survey from eleven to ten. The
questions were a scale level of measurement and modified by a subtraction of an
additional question that was found “to have a factor loading below 0.5, leaving the
questionnaire with nine questions after the pretest. All nine questions were found to
achieve the significant level needed, using the double test of confirmatory factory
analysis and reliability analysis (fair remuneration α=0.75, job conditions α=0.74, and
general concept ex=0.99)” (p. 288). The variant questionnaire in the Hwang and Chi
study was found to have construct and conclusion validity as well as demonstrated
statistical reliability. In other studies, however, that examined a variety of other differing
professions, university faculty and staff (Amburgey, 2005); social service, mental health
and substance abuse agency employees ( de Carbonel, 2007); nursing, (Johnson, 2001);
recreation administrators (Kaltenbaugh, 2008) and academic librarians (Markle, 2006).
The researchers found the instrument satisfactorily met the requirements of their research
objectives in terms of the instrument questions, job satisfaction facets, instrument sub
scales and established statistical reliability and validity. Based on the findings of the latter
cited studies, no variant of the JSS will be required for this research. The other dependent
variables will be the five courageous follower attributes, measured by The Follower
Profile (Dixon, 2003) as influenced by the five followership styles as previously defined
and stated
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Control variables:
The researcher will modify the demographic data survey that is currently part of
The Follower Profile consisting of 20 items/questions (Appendix B). The survey will
measure the four control variables of age (scale variable, five items), gender, (nominal
variable-two items), education (ordinal variable, five items), and job description of
primary job (eight - all nominal variables). The control variables will be evaluated to
adjust for any effects on the dependent variable through the use of a multiple analysis of
co-variance (MANCOVA). While each section of the survey will have multiple items, a
respondent will only have to respond to one item, for instance under (a) Gender: Male,
Female, (b) Education: Did not complete high school, High school gradate, Some college,
College graduate, (c) Age: 18-35 years, 36-45 years. A factor analysis will be used to
validate this portion of the instrument as an acceptable means to test and validate an
“instrument used to measure an abstract concept with either a theoretical or practical
interest’ (Yang, 2005, p. 182).
Data Collection
The Followership Questionnaire (Kelley, 1992), The Follower Profile (Dixon,
2003), Job Satisfaction Survey (Spector, 1997) and a demographic data questionnaire as
part of The Follower Profile, will be administered in a group setting at each location.
Each questionnaire will be marked by the researcher so that the researcher may be able to
identify participants, in the event a participant wants to be notified and so each
instrument can be separated and placed in a separate box bearing the number appearing
on the instrument. All data will be combined so that no individual participant can be
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readily identified. The on-site group administration of the survey instruments are being
used to alleviate the logistical issues involved with administering to a larger sample
population, while ensuring a high response rate. According to Fowler (2003), an on-site
administration of an instrument is relatively low cost, allows the researcher to answer
respondent questions, clarify issues, and generally ensures a higher cooperation rate
among the participants.
Treatment/Intervention
There will be no treatments or interventions in this study as this is a field study
where the participants will be asked only to complete four questionnaires.
Data Analysis
Procedure
As previously stated, the study will be conducted in two phases. In the first phase,
the influence of five ordinal independent variables of followership style (exemplary,
alienated, conformist, passive and pragmatic) (Kelley, 1992) will be determined for five
dependent variables of courageous follower attributes (courage to assume responsibility,
courage to challenge, courage to serve, courage to participate in transformation, and
courage to leave) (Dixon, 2003) using the Kruskal-Wallis test. Since the sample
population of hotel employees will be from four geographically dispersed hotel
properties, assumptions of normality may not be able to be applied.
This nonparametric analysis will examine five groupings of customer-contact
hotel employees based on their followership style and courageous follower attributes The
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Kruskal-Wallis test is being used to determine whether the population means of
courageous follower attributes are equal across all five followership style groupings. The
data that will be collected for the five groups are independent samples from the customer-
contact hotel employee population. This meets the assumption of independence. The
other assumption is that the distribution shape is essentially the same for all five groups
as well as the five groups having equal variances.
The second phase of the study will be the examination of the influence of the five
independent variables of followership style (Kelley, 1992) on the ten dependent variables
of employee job satisfaction (Spector, 1997), using the Kruskal-Wallis test and Pearson
Correlation test. As in Phase 1 of the study, since assumptions of normality may not
apply, the Kruskal-Wallis test will be conducted first in order to address the assumptions
of normality and independence needed for the tests for correlation. After this analysis is
completed, an analysis will be conducted to test for a linear relationship between the
independent and dependent variables to determine the level of correlation. During this
phase, a MANCOVA, or multiple analysis of co-variance, will be conducted to determine
if the control variables have any effect on the dependent variable so that adjustments in
calculations can be made.
Validity and Reliability
Overview
Fowler (2003) states that “the purpose of a survey is to produce statistics, that is a
quantitative or numerical description about some aspects of the study population” (p. 1).
Barlett (2005) argues that survey research is used to collect information from individuals
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in order to evaluate and measure organizationally relevant constructs. Spector (1997)
asserts that measurements of job satisfaction are quantitative construct facets of attitudes
and perceptions, making them perfect candidates for statistical analysis using surveys.
The studies by Dixon, (2003) and Colangelo (2000) which examined the constructs of
courageous followership behavior and followership style as quantitative construct facets
also used surveys to conduct their statistical analysis.
Trochim (2006a) asserts validity is the best available approximation to the truth of
a given proposition, conclusion or inference. Ohlund and Yu (1999), Trochim (2006a)
and Scandura and Williams (2000) citing Austin, Boyle, and Lualhatii (1998), Cook and
Campbell (1976) and Sackett and Larson (1990) defined four types of validity. The first
of these four definitions are internal validity concerns causality as asserted by a true co
variation between the variables under investigation and the procedures used to gather the
data demonstrating the cause preceding the effect. The second definition is external
validity and refers to generalizing across times, setting and individuals as a true
representation of their relationships of the constructs to different populations,
circumstances and measures. The third definition is construct validity, which concerns
how well the measures employed fit the theories and has a test designed for those
measures. The most rigorous test an instrument can undergo is construct validity
(Trochim, 2006b). Construct validity is viewed as determining whether the construct is
measuring what aspects of a theory it is designed to measure (Cooper & Schindler, 2008;
Hinkin, 2005). Hinkin (2005) argues that construct validity is not totally achieved until
both convergent validity which is measured using a multi-trait, multi-method procedure
and discriminant validity, which is calculated using cross construct correlations (Hinkin,
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2005; Trochim, 2006c) are achieved. However, Cooper and Schindler (2008) assert that
convergent validity is an important first step in determining construct validity.
Convergent validity calculated an inter-item correlational analysis, is
demonstrated by evidence that shows the higher the r value among the observed values of
the construct items, the greater the convergent validity. In determining discriminant
validity through cross construct analysis, the correlations provide evidence that
demonstrate whether that the construct items are not related to each other, as indicated by
the r values; In essence, the lower the r value, the greater the evidence that discriminant
validity exist (Hinkin, 2005; Trochim, 2006b). Finally, statistical conclusion validity,
which, refers to the ability to draw conclusions, based on statistical evidence of co
variation as well as prediction.
In the study of management research methodologies, Scandura and Williams
(2002) citing Cook and Campbell, indicates that in all quantitative research designs, the
understanding and overcoming threats to internal, external, construct and statistical
conclusion validity is crucial in obtaining significant reportable results. This argument is
supported by Stone (as cited by Scandura & Williams, 2000) who argues that the body of
organizational behavioral science is dependent on research reporting strong indications of
internal, external, construct and statistical conclusion validity where the failure to do so
poses significant challenges in obtaining valid reportable results.
As the proposed study is a field experiment and uses three survey instruments,
Ohlund and Yu (1999) outline several threats to internal and external validity that this
type of study would face. The relevant threats to internal validity are: (a) history - if the
organization underwent a major reorganization right after the first phase of the study was
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completed, this specific event would change the outcomes. This event could cause a
change in settings where the control variable of the job description of the primary job
could have an effect on the independent variable as changes in organization and result in
changes in who are followers; (b) instrumentation - significant changes in the survey
instrument during the course of the study could cause changes in variable and construct
definition, jeopardizing construct and statistical conclusion validity; (c) selection of
subjects - If the study sample is not a stratified random sample of statistically significant
size, conducted in a systematic fashion increased sampling error, the introduction of bias
and Type II errors would result (Fowler, 2003; Passmore & Baker, 2005); (d) maturation
- if there was, a prolonged study such as in a longitudinal study, participants could
change their views of their concept of followership style and courageous follower
attributes; and, finally, (e) experimental mortality - a loss of participants could occur due
to events such as reorganization or a layoff due to an economic downturn. The reduction
in sample size as well as employee attitudes could affect the outcomes of the study. The
only relevant factor affecting external validly is interaction effects of selection biases and
the experimental variables. In this, case the dependent variable of job satisfaction and the
control variable of job description of primary job.
Reliability and Threats to Reliability
Reliability which is defined as the consistency and repeatability of (the
measurement)” (Trochim, 2006b, p. 1, HTML version), is key factor in quantitative
research success. Trochim identified four types of reliability they are: (a) inter-rater or
inter-observer reliability, (b) test-retest reliability, (c) parallel forms reliability, and (d)
internal consistency reliability. The relevant concept for the proposed study is internal
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consistency reliability. While Trochim described several techniques such as split half,
and average inter-item and item total correlations, correlation and item total correlations,
the use of Cronbach’s alpha is the most widely accepted determinant of internal
consistency reliability (Reynaldo & Santos, 1999). Threats to reliability include poorly
worded questions that cause confused or double meaning, combining two questions into
one, ill planned use of the agree-disagree format in questions, poorly designed constructs
that have reverse scales close together or in the same question. All of these items may
cause Cronbach’s alpha scores to be below .70 and in some cases negative in the case of
questions with reverse scales (Fowler, 2003).
Bias
Bias is an overarching concept that is often the center of threats to validity and
reliability and these threats based on the two-phase study design, could create issues for
the introduction of bias into the study. This is especially important as the proposed study
is using three survey instruments. Fowler, 2003 asserts that bias can enter survey research
through question design such as leading questions or sampling by the selection of those
populations who will respond in a pre-determined way. Passmore and Baker (2005) are
more specific arguing that the non-random nature of convenience and purposive sampling
strategies in quantitative research studies, introduce sampling errors in the statistical
analysis. Yang (2005) citing Hunter and Schmidt (2004) argue that several bias threats
that could affect research outcomes: (a) independent/or dependent variable perfect
construct validity deviation, and (b) transcriptional or reporting errors. Trochim, (2006a)
asserts that using only one method to measure to determine construct or mono-method
bias provides an incomplete picture of the construct examined and is a threat to construct
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validity. The following sections will detail the empirically derived statistical reliability
and validity of the instruments being used in this study.
The Followership Questionnaire (TFQ)
Colangelo (2000) examined four constructs (a) independent critical thinking, (b)
active engagement, (c) passion, and (d) team-mindedness. In an effort to test construct,
convergent and divergent validity, the author conducted a four factor analysis and
Oblimin with normalization. Table 4 depicts the results of his factor analysis.
Table 4. Factor Analysis of Kelley’s (1992) Followership Questions
Loadings for 4-Factor Solution Factor Eigenvalue Question Oblique Rotation
1 2 3 4 1 5.763 1 -.005 .006 .746 -.001 2 2.163 2 -.002 -.001 .773 -.003 3 1.295 3 .126 -.002 .719 .101 4 1.025 4 .128 -.007 .589 .127 5 .901 5 .597 .007 .226 -.001 6 .875 6 .548 .006 .294 .003 7 .779 7 .737 -.003 -.007 -.156 8 .722 8 .557 .003 -.131 .337 9 .685 9 .590 -.004 .194 .160 10 .646 10 .473 .004 .003 .380 11 .612 11 .692 .003 .005 .133 12 .587 13 .006 -.100 .113 .651 13 .517 14 .200 .104 .002 .574 14 .490 15 .009 -.117 .294 .558 15 .443 16 -.007 .005 -.007 .712 16 .421 17 .133 .639 -.008 -.005 17 .371 18 .001 .790 .141 -.180 18 .357 19 -.001 .779 .001 .006 19 .347 20 -.002 .583 -.101 .363
From “Followership: Leadership styles. Ph.D. dissertation” by A. J. Colangelo, 2000. p. 48. Copyright, 2000 by A. J. Colangelo.
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The data indicates under Component 1, questions 5-11 loaded eigenvalues of
.597, .548, .737, .557, .590, .473, and .692. Under Component 2, questions 16-19 loaded
eigenvalues of .639, .790, .779, and .583. Under Component 3, questions 1-4 loaded
eigenvalues of .746, .773, .719, and .589. Under Component 4, questions 12-15 loaded
and .712 eigenvalues of .691, .574, and .598. In the Pack (2001) study, no reliability and
validity tests were conducted. In the Beckerleg (2002) study, she cites Kelley (1992) who
had used the survey extensively in major organizations such as Upjohn, Hewlett-Packard,
IBM and Prudential and statistical test that were conducted at the Graduate School of
Industrial Administration at Carnegie-Mellon University. However, no statistics were
provided that indicated the instrument had a Cronbach’s Alpha of at least .70. The study
of Colangelo indicated statistical validity and reliability within acceptable values.
