Abstract
This study investigated the effects of four sources of environmental structuring on employee responses. These sources are job, technology, work unit, and leader behavior. Main, joint, and interactive effects were examined. Job structure had the strongest effect. It was demonstrated that technology, job, and work unit structure were found to be substitutes for leader structure. Leader structure had little unique association with employee reactions except when the other sources of environmental structure were weak. Two alternative theoretical interpretations of the findings are offered: reactivity and "closeness.".
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 214-242 |
| Number of pages | 29 |
| Journal | Organizational Behavior and Human Performance |
| Volume | 33 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Apr 1984 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:Portions of this research were supported by grants from the U.S. Department of Labor, the Graduate School of Business at the University of Wisconsin, and the Bureau of Business and Economic Research at the University of Minnesota, Duluth, MN, the J. L. Kellogg Professorship of Organizational Behavior, Northwestern University, and the Office of Naval Research. Communications and requests for reprints should be addressed to Jon L. Pierce, School of Business and Economics, University of Minnesota, Duluth, MN 55812.