Leadership research has traditionally focused on the organizational context and is largely dominated by micro-leadership theories that describe specific styles of leadership. The current research advances previous work by introducing two general interpersonal frameworks – attachment theory and self-determination theory – in order to better understand how leaders relate to those around them in the workplace context. In addition, the current series of studies considers leadership not only in the traditional organizational context, but also in the context of other workplace settings wherein there may not be traditional leadership roles. The central research question was that leaders with more secure attachment orientations would provide greater need support to their employees. In other words, when leaders held positive views of themselves and others, they would be inclined to provide employees with choices, a sense of volition, feelings of connectedness, and efficacy about their abilities. This association was expected to be observed in a variety of leadership contexts. In Study 1, using hospitality managers (N = 104), results indicated that fearful and avoidant attachment (insecure attachment) predicted lower levels of reported need support provision in hypothetical scenarios. Results also indicated that the traditional leadership styles that most research includes did not explain any additional variance in need support beyond that accounted for by attachment orientation. In Study 2, using a sample of students (N = 106) and an experimental design, both secure
Attachment and Leadership attachment and positive affect led to higher levels of reported need support provision in hypothetical scenarios. Finally, in Study 3 (N = 154), using a sample of life and business coaches, coaches’ preoccupied attachment orientation predicted lower levels of reported need support in hypothetical scenarios. In addition, coaches’ preoccupied attachment predicted lower levels of reported empathy provision, whereas coaches’ secure attachment predicted higher levels of reported empathy provision. This is the first known research to bring together attachment theory and self-determination theory in a series of three studies with different samples (hotel managers, students and coaches), and multiple research designs (experimental and non-experimental), all focusing on the leadership context. The findings and associated implications are discussed in the context of previous research and future research directions. / Graduate
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:uvic.ca/oai:dspace.library.uvic.ca:1828/3870 |
| Date | 11 April 2012 |
| Creators | Bezeau, Colleen |
| Contributors | Grouzet, Frederick M. E. |
| Source Sets | University of Victoria |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Rights | Available to the World Wide Web |
Page generated in 0.0019 seconds