The Follower Profile (TFP)
In the Dixon (2003) study, the author established instrument reliability using
Cronbach’s Alpha. The value obtained was .956, a value far above the minimum
acceptable value of .70. Dixon, citing Neuman (1991) asserts that using that in addition to
the use of Cronbach’s Alpha, the use of the Spearman-Brown split-half method was also
acceptable menthol for determining instrument reliability. In this procedure, the received
response is divided into two groups and statistical calculations arte made to see if both
halves provide the same response. The Spearman-Brown statistic is used to determine the
extent of correlation between both halves. The calculation revealed a strongly positive
result of instrument reliability with the value of .936, also far above the established
acceptable value of .70. In a validation test, the Gutman split-half procedure, a variant of
Cronbach’s Alpha, was used, resulting in a value of .934.
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Instrument face validity was established through extensive literature review, focus
group interactions, independent judge input and a review by Ira Chaleff (Chaleff, as cited
by Dixon, 2003). Additional instrument pre-test and pilot tests results indicated criterion
validity values of Spearman’s Rho of .697 and Pearson Product Moment of rsp= .739,
meaning a large effect correlation (Cohen, as cited by Dixon, 2003) for The Follower
Profile. Content validity was established using multiple independent judges to evaluate
the instrument (Neuman, as cited by Dixon, 2003) to include theory author Ira Chaleff
and former Chaleff colleague Timmelli (as cited by Dixon, 2003). In Figure 9, each
behavior illustrates an imbalance between behaviors and the number of questions
associated with each. Dixon argues that this imbalance is consistent with Chaleff’s (2003)
theoretical construct.
Construct validity was established using a Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA).
The CFA indicated that the goodness of fit indices demonstrated that the sample
variances were adequately accounted for. The author reported that with the exception of
item 49, the courage to assume responsibility, all other hypothesized loadings for the
solution were statistically significant (alpha = .05) and were relatively substantial. The
author also reported that the fitted model demonstrated some evidence of discriminant
validity with values being leas than 1.00 and ranged from .339 (courage to leave/courage
to serve) to .945 (Courage to leave/courage to challenge; Dixon, 2003).
Job Satisfaction Survey (JSS)
In an internal consistency test of instrument reliability involving a sample of 3067
JSS respondents, Spector reports that the data indicated a coefficient alpha of .60 for co-
workers and .91 for the total scale, a little below the acceptable standard of .70 for the
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co-worker result (Nunnally, as cited by Spector, 1997). In a test-retest of the instrument
18 months later, reliability values ranged from .37 to .74, reflecting the stability of the
instrument over time, despite a major reorganization, employee layoffs and a replacement
of senior leadership. Table 5, outlines the results of the internal consistency reliability
instrument tests.
Table 5. Internal Consistency/Reliability for the Job Satisfaction Survey
Subscale Coefficient Alpha
Test/Retest Reliability
Pay .75 .45
Promotion .73 .62
Supervision .82 .55
Benefits .73. .37
Contingent Rewards .76 .59
Operating Procedures .62 .74
Coworkers .60 .64
Nature of Work .78 .54
Communication .71 .65
Total .91 .71
Sample Size 2870 43
From “Job Satisfaction” by P.E. Spector, 1997, p. 10. Copyright, 1997 by P.E. Spector.
Spector reported that evidence of instrument validity the JSS has been provided
through numerous studies that compare similar subscales from different instruments on
the same sample population of employees. Citing a study using the Job Descriptive Index
(JDI; Smith, Kendal & Hulin, 1969), the subscales of pay, promotion, supervision,
coworkers, and nature of work on the JSS correlated strongly with similar scales on the
JDI with values of r= .61 for coworkers and r= .80 for supervision. (Spector, 1997).
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Ethical Considerations
Permission to conduct the study will be obtained by the headquarters of Marriott
International , the general manager of each hotel and of each of the participants. All
participants will be provided an informed consent form informing them that their privacy
confidentiality and anonymity in regards to their participation in the study will be
maintained, the purpose of the study, how the data will be safeguarded, how long it will
be kept, who has access to the data, how the results will be used and the benefits of the
study. The participants will be informed that their participation is strictly voluntary and
that they may withdraw from the study at any time. When the form is signed, this will
imply consent to participate in the study. Accommodations will be made for all special
needs participants to ensure their comfort, safety and security. Additionally, no
supervisors will be in the room when the employees will complete their surveys to ensure
their there is no element of intimidation or coercion.
The request for permission from Marriott International and the Letter of
Introduction to the general manager from each of the hotels in the study will contain
purpose of the study, how the results will be used risks and organizational and the
benefits of the study and provisions made for employee and organizational privacy
confidentiality and anonymity. The risks associated with participation in the study are
minimal. In addition, permission for the research will also be obtained in accordance with
the protocols established by the Capella University Institutional Review Board (IRB).
Data collected will be combined so that no individual respondent can be
identified. No personal information will be collected. Data will be kept by the researcher
and will be safeguarded and secured by the researcher for a period of seven years.
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Permission to use, modify and reproduce The Followership Questionnaire
(Kelley, 1992), The Follower Profile (Dixon, 2003) and the Job Satisfaction Survey,
(Spector, 1997) has been granted from all three of the authors of these instruments.
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CHAPTER 4. RESULTS
Purpose of the Study
The overall purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that hotel customer-
contact employees who perceive they are exemplary or star followers (Kelley, 1992,
2008) exhibit greater level of courageous follower attributes (Dixon, 2003) and display
greater levels of job satisfaction (Spector, 1997) than those employees who perceive
themselves to be passive followers (sheep), conformist followers (yes-people), alienated
followers or, pragmatic followers (pragmatist) (Kelley, 1992, 2008). The study used a
quantitative methodological approach and utilized descriptive statistics to discover the
relationships between the dependent and the independent variables. A survey was
conducted surveying hotel customer-contact employees from a major hotel chain that is
of sufficient size to attain necessary statistical power to significantly reduce the
possibility of Type II errors (Barlett, 2005, Fowler, 2003; Passmore & Baker, 2005).
Data Collection and Setting
This chapter outlines the data collection process and provides a presentation of the
research results based upon the examination of participant responses to The Followership
Questionnaire (Kelley, 1992), The Follower Profile (Dixon, 2003), and The Job
Satisfaction Survey (Spector, 1997). These results include data statistical analysis as well
as general observations of the collected data.
In chapter 3, it was outlined that the setting would be two three or four star hotel
properties in the Midwest United Sates, (Michigan and Illinois) and two three or four star
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hotel properties in the Southeast United States (Georgia and Florida). On August 12,
2009, the Executive Vice-President of Human Resources of Marriott International wrote
that due to serious operational issues, this research request would have to be declined.
A small luxury (four and a half star) hotel and resort chain in British Columbia,
agreed to have the research conducted at all eleven of their facilities in British Columbia
with all of their customer-contact employees. The facilities are dispersed throughout the
Columbia Basin and the Canadian Rockies. While the setting was changed, the
methodology, risks and ethical considerations associated with the study remained the
same. The identity and specific locations of the research sites are being kept anonymous
at the request of the hotel chain.
Data Collection
In order to examine the hypotheses outlined in this study, data was collected,
using group administration of the survey instruments consisting of followership styles
based on the participant scores designating them as exemplary followers, conformist
followers, alienated followers, pragmatist followers and passive followers using The
Followership Questionnaire (Kelley, 1992). The hypotheses also required that data be
collected reflecting participant scores reflecting the level of courageous follower
attributes, specifically the attributes of courage to assume responsibility, courage to
challenge, courage to serve, courage to participate in transformation and courage to
leave/display moral action using The Follower Profile (Dixon, 2003). Finally data was
collected pertaining to employee job satisfaction using participant responses to the Job
Satisfaction Survey (Spector, 1997).
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This chapter is divided in three sections. In the first section, descriptive statistics
of the dependent and independent variables are displayed. In the second section,
statistical tests are conducted to determine whether or not the proposed alternative
hypotheses are accepted. In the third and final section, a summary of the main findings is
provided.
Section 1: Descriptive Statistics
A total of 426 surveys were distributed to 142 front-line hotel customer-contact
employees. The total employee population for the hotel chain is 190 employees of which
142 are customer-contact employees in the eight categories of guest services agent, room
attendant, bellman, night auditor, catering coordinator, guest services manger, assistant
manager and corporate office staff. One hundred twenty employees participated in the
study for a response rate of 84.5%. The 142 customer-contact employees served as the
target population of the study. A description of the characteristics of respondents is
provided in Table 6.
Table 6. Demographic Characteristics of Employees
Characteristic N % Gender
Male 33 27.5 Female 87 72.5
Age 16-25 years 28 23.3 26-30 years 17 14.2 31-44 years 43 35.8 45-54 years 19 15.8 55 years and older 13 10.8
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Table 6. Demographic Characteristics of Employees Continued
Education
Not a High School/Secondary School Graduate 9 7.5 High School/Secondary School Graduate 35 29.2 Some College 36 30.0 College Graduate 37 30.8 Some Graduate work and beyond 3 2.5
Job Description Guest Services Agent 36 30.0 Room Attendant 55 45.8 Bellman 1 0.8 Night Auditor 13 10.8 Catering Coordinator 2 1.7 Guest Services Manager 7 5.8 Assistant Manager 1 0.8 Corporate Office Staff 5 4.2
As described in Table 6, respondents to the survey were mostly females (72.5%).
Respondents came from all age groups with the 2 biggest age groups being 31-44 years
(35.8%) and 16-25 years (23.3%). The respondents were divided mainly into 3 equal
groups when responding to the education question; those groups being the “High
School/Secondary School Graduate” group, the “Some College” group and the “College
Graduate” group (each 30%). Finally, respondents’ demographics showed that these
employees were representative of all the common employee types in a hotel; however,
the 2 most common job descriptions encountered were room attendant (45.8%) and guest
service agent (30.0%).
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Table 7. Respondents’ Followership Profile and Style
Table 7 describes the univariate results of the survey data for the followership
characteristics. To arrive at these results, respondents completed The Follower Profile
(Dixon, 2003) questionnaire with 60 questions and The Followership Questionnaire
(Kelley, 1992) with 20 questions. The average scores with the associated standard
deviations as well as the minimum and maximum scores are presented. With respect to
courageous follower attributes, the mean score for most attributes appears to be closer to
the maximum than to the minimum which indicates that respondents had the courage to
assume responsibility, serve, challenge, participate in transformation, and leave (take
moral action). On average, the scores of the two components, which are used to classify
followership style, showed that there was more of a trend among participants to show
active engagement (mean 45.77, max 60) than independent thinking (mean 35.22, max
Characteristic
The FollowerProfile (Courage to:) Minimum Maximum Mean St. Dev.
Assume responsibility 63 117 99.34 11.18 Serve 22 60 48.18 7.79 Challenge 16 41 33.72 4.95 Participate in Transformation 22 42 35.93 4.03 Leave (Take Moral Action) 40 72 59.22 6.19
The Followership Style
Components: Minimum Maximum Mean St. Dev.
Independent thinking 11.00 60.00 35.22 10.55
Active engagement 21.00 60.00 45.77 9.09 Classification: N %
Exemplary 79 65.8
Pragmatic 18 15.0
Conformist 14 11.7
Alienated 0 0.0
Passive 8 6.7
Unclassified 1 0.8
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60). When the specific active engagement and independent thinking scores for each
respondents were observed as combinations and compared to established definition (as
described in chapter 3), nearly two-thirds of respondents were exemplary followers
(65.8%). Much less frequent were the pragmatic (15.0%) and conformist followers
(11.7%). Passive followers were few (6.7%) and no respondents were classified as
alienated followers. One respondent’s scores were not able to be scored and therefore
were eliminated from further analyses.
Table 8. Job Satisfaction Survey Responses
Characteristic Minimum Maximum Mean St. Dev. Pay -5 7 1.18 2.11 Promotion -1 15 7.93 3.57 Supervision -3 6 0.68 1.74 Fringe Benefits -5 8 1.39 2.26 Contingent Rewards -17 0 -7.58 3.23 Operating Conditions -17 1 -8.21 3.15 Co-workers -5 8 1.84 2.14 Nature of work 4 15 10.64 1.95 Communications -14 -2 -8.48 2.46
Table 8 shows the results of the job satisfaction average scores. There was a wide
distribution of answers for the different aspects of job satisfaction. However, several
aspects of satisfaction were more evident than others. Respondents appeared to be more
satisfied with promotion and the nature of the work (as indicated by mostly positive
descriptive statistics) and dissatisfied with the contingent rewards, operating conditions
and communications (as indicated by mostly negative descriptive statistics).
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Section 2: Hypotheses Testing
Having highlighted the characteristics of the study sample, the researcher turns to
answer the questions posed in this thesis and to test the hypotheses. These hypotheses
have been divided into 2 phases and addressed using several statistical tests.
Phase 1: Research Question:
Are TFP measured indicators of followership behavior the same for all followership
styles of hotel customer-contact employees?
