Individual differences in leadership decision making

Abstract

The present study was directed to the evaluation of an abbreviated methodology for the study of Vroom and Yetton's normative model ( Vroom, V. H., & Yetton, P. W., Leadership and decision making, Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1973 ) of leadership decisions and the determination of the extent and nature of individual differences in responses to Vroom—Yetton problems. Subjects' decisions in leadership situations were explored using as stimuli only the presence or absence of problem attributes rather than cases ( Vroom & Yetton, 1973). The degree of variance attributable to individual differences and situations was evaluated for 33 subjects. Groups of individuals were identified by principal components analysis and the nature of those groups' decision strategies was examined by analysis of variance of their responses. The results indicate the abbreviated methodology yields results substantially similar to those obtained by Vroom and Yetton (1973). A major proportion of the variance is attributable to situations; however, there are interpretable individual differences in decision strategy.