Technical note: A study of Hersey and Blanchard's situational leadership theory

Author(s)

Thomas D. Cairns
John Hollenback
William A. Snow
Robert Preziosi, Nova Southeastern UniversityFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Leadership and Organization Development Journal

ISSN

0143-7739

Publication Date

1-1-1998

Abstract/Excerpt

This study empirically tested Hersey and Blanchard’s situational leadership theory (SLT) among 151 senior executives within service and manufacturing businesses of a large Fortune 100 company. SLT focuses on the interaction of the leader’s behaviour and follower readiness to determine leader effectiveness. SLT suggests that the appropriate level of task and relationship behaviour is the one that “matches” the level of follower readiness. A variety of statistical techniques were used to test the central hypotheses of SLT and the matching concept. The study produced 18 matches and 126 mismatches. One statistical technique, the partitioned test, was found to provide the most insight about SLT and the concept of matching. The researchers recommend its utilization in future research of SLT. The researchers conclude that SLT remains intuitively appealing and empirically contradictory. The concepts of SLT and matching are engaging and further research is recommended.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1108/01437739810208692

Volume

19

Issue

2

First Page

113

Last Page

116

NSUWorks Citation

Cairns, Thomas D.; Hollenback, John; Snow, William A.; and Preziosi, Robert, "Technical note: A study of Hersey and Blanchard's situational leadership theory" (1998). HCBE Faculty Articles. 42.
https://nsuworks.nova.edu/hcbe_facarticles/42