Phase 1 Research Hypotheses Tested
Hypotheses using the Kruskal-Wallis test:
Null Hypothesis 1: There is no difference in the distribution of courage to assume
responsibility, courage to challenge, courage to serve, courage to participate in
transformation and courage to leave followership behaviors for exemplary versus
pragmatic versus alienated versus conformist versus passive followership styles of hotel
customer-contact employees.
Alternate Hypothesis 1: There is a difference in the distribution of courage to assume
responsibility, courage to challenge, courage to serve, courage to participate in
transformation and courage to leave followership behaviors for exemplary versus
pragmatic versus alienated versus conformist versus passive followership styles of hotel
customer-contact employees.
Hypotheses Testing Results
Table 9 shows the results of the non-parametric Kruskal-Wallis test. This statistic
tests the hypothesis that the medians for the different followership behaviors are equal for
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different followership styles. The mean ranks of followership styles for each of these
followership behaviors appear at first glance to be very different. This is reinforced by
the p-values of the Kruskal-Wallis test that are shown at the far right column, which were
all less than 0.05 or highly statistically significant.
Based on the statistical test’s findings, the null hypothesis is rejected and the
alternative hypothesis is accepted.
Table 9. Results of the Kruskal-Wallis Test
Characteristic Followership style Mean Rank Chi-Square
Df p-value
Assume responsibility
Exemplary 71.75
28.77 3 0.000 Pragmatic 36.38
Conformist 43.40
Passive 25.25
Serve
Exemplary 68.82
17.15 3 0.001 Pragmatic 41.32
Conformist 50.30
Passive 30.75
Challenge
Exemplary 70.10
22.58 3 0.000 Pragmatic 30.56
Conformist 46.40
Passive 28.31
Participate in Transformation
Exemplary 70.99
31.00 3 0.000 Pragmatic 27.53
Conformist 56.87
Passive 26.38
Leave (Take Moral Action)
Exemplary 70.72
25.04 3 0.000 Pragmatic 35.74
Conformist 48.60
Passive 27.13
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Phase 2: Research Question:
What is the correlation between exemplary, pragmatic, alienated, conformist and
passive followership styles and hotel first line customer-contact employee job
satisfaction?
Phase 2 Research Hypotheses Tested
Hypotheses Tested Using Multiple Analysis of Co-variance (MANCOVA)
Null Hypothesis predicts that demographic data as control variables (DDV) will not
interact with hotel customer-contact employee job satisfaction variables.
Alternate Hypothesis: predicts that DDV will interact with hotel customer-contact
employee job satisfaction variables
Hypothesis Testing Results
Table 10. MANCOVA Multivariate Tests(c)
Effect Value F Hypothesis
df Error df Sig. Intercept
Pillai's Trace .865 64.860(a) 9.000 91.000 .000 Wilks' Lambda .135 64.860(a) 9.000 91.000 .000 Hotelling's Trace 6.415 64.860(a) 9.000 91.000 .000 Roy's Largest Root 6.415 64.860(a) 9.000 91.000 .000
Followership style
Pillai's Trace .204 .754 27.000 279.000 .809 Wilks' Lambda .808 .748 27.000 266.409 .815 Hotelling's Trace .223 .742 27.000 269.000 .822 Roy's Largest Root .115 1.185(b) 9.000 93.000 .314
Gender
Pillai's Trace .104 1.177(a) 9.000 91.000 .319 Wilks' Lambda .896 1.177(a) 9.000 91.000 .319 Hotelling's Trace .116 1.177(a) 9.000 91.000 .319 Roy's Largest Root .116 1.177(a) 9.000 91.000 .319
Age
Pillai's Trace .393 1.139 36.000 376.000 .272 Wilks' Lambda .652 1.153 36.000 342.756 .258 Hotelling's Trace .468 1.164 36.000 358.000 .244 Roy's Largest Root .262 2.741(b) 9.000 94.000 .007
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Table 10. MANCOVA Multivariate Tests(c) Continued
Education
Pillai's Trace .363 1.042 36.000 376.000 .406 Wilks' Lambda .674 1.056 36.000 342.756 .387 Hotelling's Trace .430 1.069 36.000 358.000 .368 Roy's Largest Root .269 2.808(b) 9.000 94.000 .006
Job Description
Pillai's Trace .693 1.185 63.000 679.000 .163 Wilks' Lambda .460 1.218 63.000 518.625 .131 Hotelling's Trace .879 1.246 63.000 625.000 .103 Roy's Largest Root .411 4.431(b) 9.000 97.000 .000
a Exact statistic b The statistic is an upper bound on F that yields a lower bound on the significance level. c Design: Intercept+follower_type+D1+D2+D3+D4 Table 11. MANCOVA Tests of Between-Subjects Effects
Source Dependent Variable
Type III Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.
Corrected Model Pay 63.252(a) 19 3.329 .711 .799 Promotion 286.338(b) 19 15.070 1.220 .257 Supervision 31.873(c) 19 1.678 .504 .955 Fringe Benefits 107.731(d) 19 5.670 1.134 .331 Contingent
Rewards 274.510(e) 19 14.448 1.483 .108
Operating Conditions
284.759(f) 19 14.987 1.659 .057
Co-workers 89.857(g) 19 4.729 1.034 .430 Nature of work 109.097(h) 19 5.742 1.706 .047 Communications 201.376(i) 19 10.599 2.025 .013 Intercept Pay 1.041 1 1.041 .222 .638 Promotion 926.915 1 926.915 75.043 .000 Supervision .975 1 .975 .293 .590 Fringe Benefits 6.398 1 6.398 1.279 .261 Contingent
Rewards 1055.397 1 1055.397 108.332 .000
Operating Conditions
478.830 1 478.830 53.001 .000
Co-workers 12.916 1 12.916 2.824 .096 Nature of work 1274.661 1 1274.661 378.815 .000 Communications 726.819 1 726.819 138.837 .000
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Table 11. MANCOVA Tests of Between-Subjects Effects Continued
Followership style Pay 16.168 3 5.389 1.151 .332 Promotion 28.797 3 9.599 .777 .509 Supervision 7.276 3 2.425 .728 .537 Fringe Benefits 12.611 3 4.204 .841 .475 Contingent
Rewards 19.778 3 6.593 .677 .568
Operating Conditions
14.853 3 4.951 .548 .651
Co-workers 15.508 3 5.169 1.130 .341 Nature of work 31.910 3 10.637 3.161 .028 Communications 9.436 3 3.145 .601 .616 Gender Pay 4.202 1 4.202 .898 .346 Promotion 35.038 1 35.038 2.837 .095 Supervision 1.297 1 1.297 .390 .534 Fringe Benefits .977 1 .977 .195 .659 Contingent
Rewards 7.179 1 7.179 .737 .393
Operating Conditions
8.746 1 8.746 .968 .328
Co-workers .195 1 .195 .043 .837 Nature of work 6.113 1 6.113 1.817 .181 Communications 3.250 1 3.250 .621 .433 Age Pay 17.988 4 4.497 .961 .433 Promotion 83.952 4 20.988 1.699 .156 Supervision 5.666 4 1.417 .425 .790 Fringe Benefits 24.075 4 6.019 1.204 .314 Contingent
Rewards 77.619 4 19.405 1.992 .102
Operating Conditions
26.934 4 6.733 .745 .563
Co-workers 34.037 4 8.509 1.861 .123 Nature of work 20.313 4 5.078 1.509 .205 Communications 66.132 4 16.533 3.158 .017 Education Pay 13.066 4 3.267 .698 .595 Promotion 29.682 4 7.421 .601 .663 Supervision .775 4 .194 .058 .994 Fringe Benefits 9.200 4 2.300 .460 .765 Contingent
Rewards 62.296 4 15.574 1.599 .181
Operating Conditions
35.252 4 8.813 .976 .425
Co-workers 14.008 4 3.502 .766 .550 Nature of work 18.160 4 4.540 1.349 .257 Communications 66.776 4 16.694 3.189 .016
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Table 11. MANCOVA Tests of Between-Subjects Effects Continued
Job Description Pay 15.107 7 2.158 .461 .860 Promotion 87.030 7 12.433 1.007 .431 Supervision 21.344 7 3.049 .916 .498 Fringe Benefits 76.685 7 10.955 2.191 .041 Contingent
Rewards 85.914 7 12.273 1.260 .278
Operating Conditions
181.035 7 25.862 2.863 .009
Co-workers 23.310 7 3.330 .728 .648 Nature of work 17.761 7 2.537 .754 .627 Communications 42.215 7 6.031 1.152 .337 Error Pay 463.386 99 4.681 Promotion 1222.822 99 12.352 Supervision 329.623 99 3.330 Fringe Benefits 495.093 99 5.001 Contingent
Rewards 964.482 99 9.742
Operating Conditions
894.401 99 9.034
Co-workers 452.715 99 4.573 Nature of work 333.122 99 3.365 Communications 518.271 99 5.235 Total Pay 689.000 119 Promotion 8966.000 119 Supervision 418.000 119 Fringe Benefits 840.000 119 Contingent
Rewards 8076.000 119
Operating Conditions
9184.000 119
Co-workers 953.000 119 Nature of work 13847.000 119 Communications 9258.000 119 Corrected Total Pay 526.639 118 Promotion 1509.160 118 Supervision 361.496 118 Fringe Benefits 602.824 118 Contingent
Rewards 1238.992 118
Operating Conditions
1179.160 118
Co-workers 542.571 118 Nature of work 442.218 118 Communications 719.647 118
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Table 11. MANCOVA Tests of Between-Subjects Effects Continued
a R Squared = .120 (Adjusted R Squared = -.049) b R Squared = .190 (Adjusted R Squared = .034) c R Squared = .088 (Adjusted R Squared = -.087) d R Squared = .179 (Adjusted R Squared = .021) e R Squared = .222 (Adjusted R Squared = .072) f R Squared = .241 (Adjusted R Squared = .096) g R Squared = .166 (Adjusted R Squared = .005) h R Squared = .247 (Adjusted R Squared = .102) i R Squared = .280 (Adjusted R Squared = .142) Hypothesis 2 was tested using the multiple analyses of co-variance (MANCOVA)
with demographic data as control variables. The results are displayed in Tables 5 and 6.
Table 5 displays the main effects of each of the independent variables. As evidenced by
the significance, none of the variables had an effect on job satisfaction, including
followership style Table 11 provides a more detailed description of the relationship
between followership style and each facet of job satisfaction. The corrected model, which
is a measure of the meaningfulness of the model, was significant only in the case of
studying the effect on satisfaction with the nature of work and with communication.
Drilling further down in the table shows that followership style had a significant effect on
satisfaction with the nature of work. Demographics also had a significant relationship
with some of the facets of job satisfaction. Both age and education had an effect on
satisfaction with communication; job description had an effect on satisfaction with fringe
benefits and operating conditions.
Table 12 depicts a section from the pair-wise comparisons table that compares the
mean values of satisfaction with the nature of the work for different followership styles.
Most of the significant differences were between the passive followership style and the
other followership styles.
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Table 12. MANCOVA Pair-wise Comparisons
Based on estimated marginal means * The mean difference is significant at the .05 level. a Adjustment for multiple comparisons: Least Significant Difference (equivalent to no adjustments). Hypotheses Tested Using Correlation Analysis
Hypothesis 4 could not be tested because none of the respondents to the survey
attained scores which classify them as having an alienated followership type. For the
remaining hypotheses, Table 8 provides the correlation analyses results.
Null Hypothesis 2: There is no correlation between exemplary followership style and
hotel customer-contact employee job satisfaction.
Alternate Hypothesis 2: There is a correlation between exemplary followership style and
hotel customer-contact employee job satisfaction.
Null Hypothesis 3: There is no correlation between pragmatic followership style and
hotel customer-contact employee job satisfaction.
Dependent Variable
(I) follower type
(J) follower type
Mean Difference
(I-J) Std. Error Sig.(a)
95% Confidence Interval for
Difference(a)
Lower Bound
Upper Bound
Lower Bound
Upper Bound
Lower Bound
Nature of work Exemplary
Pragmatic .796 .496 .112 -.189 1.781 Conformist .279 .561 .619 -.833 1.392 Passive 2.083(*) .736 .006 .623 3.543
Pragmatic
Exemplary -.796 .496 .112 -1.781 .189 Conformist -.516 .672 .444 -1.850 .817 Passive 1.287 .826 .122 -.351 2.926
Conformist Exemplary -.279 .561 .619 -1.392 .833
Pragmatic .516 .672 .444 -.817 1.850 Passive 1.804(*) .860 .038 .098 3.509
Passive Exemplary -2.083(*) .736 .006 -3.543 -.623
Pragmatic -1.287 .826 .122 -2.926 .351 Conformist -1.804(*) .860 .038 -3.509 -.098
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Alternate Hypothesis 3: There is a correlation between pragmatic followership style and
hotel customer-contact employee job satisfaction.
Null Hypothesis 4: There is no correlation between alienated followership style hotel
customer-contact employee job satisfaction.
Alternate Hypothesis 4: There is a correlation between alienated followership style and
hotel customer-contact employee job satisfaction.
