Relation of Leader Consideration and Initiating Structure to R and D Subordinates' Satisfaction.

The paper reports tests of two hypotheses: (1) subordinates' satisfaction of role expectations will be positively related to leader consideration; and (2) consideration will have a significant moderating effect on the relationship between structure and satisfaction of role expectations. Under low consideration, satisfaction will be negatively related to initiating structure. With high consideration, satisfaction will not be related to initiating structure. The job description, job expectation, and leader behavior description questionnaires, developed at Ohio State University, were utilized. The investigation confirmed the first hypothesis, although the magnitudes of the correlations varied considerably among companies and among different measures of satisfaction. The findings failed to confirm the second hypothesis, and in fact suggested its opposite in one company. These findings are related to previous research and theory.