Construct validity of the least preferred co-worker score.

Abstract

Twenty-five years of research using Fiedler's Least Preferred Co-Worker (LPC) Scale is reviewed in order to develop the nomological network defining the construct space of LPC. Four general categories of research are reviewed: (a) attitudes held by high- and low-LPC persons, (b) observable behaviors engaged in by high- and low-LPC persons, (c) reactions of other group members to high- and low-LPC persons, and (d) determinants of responses to the LPC scale. Data concerning the relationship between leader LPC and either group performance or follower satisfaction are not reviewed; such data are thought to provide little insight into the LPC construct itself, despite their importance to the contingency model. The review provides extensive documentation for Fiedler's often repeated proposition that low-LPC persons are task oriented and high-LPC persons are relationship oriented. A value-attitude interpretation of LPC is offered as a vehicle to interpret this task-interpersonal distinction. The value-attitude interpretation is explicitly compared with previous efforts to interpret LPC.