Null Hypothesis 5: There is no correlation between conformist followership style and
hotel customer-contact employee job satisfaction.
Alternate Hypothesis 5: There is a correlation between conformist followership style and
hotel customer-contact employee job satisfaction.
Null Hypothesis 6: There is no correlation between passive followership style and hotel
customer-contact employee job satisfaction.
Alternate Hypothesis 6: There is a correlation between passive followership style and f
hotel customer-contact employee job satisfaction.
Hypothesis Testing Results
Table 13. Correlations Analysis Results
Exemplary Pragmatic Conformist Passive Pay 0.13 -0.04 -0.09 -0.09 Promotion 0.15 -0.07 -0.05 -0.11 Supervision 0.06 -0.05 -0.08 0.05 Fringe Benefits 0.07 0.05 -0.14 0.01 Contingent Rewards 0.02 0.04 -0.11 0.01 Operating Conditions 0.01 0.03 -0.09 0.04 Co-workers 0.14 -0.01 -0.13 -0.01 Nature of work 0.18* -0.01 0.00 -0.31* Communications -0.03 0.01 0.14 -0.07
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The correlations analysis, as shown in Table 13, confirms the \results from the
MANCOVA, which indicates statistically non-significant relationship between job
satisfaction and the followership styles except in the case of nature of work. Thus the null
hypothesis is not rejected in all of hypotheses 2 thru 6 except in the case of satisfaction
with the nature of work.
Section 3: Conclusion
In this chapter, descriptive statistics of the surveyed sample and testing of the
hypotheses were conducted. The surveyed sample can be described as mostly females
working as room attendants and guest service agents. They are mostly exemplary in their
followership style and none is alienated. Hypotheses testing showed that followership
behaviors significantly differ by followership styles but not satisfaction, which is affected
by followership style only in its aspect - the satisfaction with the nature of work.
Demographic variables appear to have a more profound impact on satisfaction, but not in
all facets.
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CHAPTER 5. DISCUSSION, IMPLICATIONS, RECOMMENDATIONS
Research Overview
This study tested the hypothesis that hotel customer-contact employees who
perceive they are exemplary or star followers (Kelley, 1992, 2008) will exhibit greater
level of courageous follower attributes (Dixon, 2003) and display greater levels of job
satisfaction (Spector, 1997) than those employees who perceive themselves to be passive
followers (sheep), conformist followers (yes-people), alienated followers or, pragmatic
followers (Pragmatist) (Kelley, 1992, 2008).
The independent variables of exemplary followership, pragmatic followership,
alienated followership, conformist followership and passive followership (Kelley, 1992)
as measured by the Followership Questionnaire (TFQ)) was compared with the
dependent variables of five followership behaviors: (a) courage to assume responsibility,
(b) courage to serve, (c) courage to challenge, (d) courage to participate in
transformation, and (e) courage to leave as measured by The Follower Profile (TFP;
Dixon, 2003) to determine population distribution differences.
In the second part of the study statistical analysis, the independent variables of
exemplary followership style, pragmatic followership style, alienated followership style,
conformist followership style and passive followership style (Kelley, 1992), as measured
by The Followership Questionnaire (TFQ), was compared with ten dependent variables
of job satisfaction as measured by the Job Satisfaction Survey (JSS; Spector, 1997) to
determine any correlations, Pay, promotion, supervision, fringe benefits, contingent
rewards, operating conditions, co-workers, nature of work and communications.
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Research Questions
The study examined two questions. (a) are The Follower Profile (TFP; Dixon,
2003) measured indicators of followership behavior the same for all followership styles
of hotel customer-contact employees; and (b) what is the correlation between exemplary,
pragmatic, alienated, conformist and passive followership styles hotel first line customer-
contact employees job satisfaction?
Hypotheses Tested
The study tested a total of 16 hypotheses to address the research questions as
outlined below.
Phase 1: Research Question
What is the correlation between exemplary, pragmatic, alienated, conformist, and
passive followership styles and hotel first line customer-contact employee job
satisfaction?
Hypotheses using the Kruskal-Wallis test:
Null Hypothesis 1: There is no difference in the distribution of courage to assume
responsibility, courage to challenge, courage to serve, courage to participate in
transformation and courage to leave followership behaviors for exemplary versus
pragmatic versus alienated versus conformist versus passive followership styles of hotel
customer-contact employees.
Alternate Hypothesis 1: There is a difference in the distribution of courage to assume
responsibility, courage to challenge, courage to serve, courage to participate in
transformation and courage to leave followership behaviors for Exemplary versus
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Pragmatic versus Alienated versus Conformist versus Passive followership styles of hotel
customer-contact employees.
Phase 2: Research Question:
What is the correlation between exemplary, pragmatic, alienated, conformist and
passive followership styles and hotel first line customer-contact employee job
satisfaction?
Hypotheses tested using correlation and multiple analyses of co-variance (MANCOVA)
MANCOVA Analysis: DDV= demographic data as control variables
Null Hypothesis predicts that DDV will not interact with hotel customer-contact
employee job satisfaction variables.
Alternate Hypothesis: predicts that DDV will interact with hotel customer-contact
employee job satisfaction variables
Hypotheses Tested Using Correlation Analysis
Hypothesis 4 was not tested as there were no alienated followers in the tested population.
Null Hypothesis 2: There is no correlation between exemplary followership style and
hotel customer-contact employee job satisfaction.
Alternate Hypothesis 2: There is a correlation between exemplary followership style and
hotel customer-contact employee job satisfaction.
Null Hypothesis 3: There is no correlation between pragmatic followership style and
hotel customer-contact employee job satisfaction.
Alternate Hypothesis 3: There is a correlation between pragmatic followership style and
hotel customer-contact employee job satisfaction.
138
Null Hypothesis 5: There is no correlation between conformist followership style and
hotel customer-contact employee job satisfaction.
Alternate Hypothesis 5: There is a correlation between conformist followership style and
hotel customer-contact employee job satisfaction.
Null Hypothesis 6: There is no correlation between passive followership style and hotel
customer-contact employee job satisfaction.
Alternate Hypothesis 6: There is a correlation between passive followership style and f
hotel customer-contact employee job satisfaction.
Setting and Sample
Setting
The study was conducted at the eleven locations of a small luxury hotel and resort
chain located throughout the Columbia Basin and Canadian Rockies in central British
Columbia. The hotel and resort chain has 190 employees of which 142 are classified as
customer-contact employees who would serve as the target population. One hundred-
twenty employees volunteered to participate in the study after having signed an Implied
Consent Form.
While obtaining a stratified random sample of one shift of employees creating a
homogenous sub-population, could have been accomplished, the small size of the target
population would have resulted in having a sample population of insufficient size without
sufficient statistical power thus significantly increasing the possibility of Type II errors.
To avoid this possibility, the total customer-contact employee population was selected as
139
participants and an on-site group administration of the survey instruments was used to
maximize the number of respondents (Fowler, 2003; Yang, 2005).
The hotel and resort chain caters to business and conferences in the larger cites
and primarily to tourists in their other locations. Because of the small numbers of
employees, the hotel chain relies on a team approach with employees in leadership
positions engaged in multiple line duties such as guest registration and in some cases
concierge in addition to their management responsibilities.
Demographics
The following demographics of the target population were examined and used as
control variables: gender, age, education and job description. Thirty-three men and 87
women participated in the study or 27.5% and 72.5% of the target population
respectively. The age of the participants ranged from 16 to 55 and older. Forty-three
participants in the age range of 31-44 years, or 35.8%, formed the largest block of
participants, whereas the 15 participants in the age range of 55 and older, or 10.8%,
formed the smallest block of participants. In the education demographic, 108 participants,
or 90%, were nearly evenly divided between being high school graduates, having some
college, or being college graduates. Customer-contact employees within the hotel-resort
chain fell into eight categories: Guest Services Agent, Room Attendant, Bellman, Night
Auditor, Catering Coordinator, Guest Services Manager, Assistant Manager, and
Corporate Office Staff. It was noted that these designations may not be the same ones
used in a hotel chain in the United States such as Room Attendant, where the designation
of Housekeeping would be used or Bellman, regardless of the employee’s gender, where
the gender neutral designation of bellhop would be used. Thirty-six Guest Services
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Agents and 55 Room Attendants formed the largest block of research participants
comprising 30% and 55% of the study participants respectively with 1 Bellman and 1
Assistant Manager comprising the smallest number of study participants, with
percentages of 0.8% each.
Instrumentation and Data Collection
Data was collected using three survey instruments (Appendices A, B, and C) with
using on-site group administration. All survey instruments were modified, used and
reproduced with written permission of the authors. Each group was provided a
presentation on the nature of the research, the importance of the research to them and
their organization, research confidentiality and anonymity of the respondents, and ethical
considerations. After reading and signing the Implied Consent form they were handed a
survey packet in the following order, The Follower Profile (Dixon, 2003) that measured
courageous follower behavior, and contained the four questions that collected the
demographic data. As the original survey contained some euphemisms that would be
familiar to an American audience, several questions were changed in order to reduce the
possibility of misunderstanding or misinterpretation by the respondents. It was noted that
many of the room attendant staff were from the Philippines and one room attendant was
from Quebec and spoke French as her primary language.
While the English speaking skills of these participants were quite good, there
were still some issues that required clarification by the researcher for some of the
questions. This instrument contained a total of 60 questions. The Followership
Questionnaire (Kelley, 1992) was composed of 20 questions. Questions 1, 5, 11, 12, 14,
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16, 17, 18, 19 and 20 questions measured the level of active engagement and questions 2,
3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 13 and 15 measured the level of independent critical thinking, which a
combination of scores of both constructs formed the respondent’s followership style.
Respondent followership style was measured using the criteria in Table 14, based on the
analysis of the scoring grid illustrated in Figure 7.
Table 14. Scoring Criteria-The Followership Questionnaire
Scoring Criteria
1. Exemplary Followers equal Independent Critical Thinking scores of 31 to 60 and Active Engagement Scores of 41 to 60 2. Pragmatist Followers equal Independent Critical Thinking scores of 20 to 40 and Active Engagement Scores of 20 to 40 3. Conformist Followers equal Independent Critical Thinking scores of 0 to 30 and Active Engagement Scores of 41 to 60 4. Alienated Followers equal Independent Critical Thinking scores of 31 to 60 and Active Engagement Scores of 0 to 19 5. Passive Followers equal Independent Critical Thinking scores of 0 to 30 and Active Engagement Scores of 0 to 19
As the data collected from this instrument formed a major portion of the data
analysis, clarification of responses was essential. To facilitate the following survey key
was provided in Table 15:
Table 15. Survey Key-The Followership Questionnaire
Survey Key 0 = Never- Never is defined as zero (0) percent of the time. 1 = Once in a While- Once in a while is defined as 1-29 percent of the time. 2 = Sometimes- Sometimes is defined as 30-59 percent of the time. 3 = Occasionally- Occasionally is defined as 60-79 percent of the time. 4 = Often- Often is defined as 80-89 percent of the time.
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Table 15. Survey Key-The Followership Questionnaire Continued
5 = Almost Always- Almost Always is defined as 90-99 percent of the time. 6 = Always- Always is defined as 100 percent of the time The final instrument in the packet was the Job Satisfaction Survey (Spector,
1997). As this instrument has been used quite successfully, in both the domestic and
international research environments, no change in instrument wording was necessary.
However, since approximately half of the 36 questions are negatively worded, a survey
key Table (16) was provided to the respondents to incorporate the reverse scoring of their
responses during the data collection phase in order to facilitate data analysis.
Table 16. Survey Key-Job Satisfaction Survey
Survey Key Positively Worded Questions Negatively Worded Questions 1 = Disagree Very Much 6 = Disagree Very Much 2 = Disagree Moderately 5 = Disagree Moderately 3 = Disagree Slightly 4 = Disagree Slightly 4 =Agree Slightly 3 =Agree Slightly 5 =Agree Moderately 2 =Agree Moderately 6 =Agree Very Much 1 =Agree Very Much
Discussion of Findings The analysis of the data centered on separate statistical operations for each of the
research questions and associated hypotheses and a univariate analysis of the sample with
respect to followership style, courageous follower attributes and job satisfaction.
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Univariate Analysis of the Sample The univariate results of the survey data for the followership characteristics and
courageous follower behavioral attributes were determined based upon analysis of results
obtained from the respondent completion of The Follower Profile (Dixon, 2003)
questionnaire and The Followership Questionnaire (Kelley, 1992). The findings from the
analysis of The Follower Profile data revealed that the mean score for most courageous
follower attributes appears to be closer to the maximum , for example 117 for courage to
assume responsibility than to the minimum of 63 for the same attribute. These findings
displayed the same statistical characteristics across the spectrum for all courageous
follower behavioral attributes, thus indicating that all the respondents displayed the
characteristics of courage to assume responsibility, serve, challenge, participate in
transformation, and leave (take moral action).
On average, the scores of the two components, which are used to classify
followership style, showed that there was more of a trend among participants to show
active engagement (mean 45.77, max 60) than independent thinking (mean 35.22, max
60) based upon these means scores, the findings seem to indicate that the average
employee at the hotel and resort chain would tend to report themselves as an exemplary
follower. This conclusion is borne out by the data.
