Theory of the social value of persons applied to organizations: Typologies of “good” leaders and recruitment

Abstract

We investigated whether the theory of the social value of persons might be useful in organizational social psychology . The two dimensions of social value – social desirability and social utility (which has two aspects: competence and ease at working in the system) – were compared in four studies. The first three were designed to examine leadership, the fourth, to examine personnel recruitment. Studies 1 and 2 showed that the first kind of value sought by employees in their bosses was utility-competence, whatever the boss's status in the hierarchy. Next, they valued social desirability in their immediate supervisor, and the at-ease facet of social utility in the general manager. Study 3 showed that social desirability and social utility offer a good approximation of the two traditional constituents of leadership: consideration and structure. Study 4 showed that whatever the rank of the position being filled, the socially useful job applicant was recruited more often than the socially desirable one in production firms, whereas the socially desirable applicant was preferred in maintenance firms. The results are discussed in relation to organizational social psychology and the theory of the social value of persons.