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A Test of The Path-Goal Leadership Theory in Taiwan
A Test of The Path-Goal Leadership Theory in Taiwan
A Test of The Path-Goal Leadership Theory in Taiwan
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Colin Silverthorne
University of San Francisco, California, USA
Keywords This study analyzed the leadership behavior The theory proposes four different kinds of
Leadership, Taiwan, and processes of managers in a sample of leadership styles. They are directive or
Organizational effectiveness,
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National cultures
Taiwan companies using the path-goal theory instrumental, supportive, participative and
(House, 1971). Research regarding leadership achievement-oriented leadership styles. An
Abstract styles is highly important to Taiwan's effective leader is one who knows which style
The path-goal theory of leadership industrial organizations. Taiwan is in a to use and when to use it. Directive or
states that the leader helps
unique position in that industrial instrumental leaders tell subordinates what
subordinates to achieve their goals
by providing a clear path for them to development was very rapid and occurred is expected of them and give specific
follow. This research project used without a parallel increase in management guidance and enforce rules and procedures.
data collected in Taiwan to test the education. Taiwan is a newly industrialized The supportive leader likes a friendly
applicability of this theory in a non- environment and gives strong attention to
western culture. The three groups
country and the use of modern or new
of subjects studied (peers, management techniques have not always the needs and wellbeing of his or her
managers and subordinates), occurred. Organizational change is often subordinates. The participative leader
perceived the level of task structure slow to occur, so hopefully the findings of involves his or her subordinates in the
to be equivalent. Three aspects of decision-making process. Finally, the
leadership were measured:
this research will be valuable. Of particular
interest was whether Taiwanese managers achievement-oriented leader seeks to
instrumental, supportive and
participative leadership. Leaders are able to adjust their leadership style and improve performance, sets high standards,
reported that they used each style and shows confidence that his or her
behavior in order to compensate for changes
of leadership at a statistical subordinates will achieve these standards,
significantly higher level than their in the work environment. Further, it was
(Prasad, 1990). Which of these styles a leader
peers believed. Two dimensions of important to see how the adjustments that a
chooses should depend on the nature of the
motivation were also considered: manager makes impact subordinates' job
efforts that lead to performance and task and the needs of the subordinates. If the
satisfaction and performance. Research
efforts that lead to rewards. Overall, task is well defined then less guidance is
the results provide some support for regarding leadership styles is highly
needed and the leader can be less directive,
the path-goal theory of leadership. important to Taiwan's industrial
whereas, if the task is poorly defined,
The theory was supported for the organizations. Taiwan is in a unique position
relationship between managers and subordinates will require more guidance and
in that industrial development was very direction from the leader. The path-goal
subordinates but not supported for
the relationship between managers rapid and occurred without a parallel theory argues that a leader should be able to
and peers. increase in management education. A review be either task or relationship oriented as the
of the research literature yields no studies particular situation requires (Wren, 1994).
that have tested this particular leadership The theory is built around two different
theory in Asia, let alone Taiwan. hypotheses or propositions. The first is that
The author wishes to thank The path-goal theory developed by House
Dr Ping-Chi Mao and Dr when subordinates take the leaders' behavior
(1971) and revised over the next several years as the source for their present job
April Chi of the California
Management Institute for (e.g. House, 1999), argues that leaders can satisfaction, the leader's behavior is
their assistance with the adjust their own behaviors to adapt to generally acceptable and can lead to
data collection. contingencies and in this way find the most employee satisfaction. The behavior of the
suitable style for any particular situation. leader will be viewed as acceptable to
Received: January 2001
Revised/accepted: The theory states that the main goal of the subordinates only when they perceive it as
March 2001 leader is to help subordinates attain the either an immediate source of satisfaction or
subordinates' goals effectively, and to as instrumental to future job satisfaction.
provide them with the necessary direction The second hypothesis or proposition offered
and support to achieve their own goals as by the theory is that leadership behavior is
Leadership & Organization well as those of the organization. motivational. Therefore the more
Development Journal
22/4 [2001] 151±158
The research register for this journal is available at The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
# MCB University Press
[ISSN 0143-7739] http://www.mcbup.com/research_registers http://www.emerald-library.com/ft
[ 151 ]
Colin Silverthorne appropriate the leader's behavior, the more theory and demonstrated the robustness of
A test of the path-goal motivational it is likely to be. Motivation of the theory in regard to leader behavior and
leadership theory in Taiwan subordinates is achieved by tying that the theory could be used outside the
Leadership & Organization satisfaction of subordinates' needs to normal parameters of leadership research.