The observations of the specific active engagement and independent thinking
scores that were combined and compared for each respondent for each respondents were
observed based upon the definition, in chapter 3 and illustrated in Table 14 revealed that
65.8%, or 79, respondents reported themselves as exemplary followers, a majority of the
target population. Whereas, 15.0%, or 18 respondents, reported themselves as pragmatic
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followers, followed by 11.7%, or 14 respondents, that reported themselves as conformist
followers. Only 6.7%, or 8 respondents, identified themselves passive followers. One
respondents survey was unable to be scored and was not included in the univariate
analysis. It was interesting to observe that no respondents identified themselves as
alienated followers. The findings suggest these is a somewhat positive, organizational
climate and culture that show some vestiges of an effective teamwork environment
The data indicated a large variation in the responses for the varying aspects of job
satisfaction. However, several aspects of satisfaction were more evident than others.
Respondents appeared to be more satisfied with promotion and the nature of the work (as
indicated by mostly positive descriptive statistics of 15 each) and dissatisfied with the
contingent rewards, operating conditions and communications (as indicated by mostly
negative descriptive statistics of -17, -17 and -14 respectively). These findings suggests
that the organization does a relatively good job in rewarding employees with promotion,
(extrinsic job satisfaction) and most employees appear satisfied with the nature of their
work (intrinsic job satisfaction). However, there appears to be major organizational issues
with organizational communication which had a maximum score of -2 and minimum
score of -14 (intrinsic job satisfaction) and a perceived unhappiness in the operating
conditions for their work as indicated by a maximum score of 1 and minimum score of -
17). It must be noted that the researcher stayed at four of the locations, which are all
high-end luxury hotels or resorts. The surveys were administered in conference rooms,
empty hotel suites, and in one case, a large combination laundry and break area. The
nature of this study did not include the specific definition of operating conditions
(extrinsic job satisfaction) or active observations of employees in their operating
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environment, thus no conclusion can be drawn as to why the hotel chain employees are
not satisfied with their operating conditions which could include working hours,
facilities, resources made available to do their work, organizational leadership and
customer interactions.
However, in examining the findings from the univariate analysis of the data from
The Follower Profile and The Followership Questionnaire together with the job
satisfaction data, the data suggest that the average customer-contact employee from this
hotel chain is an exemplary follower who displays all of the courageous follower
attributes, but is very dissatisfied with level of organizational communication and
organizational operating conditions, but are happy with the nature of their work and has a
moderate level of satisfaction on how promotions are handled within the organization.
Conclusions of Hypotheses Testing and Evaluation The hypotheses tested in this research were divided into 2 phases and addressed
using several statistical tests.
Phase 1: Research Question
Are TFP measured indicators of followership behavior the same for all
followership styles of hotel customer-contact employees?
Hypotheses using the Kruskal-Wallis test:
Null Hypothesis 1: There is no difference in the distribution of courage to assume
responsibility, courage to challenge, courage to serve, courage to participate in
transformation and courage to leave followership behaviors for Exemplary versus
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Pragmatic versus Alienated versus conformist versus passive followership styles of hotel
customer-contact employees.
Alternate Hypothesis 1: There is a difference in the distribution of courage to assume
responsibility, courage to challenge, courage to serve, courage to participate in
transformation and courage to leave followership behaviors for exemplary versus
pragmatic versus alienated versus conformist versus passive followership styles of hotel
customer-contact employees.
Conclusions of Findings
The non-parametric Kruskal-Wallis test was used to test hypothesis that the
medians for the different courageous follower behavioral attributes behaviors are equal
for different followership styles. The mean ranks of followership styles for each of the
courageous followers upon examination appeared to be very different but were highly
statistically significant based upon their p-values being less than .05. For example, for the
courageous follower behavior of courage to assume responsibility, exemplary
followership style had a mean rank of 71.75 with a p-value of 0.00. Across all other
courageous follower attributes, this followership style had mean ranks of 68.82, 70.10,
70.99 and 70.72 with all p-values being 0.00; pragmatic follower style had a mean rank
of 36.38 with a p-value of 0.00. Across all other courageous follower attributes, this
followership style had mean ranks of 41.32, 30.56, 27.56 and 48.60 with all p-values
being 0.00; conformist followership style had a mean rank of 43.40 with a p-value of
0.00. Across all other courageous follower attributes, this followership style had mean
ranks of 50.36, 46.40, 56.87 and 70.72 with all p-values being 0.00 and the passive
followership style had a mean rank of 25.25 with a p-value of 0.00. Across all other
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courageous follower attributes, this followership style had mean ranks of 30.75, 28.31,
26.38 and 27.13 with all p-values being 0.00. Based on the statistical test’s findings, the
null hypothesis is rejected and the alternative hypothesis is accepted.
These findings suggest that the respondents all displayed some level of all of the
courageous follower behavioral attributes. However, exemplary followers tended to
display more of the courageous follower attributes than the other followership styles.
This finding suggests that pragmatic followers tend to assume responsibility only when it
was to their benefit; this was reflected in their score. This pattern of apparent fence sitting
appeared evident in the median rank scores for the other behavioral attributes which
ranked below that of conformist followers, but higher than passive followers. It was
interesting to note that conformist followers scored above 50 in the courageous follower
attributes of courage to participate in transformation and courage to serve with scores of
56.87 and 50.30 respectively, suggesting that active engagement in these activities are
relatively high, but rating much lower on the scores for critical independent thinking than
their exemplary follower co-workers.
In the courageous follower attributes of courage to challenge, and courage to
leave (take moral action), the data suggest that the conformist follower respondents did
not completely accept everything they were either told or had to do and had some
willingness to question authority and if pushed would take some form of moral action or
leave the organization, but not to the same extent as their exemplary follower co-workers.
The findings also suggest that conformist followers had a greater tendency to display the
behavioral aspects of all the courageous follower attributes than either the pragmatists or
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passive followers. As expected, the passive followers scored much lower in all categories
of courageous follower attributes than the other followership styles.
Phase 2: Research Question
What is the correlation between exemplary, pragmatic, alienated, conformist and
passive followership styles and hotel first line customer-contact employee job
satisfaction?
Hypotheses tested using Multiple Analysis of Co-variance (MANCOVA)
Null Hypothesis predicts that DDV will not interact with hotel customer-contact
employee job satisfaction variables.
Alternate Hypothesis: predicts that DDV will interact with hotel customer-contact
employee job satisfaction variables.
Findings of MANCOVA Analysis
Hypothesis 2 was tested using the multiple analyses of co-variance (MANCOVA)
with demographic data as control variables. In multivariate tests, the data indicated that
the main effects of each of the independent variables resulted in no effects of the
variables, including followership style had an effect on job satisfaction, including
followership style. However, there were some facets of job satisfaction that were
influenced by demographics. Data from the test between subject effects provided a more
detailed description of the statistical relationship between followership style and all facets
of job satisfaction. These findings suggest that exemplary, pragmatic and conformist
followers were significantly more satisfied with the nature of work than their passive
follower co-workers. The analysis of the data indicates that the null hypothesis is partially
rejected and the alternative hypothesis is partially accepted.
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The corrected model measured the meaningfulness of the model, was significant
only in analyzing the effect on satisfaction with the nature of work and with
communication. The data from the corrected model also demonstrated that followership
style had a significant effect on satisfaction with the nature of work. While demographics
did not significantly affect all facets of job satisfaction, the control variables of age and
education had an effect on satisfaction with communication and job description had an
effect on satisfaction with fringe benefits and operating conditions.
In the pair-wise comparisons compared the mean values of satisfaction with the
nature of the work as the dependent variable for different followership styles. The most
significant differences observed were between the passive followership style and the
other followership styles with the mean differences between exemplary and passive styles
being 2.083, passive and pragmatic styles being 1.287 and conformist and passive styles
being 1.804. The pair wise comparison with passive styles and exemplary, pragmatic and
conformist styles were -2.083, -1.286 and -1.804 respectively.
Findings of Correlation Analysis and Hypotheses Tested
Hypothesis 4 was not tested because none of the respondents to The Followership
Questionnaire (Kelley, 1992) had scores that would classify them as alienated followers.
The following hypotheses were tested for the other followership styles:
Null Hypothesis 2: There is no correlation between exemplary followership style and
hotel customer-contact employee job satisfaction.
Alternate Hypothesis 2: There is a correlation between exemplary followership style and
hotel customer-contact employee job satisfaction.
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Null Hypothesis 3: There is no correlation between pragmatic followership style and
hotel customer-contact employee job satisfaction.
Alternate Hypothesis 3: There is a correlation between pragmatic followership style and
hotel customer-contact employee job satisfaction.
Null Hypothesis 4: There is no correlation between alienated followership style and hotel
customer-contact employee job satisfaction.
Alternate Hypothesis 4: There is a correlation between alienated followership style and
hotel customer-contact employee job satisfaction.
Null Hypothesis 5: There is no correlation between conformist followership style and
hotel customer-contact employee job satisfaction.
Alternate Hypothesis 5: There is a correlation between conformist followership style and
hotel customer-contact employee job satisfaction.
Null Hypothesis 6: There is no correlation between passive followership style and hotel
customer-contact employee job satisfaction.
Alternate Hypothesis 6: There is a correlation between passive followership style and
hotel customer-contact employee job satisfaction.
The correlations analysis of the six hypotheses confirmed the results from the
MANCOVA that indicated the relationship between job satisfaction and the followership
styles except in the case of nature of work is statistically non-significant. As a result, the
null hypothesis is not rejected in all of hypotheses 2 thru 6 except in the case of the job
satisfaction facet of nature of work which showed a slightly positive correlation of 0.18
for the exemplary followership style and a negative correlation of -0.31 for the passive
followership style. These findings suggest that followership style is not a major factor in
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an employees’ extrinsic or intrinsic job satisfaction. But the nature of work appears to be
a slightly positive satisfier for exemplary followers and a slightly negative satisfier for
passive followers. The key thing to note is that these findings also suggest that the
exemplary follower is more likely to verbalize their satisfaction or dissatisfaction,
whereas the passive follower would keep their perceptions to themselves.
In summary, the target population of the surveyed sample can be characterized as
mostly female who are either guest services agents or room attendants. Approximately
two thirds of the surveyed sample reports themselves to be exemplary followers, and no
respondents reported themselves to be alienated followers. Hypotheses testing revealed
that showed that showed that courageous follower behaviors significantly differ by
followership styles but not job satisfaction. Job satisfaction is affected by followership
style only in the facet of the nature of work. Demographic variables appear to have a
more profound impact on some but not all facets of job satisfaction. In essence the data
suggest that customer-contact employee job satisfaction is more of a personal perception
of how extrinsic and intrinsic job satisfaction facets affect them personally regardless of
followership style and their followership style is a manifestation of their attitudes and
relationship to their colleagues, leadership and level of organizational commitment.
Limitations of the Study
In chapter 1, several limitations to the study were listed. These limitations were
sample size, selection of respondents, demonstrated validity of the data instruments, and
threats to internal validity including possible selection-maturation interaction and
selection (Ohlund & Yu, 1999) due to the respondents for the followership and employee
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satisfaction instruments will come from the same work areas. While the sample size was
relatively small, the entire target population was selected and given the opportunity to
participate in the study, versus using a stratified random sample that lacked sufficient
statistical power. This step along with using instruments with demonstrated statistical
validity and reliability addressed the above limitations.
The cultural background of the customer-contact employees remained a
limitation. The setting was an international one with many of the respondents being from
the Philippines or are native Canadians. While Canada is closely aligned culturally to the
United States, there are some differences. These differences could have manifested itself
in the way the participants responded to The Follower Profile and The Followership
Questionnaire. Hofstede (1980), in his research, addressed how the differences in national
cultures have a profound effect on the way employees perceive management practices
and how American management theory or in this case followership theory is applied and
examined. Nationality was not a demographic variable and a statistical analysis could
have been conducted to determine if there was any influence on the variables of
courageous follower behavior or followership style. Because this was in an international
environment, the findings of the study may not be generalized to other populations or
even customer–contact employee populations in hotels located in the United States
Although there was not widespread use of The Follower Profile (Dixon, 2003)and
The Followership Questionnaire (Kelley) instruments involved in this study, (instrument
validity and reliability notwithstanding), like the Pratt (2004) study, the risk of hidden
tautologies in the tested hypotheses, the modifications to the instruments and simplified
153
straightforward analysis processes and clear identification of the variables ensured there
was no meaningless correlational analysis due to variable ambiguity and complexity.
Another limitation was the use of zeros in the scoring of The Followership
Questionnaire (Kelley, 1992). While the use of zero provided a more meaningful score in
calculating followership style, it created problems in examining the constructs of
independent critical thinking and active engagement separately. One solution would be to
use a 7-point Likert scale number 1 to 7 versus 0 to 6, modify the scoring criteria for each
followership style according and still be in a position to have valid numbers to establish
statistical relationships between independent and dependent variables.
