Leader LPC and follower satisfaction: A review

Abstract

Research relating follower satisfaction to the leader's score on Fiedler's Least Preferred Co-Worker (LPC) scale was reviewed. Available data suggest that contingency model research using follower satisfaction as a measure of leadership effectiveness yields results with a level of orderliness and replicability quite comparable to the group task performance measures usually considered by the model. The motivational hierarchy and value-attitude interpretations of LPC were considered as alternative explanations for this pattern of results. The implications of including follower satisfaction as a second measure of leadership effectiveness within the contingency model framework was discussed in terms of both theoretical extensions and organizational practices based on the theory.