Development Journal
22/4 [2001] 151±158 effective performance and by complementing Another study (Fry et al., 1986) tested the
the work environment of the subordinates by moderating effects of interdependence
providing the necessary coaching, guidance, between leader behaviors and satisfaction
and rewards for their effective performance, and performance. The research, conducted
(Levanoni and Knoop, 1985). If the work on sports teams, found strong support for the
structure is unclear or there is a significant performance hypothesis but not the
amount of environmental pressure, the satisfaction hypothesis. It was suggested that
directive leadership style will give this result might have occurred because
subordinates more job satisfaction and result achievement behavior is very important in
in more effective work performance. If the sports teams and participation is less
work structure is clear then the supportive important because of the team nature of
leadership style will allow subordinates to sports. This would infer that organizations,
feel more job satisfaction and result in more with highly interdependent work groups,
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effective work performance. When employees need managers who are more instrumental
have a high level of ability and experience, in controlling and coordinating group
the directive leadership style is probably not member tasks either through direct
the most effective and in fact may hamper supervision or formalized rules. If group
employee performance and job satisfaction. If members work independently of each other,
the organization has a rigid and clear power a coaching, counseling and consideration
system, then the leader needs to be more leadership style may lead to greater
supportive than directive. collective group performance.
According to the theory, the role of the Keller (1989) looked at the moderating need
leader is dependent on the subordinate's for clarity for the initiating-structure-
working environment and the amount of performance relationship and the current
structure in the environment. Highly and future impacts of these variables. He
structured environments that provide a large found support for the path-goal theory in that
amount of organization and role and task need for clarity does moderate the
clarity will provide a clear path to work relationship between leader initiating
goals. In this situation, the leader should be structure and satisfaction. However, Keller
concerned with his or her relationship with cautioned that additional research in a
subordinates. The leader supports morale greater variety of settings is necessary before
and reduces the tedium of tasks as much as these results can be generalized. In the
possible. If the nature of the work structure workplace, professionals with a low need for
is unclear or changeable, the leader should clarity would generally structure their own
assist subordinates by providing direction work consistent with the organizational and
and guidance. In this type of situation the task needs. However, those professionals
leader should choose task orientation over with a high need for clarity should receive
relationship orientation. more structure from their supervisors for
The path-goal theory has both supporters unclear tasks to enhance performance and
and detractors. Schriesheim and DeNisi, satisfaction, and then the supervisor can
(1981) looked at some of the criticisms of the provide the appropriate leadership behavior.
theory. One primary criticism is that it does Keller (1989) noted that the less structure
not have the ability to generate meaningful there is in the work environment, the more
predictions. In addition, critics cite the lack the leader is likely to be motivated to add
of available empirical support. To counter structure by coaching and guiding
these criticisms Schriesheim and DeNisi employees. Initiation of structure, or
conducted several field studies and directive leadership, was found to be more
concluded the data provided considerable effective than other styles of leadership in
support for the path-goal theory. Fulk and situations where tasks are ambiguous,
Wendler (1982) identified four areas of unstructured or where insufficient feedback
research that they considered have not is given to employees (Fry et al., 1986). In this
received sufficient attention, and attempted situation, directed leadership helps to keep
to predict outcomes using the path-goal employee effectiveness and satisfaction high
theory. These four areas were leader and increase the amount of time and energy
influence up the organization, achievement spent on a task.
orientation, contingent approval and The relationships between job attitudes,
punitive behaviors. The findings supported work environment perceptions and
the underlying premises of the path-goal supervisor's rating of job performance was
[ 152 ]
Colin Silverthorne investigated by Butler and Ehrlich (1991), style is accepted by subordinates and seen as
A test of the path-goal and their results also supported the path-goal motivational, and also generates two
leadership theory in Taiwan theory. Given the highly structured and hypotheses.
Leadership & Organization standardized task environment investigated
Development Journal H4: The leadership style of managers is not
22/4 [2001] 151±158 in this study, there was considerably less seen as accepted by subordinates.
pressure on the leaders in the organization. H5: The leadership style of managers are is
However, given the complexity of the tasks not seen as motivational to employees
undertaken, the effect and need for by their subordinates.
leadership were found to be strong.
The next research question looked at the role
In a meta-analysis of studies that had been
of strategic rather than tactical decision
conducted to investigate the merits of the
making. This concept is a critical one in path-
path-goal theory, Woffard and Liska (1993)
goal theory since it is important to know
concluded that research did not seem to
whether participation in tactical rather than
support the major tenets of the theory, strategic decisions is a better predictor of
although they also concluded that much of performance, generating the following
the research was flawed. They noted that the hypothesis:
research in general found that effective
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self and others would have been more style places more emphasis on relationships.
consistent. However, the results are Research by Bales and Slater (1955) and
supportive of the path-goal theory. others has suggested that these two
The leader's behavior is important because components are often in conflict and difficult
it has a direct impact on the behavior of for many managers to reconcile and use
followers. This is particularly true in the effectively. This would suggest that if the
area of motivation and performance. This correlation between instrumental leadership
study looked at two dimensions of
and performance is negative then the
motivation. These were efforts that lead to
correlation between instrumental leadership
performance and efforts that lead to rewards.