The self-reporting aspects of The Followership Questionnaire and The Follower
Profile remained a significant limitation to the study. Due to the high numbers of
respondents who self-reported as exemplary followers and that each reported
followership style demonstrated courageous follower behaviors to some varying degree
demonstrated that respondents answered questions in way where they perceive they are in
a more favorable light creating possible over reporting as exemplary followers for
example.
Further, as the data was gathered at one session at each location versus data being
gathered over time in a longitudinal study, the stability of the observed empirical
relationships cannot be firmly concluded as a replication of the study at the same
locations may reveal entirely different results.
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Implications for Future Research
The results of this study and the limitations that were previously listed offer
several opportunities for future research. One possibility is replicating the study at four or
five geographically dispersed locations of a major luxury hotel chain in the United States
using a stratified random sample of all customer-contact employee s of one shift, using
on-site group administration for data collection. Demographic data collected would
include nationality of the respondents to determine the effect of this variable on job
satisfaction. A comparative analysis could then be conducted with the findings of this
study to determine differences in results and conclusions. The second possibility of future
research is to examine the influence of demographics to include nationality on
followership style and the level of courageous follower attributes with demographics
being the independent variables and followership style and courageous follower attributes
being dependent variables. This type of study could be conducted in a variety of settings
and populations and not limited to using hotel customer-contact employees.
The third possibility for future research is to examine the influence of
demographics to include nationality on the level of the followership style constructs of
independent critical thinking and active engagement, with demographics being the
independent variables and independent critical thinking and active engagement being the
dependent variables.
The fourth possibility is to replicate the other possibilities to include this study in
a variety of international environments to determine the influence of different
nationalities in their home environment have on followership style, courageous follower
attributes and customer-contact employee job satisfaction. In all of these future research
155
possibilities, The Followership Questionnaire (Kelley, 1992) would have to further
modified and scoring for the five followership styles changed as depicted in Table 17 in
order to ensure a valid statistical relationship between variables, where the use of the
number zero in a response would create difficulty in data analysis and the determination
of statistical relationships between variables.
Table 17. Revised Survey Key and Scoring Criteria-The Followership Questionnaire
Survey Key
1= Never - Never is defined as zero (0) percent of the time. 2 = Once in a While - Once in a while is defined as 1-29 percent of the time. 3 = Sometimes - Sometimes is defined as 30-59 percent of the time. 4 = Occasionally - Occasionally is defined as 60-79 percent of the time. 5 =Often - Often is defined as 80-89 percent of the time. 6 =Almost Always - Almost Always is defined as 90-99 percent of the time. 7 =Always - Always is defined as 100 percent of the time
Scoring Criteria-The Followership Questionnaire
1. Exemplary Followers equal Independent Critical Thinking scores of 42 to 70 and Active Engagement Scores of 51 to 70 2. Pragmatist Followers equal Independent Critical Thinking scores of 30 to 50 and Active Engagement Scores of 30 to 50 3. Conformist Followers equal Independent Critical Thinking scores of 10 to 40 and Active Engagement Scores of 51 to 70 4. Alienated Followers equal Independent Critical Thinking scores of 41 to 70 and Active Engagement Scores of 10 to 29 5. Passive Followers equal Independent Critical Thinking scores of 10 to 40 and Active Engagement Scores of 10 to 29
A fifth possibility for future research centers around the examination of the
influence of affective and cognitive components of followership (Lord, 2008) on the level
of organizational commitment Townsend & Gebhardt, 2003). A final possibility would
156
be a variation of the fourth, where a correlational study could be conducted to determine
how followership style influences the level of organizational commitment, where
followership style is the independent variable and organizational commitment is the
dependent variable.
Recommendations for Practice
Through the years, American leadership and management theory has centered on
power relationships, some form of hierarchal power structure and the role of leadership
influence in the relationships between the lead rand the led Emerson, 1962: Veragunas,
1989). The more recent forms of leadership styles such as transformational leadership
and servant leadership have embraced the concept of power sharing, risk sharing and
follower development (Bass & Bass, 2008, Bass & Riggio, 2006; Greenleaf, 1977; Spears
& Lawrence, 2002). Organizational leadership either through training or education have
wedded themselves to the concept that leaders lead and followers are dependent and have
little or no influence in their organizations. The concept of followership and the
identification of followership styles and internal organizational power structures based
upon the influence of followers are relatively new paradigms (Chaleff, 2003, 2008;
Kelley, 1992, 2008; Lord, 2008) and viewing followership as an influencing factor
separate from leadership is also relatively a new research paradigm, (Chaleff, 2008,
Kelley, 2008).
In order to influence organizational leaders to see followership as a valid and
important paradigm, a followership curriculum would need to be developed and taught in
business schools and organizational training sessions as something that is not a negative
157
concept, but is a positive partner to leadership. These courses and training sessions could
be based on the successful workshops conducted by Ira Chaleff and Dr. Eugene Dixon.
This effort could be made more effective by using the principles of critical reflection as
outlined by Brookfield (1995), where the leader becomes a coach, mentor and power
sharer, while knowing and understanding the needs and value of the followers. The glide
path for leaders would be to combine the principles of transformational leadership to not
only facilitate followers to be transformational leaders and exemplary followers, but for
the leaders to learn how to become exemplary followers themselves through the critical
reflective process.
To initiate this learning in organizations, a change management process would
have to be instituted, as most people still view followership in a negative light and buy-in
to this paradigm will be essential. The first step is to conduct an organizational culture
survey in conjunction with a job satisfaction and organizational communication survey.
The results of these surveys will provide valuable information of where the problem areas
are that will create road blocks in bringing out the necessary change and behavior
modification required at all levels of the organization in order to make this effort
successful. A key point to remember is that both exemplary followership and
transformational leadership have a strong moral component and an outward selfless focus
to serve others rather than self and working toward a common organizational purpose. As
this type of organizational change will not be an overnight process, it is recommended
that organizations have regular employee town hall style meetings where the principles of
critical reflection are used to obtain feedback to determine whether organizational
158
learning and acceptance of followership is taking place and action plans can be developed
and followed up on to remedy shortcomings in the process.
Conclusion
This study provided an in-depth view of how followership style and courageous
follower attributes influences job satisfaction from the viewpoint of the follower on hotel
customer-contact employee job satisfaction. This study was conducted in an international
setting using environment using The Followership Questionnaire (Kelley, 1992) and The
Follower Profile (Dixon, 2003) in a research setting where the literature has shown that
little to no research has been conducted that addresses the influence of followership style
and courageous follower attributes on organizational effectiveness, employee job
satisfaction, employee commitment and organizational performance (Chaleff, 2003,
Kelley, 1992, 2008; Pack, 2001) and specifically, the influence of followership style
(Kelley1992) and Courageous Follower Attributes (Chaleff, 2003; Dixon, 2003) on hotel
customer-contact employee job satisfaction.
This study added to the body of knowledge by demonstrating how the
followership styles and courageous follower attributes of hotel customer-contact
employees influence their job satisfaction and the relationship between their followership
style and the level of courageous follower attributes. Addressing this gap in knowledge
will assist organizations in the service industry and the hotel industry in particular to
evaluate the full effectiveness of new and established programs to improve employee job
satisfaction, organizational commitment and assist in the development of employees and
leaders to develop those behavioral attributes to become exemplary followers.
159
Additionally, this study provided key insights into the enhancement of hotel
customer-contact employee job satisfaction through an understanding of the influence of
the employees’ followership style and courageous follower behavioral attributes and
providing an avenue of improving organizational climate and culture, employee and
leadership development and ultimately improving overall customer service in this
important sector of the service industry.
160
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APPENDIX A. THE FOLLOWERSHIP QUESTIONAIRE
Copyright ©1992 by Robert E. Kelley All rights reserved
The Followership Questionnaire
Instructions
1. This survey is designed to measure the type of follower you are. It is anonymous and confidential. No personal information will be gathered as part of this survey. Results from all participants will be gathered and combined to maintain participant confidentiality and anonymity. 2. Please be as accurate and honest as possible in your responses. The survey will consist of 20 questions and use the survey scale to indicate the extent to which each statement best describes you. Please think of a specific but typical followership situation and how you acted. This survey should take about ten minters to complete. 3. Use the following rating scale and CHECK the BEST answer for each statement that best describes your strongest feelings.
Survey Key 0.= Never- Never is defined as zero (0) percent of the time. 1 = Once in a While- Once in a while is defined as 1-29 percent of the time. 2 = Sometimes- Sometimes is defined as 30-59 percent of the time. 3 = Occasionally- Occasionally is defined as 60-79 percent of the time. 4 = Often- Often is defined as 80-89 percent of the time. 5 = Almost Always- Almost Always is defined as 90-99 percent of the time. 6 = Always- Always is defined as 100 percent of the time
QUESTIONS
Question 1: Does your work help you fulfill some societal goal or personal dream that is important to you? ___ (6) Always ___ (5) Almost Always ___ (4) Often ___ (3) Occasionally ___ (2) Sometimes ___ (1) Once in a while ___ (0) Never
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Question 2: Are your personal work goals aligned with the organization’s most important goals? ___ (6) Always ___ (5) Almost Always ___ (4) Often ___ (3) Occasionally ___ (2) Sometimes ___ (1) Once in a while ___ (0) Never Question 3: Are you highly committed to and energized by your work and organization, giving them your best ideas and performance? ___ (6) Always ___ (5) Almost Always ___ (4) Often ___ (3) Occasionally ___ (2) Sometimes ___ (1) Once in a while ___ (0) Never Question 4: Does your enthusiasm spread to and energize your co-workers? ___ (6) Always ___ (5) Almost Always ___ (4) Often ___ (3) Occasionally ___ (2) Sometimes ___ (1) Once in a while ___ (0) Never Question 5: Instead of waiting for or merely accepting what the leader tells you, do you personally identify which organizational activities are most critical for achieving the organization’s most important goals? ___ (6) Always ___ (5) Almost Always ___ (4) Often ___ (3) Occasionally ___ (2) Sometimes ___ (1) Once in a while ___ (0) Never
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Question 6: Do you actively develop a distinctive competence in those critical activities so that you become more valuable to the leader and the organization? ___ (6) Always ___ (5) Almost Always ___ (4) Often ___ (3) Occasionally ___ (2) Sometimes ___ (1) Once in a while ___ (0) Never Question 7: When starting on a new job or assignment, do you promptly build a record of successes in tasks that are important to the leader? ___ (6) Always ___ (5) Almost Always ___ (4) Often ___ (3) Occasionally ___ (2) Sometimes ___ (1) Once in a while ___ (0) Never Question 8: Can the leader give you a difficult assignment without the benefit of much supervision, knowing that you will meet your deadline , with the highest quality work and that you will ”fill in the cracks” if need be? ___ (6) Always ___ (5) Almost Always ___ (4) Often ___ (3) Occasionally ___ (2) Sometimes ___ (1) Once in a while ___ (0) Never Question 9: Do you take the initiative to seek out and successfully complete assignments that go above and beyond your job? ___ (6) Always ___ (5) Almost Always ___ (4) Often ___ (3) Occasionally ___ (2) Sometimes ___ (1) Once in a while ___ (0) Never
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Question 10: When you are not the leader of a group project, do you still contribute at a high level, often doing more than your share? ___ (6) Always ___ (5) Almost Always ___ (4) Often ___ (3) Occasionally ___ (2) Sometimes ___ (1) Once in a while ___ (0) Never Question 11: Do you independently think up and champion new ideas that will contribute significantly to the leader’s or the organization’s goals? ___ (6) Always ___ (5) Almost Always ___ (4) Often ___ (3) Occasionally ___ (2) Sometimes ___ (1) Once in a while ___ (0) Never Question 12: Do you try to solve tough problems (technical or organizational) rather than look to the leader to do it for you? ___ (6) Always ___ (5) Almost Always ___ (4) Often ___ (3) Occasionally ___ (2) Sometimes ___ (1) Once in a while ___ (0) Never Question 13: Do you help out other co-workers, making them look good, even when you don’t get any credit? ___ (6) Always ___ (5) Almost Always ___ (4) Often ___ (3) Occasionally ___ (2) Sometimes ___ (1) Once in a while ___ (0) Never
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Question 14: Do you help the leader or group see both the upside potential and the downside risks of ideas or plans , playing the devil’s advocate if need be? ___ (6) Always ___ (5) Almost Always ___ (4) Often ___ (3) Occasionally ___ (2) Sometimes ___ (1) Once in a while ___ (0) Never Question 15: Do you understand the leader’s needs, goals, and constraints and then work hard to help meet the leader’s needs and goals and work within the leader’s constraints? ___ (6) Always ___ (5) Almost Always ___ (4) Often ___ (3) Occasionally ___ (2) Sometimes ___ (1) Once in a while ___ (0) Never Question 16: Do you actively and honestly admit to your strengths and weaknesses rather than delay evaluation? ___ (6) Always ___ (5) Almost Always ___ (4) Often ___ (3) Occasionally ___ (2) Sometimes ___ (1) Once in a while ___ (0) Never Question 17: Do you make a habit of internally questioning the wisdom of the leaders’ decision rather than just doing what you are told? ___ (6) Always ___ (5) Almost Always ___ (4) Often ___ (3) Occasionally ___ (2) Sometimes ___ (1) Once in a while ___ (0) Never
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Question 18: When the leader asks you to do something that runs contrary to your professional or personal preferences, do you say “no” rather than “yes”? ___ (6) Always ___ (5) Almost Always ___ (4) Often ___ (3) Occasionally ___ (2) Sometimes ___ (1) Once in a while ___ (0) Never Question 19: Do you act on your own ethical standards rather than the leaders or the group’s standards? ___ (6) Always ___ (5) Almost Always ___ (4) Often ___ (3) Occasionally ___ (2) Sometimes ___ (1) Once in a while ___ (0) Never Question 20: Do you assert your views on important issues, even though it might conflict with your group or reprisals from your leader? ___ (6) Always ___ (5) Almost Always ___ (4) Often ___ (3) Occasionally ___ (2) Sometimes ___ (1) Once in a while ___ (0) Never
THANK YOU FOR YOUR PARTICIPATION TODAY!
