The Effects of Democratic Leadership on Group Member Satisfaction: An Integration

Previous research highlights one of the paradoxes of different leadership styles: Group members may be more satisfied with democratic leadership, or group members may be more satisfied with autocratic leadership. A meta-analytic integration of research evidence addressing this paradox revealed that...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Small group research 2000-12, Vol.31 (6), p.676-701
Main Authors: Foels, Rob, Driskell, James E., Mullen, Brian, Salas, Eduardo
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Attitude surveys
Biological and medical sciences
Democracy
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Group Research
Groups
Leadership
Leadership style
Meta-analysis
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Satisfaction
Small Groups
Social interactions. Communication. Group processes
Social psychology
Working groups
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Summary:Previous research highlights one of the paradoxes of different leadership styles: Group members may be more satisfied with democratic leadership, or group members may be more satisfied with autocratic leadership. A meta-analytic integration of research evidence addressing this paradox revealed that there was, in general, a significant, small tendency for groups experiencing democratic leadership to be more satisfied than groups experiencing autocratic leadership. However, these effects were moderated by several variables, including the reality of the groups, the size of the groups, the gender composition of the groups, and the potency of leadership style. These moderating variables may be important given the recent push toward adoption of democratic decision making in organizations. The discussion considers theoretical accounts for these effects of leadership style on member satisfaction.
ISSN:1046-4964
1552-8278
DOI:10.1177/104649640003100603