and rewards should be positive. The reverse
Efforts that lead to performance motivate
relationship should also be true and should
individuals at an intrinsic level. The
apply to all three dimensions of leadership
employees will work because their
measured.
performance is valued both by the manager
This expectation was only supported for
and by themselves. Performance and efforts
the supportive leadership dimension. The
that lead to rewards are more extrinsic in
results of the data analysis to test the third
nature. Here individuals are motivated
hypothesis suggest that the relationship
because they will receive rewards from the
between style of leadership and the
organization in the form of such things as
perception of motivation is more complex
salary or benefits. These two dimensions of
than path-goal theory implies. For example,
motivation are important components of the
path-goal theory of leadership, which if instrumental leadership is rarely used in
emphasizes that the role of the manager is to the organization, it is reasonable to assume
provide employees with a clear picture of the that individuals with limited exposure to this
path they are to follow in order that they can style will be less consistent in identifying it.
reach the organization's goals. The fourth and fifth hypotheses are an
In order to test this hypothesis, a series of extension of the previous two hypotheses, but
correlations were computed. The results this time the comparison was between
were not consistent and provide an subordinates and managers. The forth
interesting range of findings. In order for the hypothesis tested suggested that the
hypothesis to be supported, it was necessary leadership style of the managers would not be
to find a consistent set of positive acceptable to their subordinates. On all three
correlations. This was not the case. The scales the leaders reported that they used this
correlation between the score for the efforts style of leadership at statistically the same
that lead to performance and the level as their subordinates believed. These
instrumental leadership score was a non- findings indicate that the subordinates'
statistically significant negative correlation. acceptance of the manager's leadership style
However, the correlations between efforts and managers see themselves in the same
that lead to performance and the supportive way as their subordinates. This implies that
leadership score and between efforts that managers and subordinates have a sense of
lead to performance and the participative leadership style. This finding contradicts the
leadership score were both positive and results for the peers on the same dimensions.
statistically significant. The results The results show differences for the peers
comparing the efforts that lead to rewards and are supportive of the path-goal theory of
were even more inconsistent. The correlation leadership but no difference for the
[ 156 ]
Colin Silverthorne subordinates, which does not support the theory need to be examined and tested. The
A test of the path-goal path-goal theory. results indicate that employees found
leadership theory in Taiwan The leader's behavior is important because participation in tactical rather than strategic
Leadership & Organization it has a direct impact on the behavior of decision making more productive. According
Development Journal
22/4 [2001] 151±158 subordinates, and this study looked at efforts to the path-goal theory, tactical decision
that lead to performance and efforts that lead making is less ambiguous than strategic
to rewards. As stated earlier, these two decision making. This difference generates
dimensions of motivation are an important different expectations in subordinates.
component of the path-goal theory of Specifically, subordinates have a greater
leadership. In order to test the fifth expectation of being involved in tactical
hypothesis, a series of correlations were rather than strategic decision making. From
computed. The results were consistent with a practical perspective, the findings on
those predicted by the path-goal theory. In decision making imply that the subordinates
order for the hypothesis to be supported, it have an expectation that they will be
was necessary to find a consistent set of involved in decision making that relates to
positive correlations. This was the case. The methods and procedures. They do not share
correlation between the score for the efforts this expectation for decisions involving
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that lead to performance and the issues like new product development.
instrumental leadership score, between Overall, the results of this study provide
efforts that lead to performance and the some support for the path-goal theory. The
supportive leadership score and between primary finding, in this study, is that the
efforts that lead to performance and the path-goal theory can be a useful tool when
supportive leadership scores were all applied to organizations in Taiwan, with the
positive, statistically significant implication that managerial training and
relationships. The results comparing the selection should reflect the key components
efforts that lead to rewards were also of the path-goal theory of leadership.
consistent, showing a positive correlation Managers who adapt to the basic principles
between subordinates' perceptions of of the theory may prove to be better leaders
leadership style and the motivational factors and managers.
supporting the path-goal theory. The final The findings from this research provide
hypothesis stated that participation by some support for the path-goal theory. It was
employees in organizational decisions that supported when the relationship between
were tactical rather than strategic was more managers and subordinates was considered.
likely to be predictive of work outcomes. The The theory was not supported when applied
data were analyzed using a regression to the relationship between managers and
analysis and looked at four work outcomes. their peers. It may reasonably be assumed
These were acceptance of the decision- that the path-goal theory in general and the
making process, satisfaction with the use of a tactical decision-making process
decision-making process, the perceived with subordinates can be used to provide a
effectiveness of the decision-making process theoretical framework for managers in
and the time involved. The type of decision Taiwan. Overall, the path-goal theory,
involvement was derived from the path-goal particularly as it applies to the relationship
theory (Sagie and Koslowsky, 1994). between leaders and subordinates, was
Decisions that involve initiation of new supported.
products or service are called strategic
decisions. Decisions that involve methods or References
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