Copyright ©1992 by Robert E. Kelley All rights reserved
Note. The Followership Questionnaire (Kelley, 1992) was modified, used and reproduced
with written permission of the instrument’s author, Dr. Robert E. Kelley, Carnegie
Mellon University. A copy of the written permission was provided to the Capella
180
University Institutional Review Board (IRB).The changes to the instrument involved
providing clarifying instructions for use of the instrument, a survey key and using a zero
in the Likert scale to obtain a more accurate score to determine followership style. In
addition the wording of some of the questions was changed to improve readability and
provide more clarification to an international audience.
181
APPENDIX B. THE FOLLOWER PROFILE
Copyright © 2001 Eugene. Dixon. All rights reserved
The Follower Profile Instructions
1. This survey is designed to measure behavioral attributes associated with Courageous Followership. These attributes are (1) The courage to assume responsibility; (2) The courage to serve; (3) The courage to challenge; (4) The courage to participate in transformation and (5) The courage to leave/take moral action. This survey is anonymous and confidential. The first part of the survey will consist of four questions for demographic data: age, gender, education and occupation, however, no personal information will be gathered as part of this survey. Results from all participants will be gathered and combined to maintain participant confidentiality and anonymity. 2. Please be as accurate and honest as possible in your responses. The second part of the survey will consist of 56 statements and use the survey scale to indicate the extent to which each statement best reflects your opinion about it. This survey should take about thirty minters to complete. 3. Use the following rating scale and CHECK the BEST answer for each statement that best describes your strongest feelings or in the case of the demographic data accurately reflects your status. Survey Key 1 = Strongly Disagree 2 = Disagree 3 = Somewhat Agree 4 =Agree 5 =Strongly Agree
PART 1 DEMOGRAPHIC DATA
GENDER:
___ (1) Male ___ (2) Female
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AGE:
___ (1) 16-25 years
___ (2) 26-30 years ___ (3) 31-44 years ___ (4) 45-54 years ___ (5) 55 years and older EDUCATION:
___ (1) Not a High School/Secondary School Graduate ___ (2) High School/Secondary School Graduate ___ (3) Some College ___ (4) College Graduate ___ (5) Some Graduate work and beyond JOB DESCRIPTION OF PRIMARY JOB:
___ (1) Guest Services Agent ___ (2) Room Attendant ___ (3) Bellman ___ (4) Night Auditor ___ (5) Catering Coordinator ___ (6) Guest Services Manager ___ (7) Assistant Manager ___ (8) Corporate Office Staff
PART 2 STATEMENTS Statement 1: I create a supportive environment in which changes can occur. ___ (5) Strongly Agree ___ (4) Agree ___ (3) Somewhat Agree ___ (2) Disagree ___ (1) Strongly Disagree Statement 2: I act responsibly. ___ (5) Strongly Agree ___ (4) Agree ___ (3) Somewhat Agree ___ (2) Disagree ___ (1) Strongly Disagree
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Statement 3: I am passionate about work and commitments. ___ (5) Strongly Agree ___ (4) Agree ___ (3) Somewhat Agree ___ (2) Disagree ___ (1) Strongly Disagree Statement 4: I command respect. ___ (5) Strongly Agree ___ (4) Agree ___ (3) Somewhat Agree ___ (2) Disagree ___ (1) Strongly Disagree Statement 5: I notice and acknowledge improvements. ___ (5) Strongly Agree ___ (4) Agree ___ (3) Somewhat Agree ___ (2) Disagree ___ (1) Strongly Disagree Statement 6: I provide support for experimentation and learning. ___ (5) Strongly Agree ___ (4) Agree ___ (3) Somewhat Agree ___ (2) Disagree ___ (1) Strongly Disagree Statement 7: I demonstrate appreciation and support for the group values and traditions. ___ (5) Strongly Agree ___ (4) Agree ___ (3) Somewhat Agree ___ (2) Disagree ___ (1) Strongly Disagree Statement 8: I advise my supervisor of concern for threatened personal values and principles. ___ (5) Strongly Agree
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___ (4) Agree ___ (3) Somewhat Agree ___ (2) Disagree ___ (1) Strongly Disagree Statement 9: I prepare to transfer responsibilities should firing or layoff become necessary. ___ (5) Strongly Agree ___ (4) Agree ___ (3) Somewhat Agree ___ (2) Disagree ___ (1) Strongly Disagree Statement 10: I give feedback to my supervisor on policies. ___ (5) Strongly Agree ___ (4) Agree ___ (3) Somewhat Agree ___ (2) Disagree ___ (1) Strongly Disagree Statement 11: I manage myself to meet deadlines and commitments. ___ (5) Strongly Agree ___ (4) Agree ___ (3) Somewhat Agree ___ (2) Disagree ___ (1) Strongly Disagree Statement 12: I recognize the impact of personal exhaustion. ___ (5) Strongly Agree ___ (4) Agree ___ (3) Somewhat Agree ___ (2) Disagree ___ (1) Strongly Disagree Statement 13: I have no tolerance for flagrant or repeated breaches of trust. ___ (5) Strongly Agree ___ (4) Agree ___ (3) Somewhat Agree ___ (2) Disagree ___ (1) Strongly Disagree
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Statement 14: I find avenues to effect change. ___ (5) Strongly Agree ___ (4) Agree ___ (3) Somewhat Agree ___ (2) Disagree ___ (1) Strongly Disagree Statement 15: I tell others my supervisor’s values without injecting my own personal agenda. ___ (5) Strongly Agree ___ (4) Agree ___ (3) Somewhat Agree ___ (2) Disagree ___ (1) Strongly Disagree Statement 16: I give my supervisor feedback on behaviors. ___ (5) Strongly Agree ___ (4) Agree ___ (3) Somewhat Agree ___ (2) Disagree ___ (1) Strongly Disagree Statement 17: I assume responsibility for bending rules in situations where the rules keep me from serving others. ___ (5) Strongly Agree ___ (4) Agree ___ (3) Somewhat Agree ___ (2) Disagree ___ (1) Strongly Disagree Statement 18: I would resign to protect my supervisor from negative consequences as a result of my personal actions. ___ (5) Strongly Agree ___ (4) Agree ___ (3) Somewhat Agree ___ (2) Disagree ___ (1) Strongly Disagree Statement 19: I help my supervisor clarify the vision and goals.
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___ (5) Strongly Agree ___ (4) Agree ___ (3) Somewhat Agree ___ (2) Disagree ___ (1) Strongly Disagree Statement 20: I accept the organization’s need for new people. ___ (5) Strongly Agree ___ (4) Agree ___ (3) Somewhat Agree ___ (2) Disagree ___ (1) Strongly Disagree Statement 21: I seek challenges. ___ (5) Strongly Agree ___ (4) Agree ___ (3) Somewhat Agree ___ (2) Disagree ___ (1) Strongly Disagree Statement 22: I establish ways to cope change that help reinforce transforming change. ___ (5) Strongly Agree ___ (4) Agree ___ (3) Somewhat Agree ___ (2) Disagree ___ (1) Strongly Disagree Statement 23: I am personally committed to the organization’s shared purpose and vision. ___ (5) Strongly Agree ___ (4) Agree ___ (3) Somewhat Agree ___ (2) Disagree ___ (1) Strongly Disagree Statement 24: I summarize for others what my supervisor says. ___ (5) Strongly Agree ___ (4) Agree ___ (3) Somewhat Agree ___ (2) Disagree
187
___ (1) Strongly Disagree Statement 25: I provide my supervisor feedback on leader performance-comforts and confronts. ___ (5) Strongly Agree ___ (4) Agree ___ (3) Somewhat Agree ___ (2) Disagree ___ (1) Strongly Disagree Statement 26: I support rules serving the common purpose and question rules that do not. ___ (5) Strongly Agree ___ (4) Agree ___ (3) Somewhat Agree ___ (2) Disagree ___ (1) Strongly Disagree Statement 27: I minimize unnecessary pressure on my supervisor. ___ (5) Strongly Agree ___ (4) Agree ___ (3) Somewhat Agree ___ (2) Disagree ___ (1) Strongly Disagree Statement 28: I test ideas to demonstrate their potential. ___ (5) Strongly Agree ___ (4) Agree ___ (3) Somewhat Agree ___ (2) Disagree ___ (1) Strongly Disagree ___ (1) Strongly Disagree Statement 29: I defend my supervisor from unwarranted attack. ___ (5) Strongly Agree ___ (4) Agree ___ (3) Somewhat Agree ___ (2) Disagree ___ (1) Strongly Disagree
188
Statement 30: I point out how destructive behaviors do not match up with the values of the organization. ___ (5) Strongly Agree ___ (4) Agree ___ (3) Somewhat Agree ___ (2) Disagree ___ (1) Strongly Disagree Statement 31: I encourage complainers to communicate concerns not emotions. ___ (5) Strongly Agree ___ (4) Agree ___ (3) Somewhat Agree ___ (2) Disagree ___ (1) Strongly Disagree Statement 32: I will not shy away from uncomfortable situations. ___ (5) Strongly Agree ___ (4) Agree ___ (3) Somewhat Agree ___ (2) Disagree ___ (1) Strongly Disagree Statement 33: I confront the danger of not considering alternative ideas. ___ (5) Strongly Agree ___ (4) Agree ___ (3) Somewhat Agree ___ (2) Disagree ___ (1) Strongly Disagree Statement 34: I help the organization escape the limits of the current mindset. ___ (5) Strongly Agree ___ (4) Agree ___ (3) Somewhat Agree ___ (2) Disagree ___ (1) Strongly Disagree Statement 35: I evaluate my own performance. ___ (5) Strongly Agree ___ (4) Agree
189
___ (3) Somewhat Agree ___ (2) Disagree ___ (1) Strongly Disagree Statement 36: I take initiative even if the task is not part of my job. ___ (5) Strongly Agree ___ (4) Agree ___ (3) Somewhat Agree ___ (2) Disagree ___ (1) Strongly Disagree Statement 37: I follow as a conscious act of free will. ___ (5) Strongly Agree ___ (4) Agree ___ (3) Somewhat Agree ___ (2) Disagree ___ (1) Strongly Disagree Statement 38: I act to relieve power from an undeserving leader. ___ (5) Strongly Agree ___ (4) Agree ___ (3) Somewhat Agree ___ (2) Disagree ___ (1) Strongly Disagree Statement 39: I am willing to take concerns about the organization to the highest levels. ___ (5) Strongly Agree ___ (4) Agree ___ (3) Somewhat Agree ___ (2) Disagree ___ (1) Strongly Disagree Statement 40: I challenge inappropriate model and model appropriate behavior. ___ (5) Strongly Agree ___ (4) Agree ___ (3) Somewhat Agree ___ (2) Disagree ___ (1) Strongly Disagree Statement 41: I am willing to bend the rules to get the right thing done.
190
___ (5) Strongly Agree ___ (4) Agree ___ (3) Somewhat Agree ___ (2) Disagree ___ (1) Strongly Disagree Statement 42: I ask questions to guide my supervisor’s thinking. ___ (5) Strongly Agree ___ (4) Agree ___ (3) Somewhat Agree ___ (2) Disagree ___ (1) Strongly Disagree Statement 43: I take moral and legal responsibility for actions or lack of action. ___ (5) Strongly Agree ___ (4) Agree ___ (3) Somewhat Agree ___ (2) Disagree ___ (1) Strongly Disagree Statement 44: I am willing to demonstrate attitudes that differ from the norm. ___ (5) Strongly Agree ___ (4) Agree ___ (3) Somewhat Agree ___ (2) Disagree ___ (1) Strongly Disagree Statement 45: I respect my organization’s way of doing things. ___ (5) Strongly Agree ___ (4) Agree ___ (3) Somewhat Agree ___ (2) Disagree ___ (1) Strongly Disagree Statement 46: I perform my tasks and then I voluntarily help my co-workers accomplish theirs. ___ (5) Strongly Agree ___ (4) Agree ___ (3) Somewhat Agree
191
___ (2) Disagree ___ (1) Strongly Disagree Statement 47: I strive to enhance communication within the organization. ___ (5) Strongly Agree ___ (4) Agree ___ (3) Somewhat Agree ___ (2) Disagree ___ (1) Strongly Disagree Statement 48: I seek a full understanding of the issues before I take any action. ___ (5) Strongly Agree ___ (4) Agree ___ (3) Somewhat Agree ___ (2) Disagree ___ (1) Strongly Disagree Statement 49: I will not compromise my personal ethics for continued employment. ___ (5) Strongly Agree ___ (4) Agree ___ (3) Somewhat Agree ___ (2) Disagree ___ (1) Strongly Disagree Statement 50: I demonstrate respect for others in the organization. ___ (5) Strongly Agree ___ (4) Agree ___ (3) Somewhat Agree ___ (2) Disagree ___ (1) Strongly Disagree Statement 51: I indentify and obtain appropriate organizational support for activities. ___ (5) Strongly Agree ___ (4) Agree ___ (3) Somewhat Agree ___ (2) Disagree ___ (1) Strongly Disagree Statement 52: I provide recommendations to solve identified problems rather than complain about problems.
