Diversity As A Predictor Of Leadership Effectiveness

Main Article Content

Richard Herrera
Phyllis Duncan
Malcolm Ree
Kevin Williams

Keywords

Diversity, Leadership Effectiveness, Leader-Member Exchange, GLOBE Study

Abstract

Drawing upon theexisting literature, this study investigated the significance of Diversity as apredictor of leadership effectiveness, as it relates to the MultidimensionalMeasure of Leader-Member Exchange (LMX-MDM).  A study of 300 working adults found that therewas a significant positive relationship between Diversity and the four LMXdimensions of Contribution, Loyalty, Affect, and Professional Respect.  Collectivism and religious affiliation wereboth strong predictors with regard to Contribution.  With regard to the dimension of Loyalty;collectivism, gender egalitarianism, and age helped to increase ratings of thesupervisor and perceptions of leadership.  Affect only had one significant predictor, collectivism. The LMX dimension of ProfessionalRespect was found to have four significant predictors, including collectivism, religiousaffiliation, age, and years as a manager.  Further regression analysis indicated that theDiversity dimension, Collectivism, was the driving factor of the relationship.  This outcome indicated that Collectivism was astrong predictor of how positively participants rated their attitudes towardtheir immediate supervisor and perceptions of leadership.  The results of this study indicate that diversity,particularly with regard to collectivism, is a positive predictor of leadershipeffectiveness using the LMX model.  Furthermore,it strengthens the argument that organizations must be prepared to re-evaluatetheir policies with regard to diversity in the organization, particularly withrespect to Collectivism.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.
Abstract 895 | PDF Downloads 1242