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___ (5) Strongly Agree ___ (4) Agree ___ (3) Somewhat Agree ___ (2) Disagree ___ (1) Strongly Disagree Statement 53: I present ideas clearly with openness and trust. ___ (5) Strongly Agree ___ (4) Agree ___ (3) Somewhat Agree ___ (2) Disagree ___ (1) Strongly Disagree Statement 54: I present factual information on issues without overstating the case. ___ (5) Strongly Agree ___ (4) Agree ___ (3) Somewhat Agree ___ (2) Disagree ___ (1) Strongly Disagree Statement 55: I provide constructive feedback and positive reinforcement to others. ___ (5) Strongly Agree ___ (4) Agree ___ (3) Somewhat Agree ___ (2) Disagree ___ (1) Strongly Disagree Statement 56: I accept constructive feedback and implement change when needed. ___ (5) Strongly Agree ___ (4) Agree ___ (3) Somewhat Agree ___ (2) Disagree ___ (1) Strongly Disagree
THANK YOU FOR YOUR PARTICIPATION TODAY
Copyright © 2001 Eugene. Dixon. All rights reserved
193
Note. The Follower Profile (Dixon, 2003) was modified, used and reproduced with
written permission of the instrument’s author, Dr. Eugene N. Dixon, East Carolina
University. A copy of the written permission was provided to the Capella University
Institutional Review Board (IRB).The changes to the instrument involved providing
clarifying instructions, use of a survey key, making changes in the wording of the
statements of the instrument to improve readability, changing the vernacular of the
wording to remove idioms common to an American audience and adding four questions
at the beginning of the instrument to collect demographic data.
194
APPENDIX C: THE JOB SATISFACTION SURVEY
Copyright © 1994 Paul E. Spector. All rights reserved
The Job Satisfaction Survey
Instructions 1. This survey is designed to measure employee job satisfaction. It is anonymous and confidential. No personal information will be gathered as part of this survey. Results from all participants will be gathered and combined to maintain participant confidentiality and anonymity. 2. Please be as accurate and honest as possible in your responses. The survey will consist of 36 statements and use the survey scale to indicate the extent to which each statement best reflects your opinion about it. This survey should take about fifteen minters to complete. 3. Use the following rating scale and CHECK the BEST answer for each statement that best describes your strongest feelings.
Survey Key
Positively Worded Question s Negatively Worded Questions 1 = Disagree Very Much 6 = Disagree Very Much 2 = Disagree Moderately 5 = Disagree Moderately 3 = Disagree Slightly 4 = Disagree Slightly 4 =Agree Slightly 3 =Agree Slightly 5 =Agree Moderately 2 =Agree Moderately 6 =Agree Very Much 1 =Agree Very Much
STATEMENTS Statement 1: I feel I am being paid a fair amount for the work I do. ___ (6) Agree Very Much ___ (5) Agree Moderately
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___ (4) Agree Slightly ___ (3) Disagree Slightly ___ (2) Disagree Moderately ___ (1) Disagree Very Much Statement 2: There is really too little chance for promotion on my job. ___ (6) Disagree Very Much ___ (5) Disagree Moderately ___ (4) Disagree Slightly ___ (3) Agree Slightly ___ (2) Agree Moderately ___ (1) Agree Very Much Statement 3: My supervisor is quite competent in doing his/her job. ___ (6) Agree Very Much ___ (5) Agree Moderately ___ (4) Agree Slightly ___ (3) Disagree Slightly ___ (2) Disagree Moderately ___ (1) Disagree Very Much Statement 4: I am not satisfied with the benefits I receive. ___ (6) Disagree Very Much ___ (5) Disagree Moderately ___ (4) Disagree Slightly ___ (3) Agree Slightly ___ (2) Agree Moderately ___ (1) Agree Very Much Statement 5: When I do a good job, I receive the recognition for it that I should receive. ___ (6) Agree Very Much ___ (5) Agree Moderately ___ (4) Agree Slightly ___ (3) Disagree Slightly ___ (2) Disagree Moderately ___ (1) Disagree Very Much Statement 6: Many of our rules and procedures make doing a good job difficult. ___ (6) Agree Very Much ___ (5) Agree Moderately
196
___ (4) Agree Slightly ___ (3) Disagree Slightly ___ (2) Disagree Moderately ___ (1) Disagree Very Much Statement 7: I like the people I work with. ___ (6) Agree Very Much ___ (5) Agree Moderately ___ (4) Agree Slightly ___ (3) Disagree Slightly ___ (2) Disagree Moderately ___ (1) Disagree Very Much Statement 8: I sometimes feel my job is meaningless. ___ (6) Disagree Very Much ___ (5) Disagree Moderately ___ (4) Disagree Slightly ___ (3) Agree Slightly ___ (2) Agree Moderately ___ (1) Agree Very Much Statement 9: Communications seem good within this organization. ___ (6) Agree Very Much ___ (5) Agree Moderately ___ (4) Agree Slightly ___ (3) Disagree Slightly ___ (2) Disagree Moderately ___ (1) Disagree Very Much Statement 10: Raises are too few and far between. ___ (6) Disagree Very Much ___ (5) Disagree Moderately ___ (4) Disagree Slightly ___ (3) Agree Slightly ___ (2) Agree Moderately ___ (1) Agree Very Much Statement 11: Those that do well on the job, stand a fair chance of being promoted. ___ (6) Disagree Very Much ___ (5) Disagree Moderately
197
___ (4) Disagree Slightly ___ (3) Agree Slightly ___ (2) Agree Moderately ___ (1) Agree Very Much Statement 12: My supervisor is unfair to me. ___ (6) Disagree Very Much ___ (5) Disagree Moderately ___ (4) Disagree Slightly ___ (3) Agree Slightly ___ (2) Agree Moderately ___ (1) Agree Very Much Statement 13: The benefits we receive are as good as most other organizations offer. ___ (6) Agree Very Much ___ (5) Agree Moderately ___ (4) Agree Slightly ___ (3) Disagree Slightly ___ (2) Disagree Moderately ___ (1) Disagree Very Much Statement 14: I do not feel that the work I do is appreciated. ___ (6) Disagree Very Much ___ (5) Disagree Moderately ___ (4) Disagree Slightly ___ (3) Agree Slightly ___ (2) Agree Moderately ___ (1) Agree Very Much Statement 15: My efforts to do a good job are seldom blocked by red tape. ___ (6) Agree Very Much ___ (5) Agree Moderately ___ (4) Agree Slightly ___ (3) Disagree Slightly ___ (2) Disagree Moderately ___ (1) Disagree Very Much Statement 16: I find I have to work harder at my job because of the incompetence of people I work with. __ (6) Disagree Very Much
198
___ (5) Disagree Moderately ___ (4) Disagree Slightly ___ (3) Agree Slightly ___ (2) Agree Moderately ___ (1) Agree Very Much Statement 17: I like the things I do at work. ___ (6) Agree Very Much ___ (5) Agree Moderately ___ (4) Agree Slightly ___ (3) Disagree Slightly ___ (2) Disagree Moderately ___ (1) Disagree Very Much Statement 18: The goals of this organization are not clear to me. ___ (6) Disagree Very Much ___ (5) Disagree Moderately ___ (4) Disagree Slightly ___ (3) Agree Slightly ___ (2) Agree Moderately ___ (1) Agree Very Much Statement 19: I feel unappreciated by the organization when I think about what they pay me. ___ (6) Disagree Very Much ___ (5) Disagree Moderately ___ (4) Disagree Slightly ___ (3) Agree Slightly ___ (2) Agree Moderately ___ (1) Agree Very Much Statement 20: People get ahead as fast here as they do in other places. ___ (6) Agree Very Much ___ (5) Agree Moderately ___ (4) Agree Slightly ___ (3) Disagree Slightly ___ (2) Disagree Moderately ___ (1) Disagree Very Much Statement 21: My supervisor shows too little interest in the feelings of subordinates.
199
___ (6) Disagree Very Much ___ (5) Disagree Moderately ___ (4) Disagree Slightly ___ (3) Agree Slightly ___ (2) Agree Moderately ___ (1) Agree Very Much Statement 22: The benefit package we have is equitable. ___ (6) Agree Very Much ___ (5) Agree Moderately ___ (4) Agree Slightly ___ (3) Disagree Slightly ___ (2) Disagree Moderately ___ (1) Disagree Very Much Statement 23: There are few rewards for those who work here. ___ (6) Disagree Very Much ___ (5) Disagree Moderately ___ (4) Disagree Slightly ___ (3) Agree Slightly ___ (2) Agree Moderately ___ (1) Agree Very Much Statement 24: I have too much to do at work. ___ (6) Disagree Very Much ___ (5) Disagree Moderately ___ (4) Disagree Slightly ___ (3) Agree Slightly ___ (2) Agree Moderately ___ (1) Agree Very Much Statement 25: I enjoy my coworkers. ___ (6) Agree Very Much ___ (5) Agree Moderately ___ (4) Agree Slightly ___ (3) Disagree Slightly ___ (2) Disagree Moderately ___ (1) Disagree Very Much Statement 26: I often feel that I do not know what is going on with the organization. ___ (6) Agree Very Much
200
___ (5) Agree Moderately ___ (4) Agree Slightly ___ (3) Disagree Slightly ___ (2) Disagree Moderately ___ (1) Disagree Very Much Statement 27: I feel a sense of pride in doing my job. ___ (6) Agree Very Much ___ (5) Agree Moderately ___ (4) Agree Slightly ___ (3) Disagree Slightly ___ (2) Disagree Moderately ___ (1) Disagree Very Much Statement 28: I feel confident with my chances for salary increases. ___ (6) Agree Very Much ___ (5) Agree Moderately ___ (4) Agree Slightly ___ (3) Disagree Slightly ___ (2) Disagree Moderately ___ (1) Disagree Very Much Statement 29: There are benefits we do not have which we should have. ___ (6) Disagree Very Much ___ (5) Disagree Moderately ___ (4) Disagree Slightly ___ (3) Agree Slightly ___ (2) Agree Moderately ___ (1) Agree Very Much Statement 30: I like my superiors. ___ (6) Agree Very Much ___ (5) Agree Moderately ___ (4) Agree Slightly ___ (3) Disagree Slightly ___ (2) Disagree Moderately ___ (1) Disagree Very Much Statement 31: I have too much paperwork. ___ (6) Disagree Very Much
201
___ (5) Disagree Moderately ___ (4) Disagree Slightly ___ (3) Agree Slightly ___ (2) Agree Moderately ___ (1) Agree Very Much Statement 32: I don’t feel my efforts are rewarded the way they should be. ___ (6) Disagree Very Much ___ (5) Disagree Moderately ___ (4) Disagree Slightly ___ (3) Agree Slightly ___ (2) Agree Moderately ___ (1) Agree Very Much Statement 33: I am satisfied with my chances for promotion. ___ (6) Agree Very Much ___ (5) Agree Moderately ___ (4) Agree Slightly ___ (3) Disagree Slightly ___ (2) Disagree Moderately ___ (1) Disagree Very Much Statement 34: There is too much bickering and fighting at work. ___ (6) Disagree Very Much ___ (5) Disagree Moderately ___ (4) Disagree Slightly ___ (3) Agree Slightly ___ (2) Agree Moderately ___ (1) Agree Very Much Statement 35: My job is enjoyable. ___ (6) Agree Very Much ___ (5) Agree Moderately ___ (4) Agree Slightly ___ (3) Disagree Slightly ___ (2) Disagree Moderately ___ (1) Disagree Very Much Statement 36: Work assignments are not fully explained. ___ (6) Disagree Very Much
202
___ (5) Disagree Moderately ___ (4) Disagree Slightly ___ (3) Agree Slightly ___ (2) Agree Moderately ___ (1) Agree Very Much
THANK YOU FOR YOUR PARTICIPATION TODAY
Copyright © 1994 Paul E. Spector. All rights reserved
Note. The Job Satisfaction Survey (Spector, 1997) was modified, used and reproduced
with written permission of the instrument’s author, Dr. Paul E. Spector. A copy of the
written permission was provided to the Capella University Institutional Review Board
(IRB).The changes to the instrument involved providing clarifying instructions, use of a
survey key to identify positive and negatively worded statements and making changes in
the Likert scale on the negatively worded statements to facilitate reverse scoring during
the data analysis.
Recommended