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Attribution Processes

One of the most frequently studied areas of person perception is attribution theory. Attribution theory describes those perceptual and cognitive processes used to understand the causes of human behavior. After observing another's behavior, perceivers often try to make sense of it by ascribing different motivational tendencies, causes, and underlying characteristics to the actor. The observer's beliefs about the causes of the actor's behavior then determine not only the observer's reactions, but also the observer's future expectations for the actor. Attribution theory offers insights for the study of leadership: If an observer perceives the causes of another's leadership behavior to be due to the actor's leadership qualities, a leadership attribution will occur and leadership behavior will be expected in the future.

Definitions of Leadership

Organizational leadership has been conceptualized as one person's influence over others in ways that affect the work of that other person. In their classic text The Social Psychology of Organizations (originally published in 1966), Daniel Katz and Robert Kahn note that influence based on leadership is distinct from influence based on authority that may stem from one's position in the organization or from job demands. The cognitive psychologist Howard Gardner has defined leaders as those who “significantly influence the thoughts, behaviors and/or feelings of others” (Gardner, 1995, 6). In the organizational research domain, leadership is often defined as “the interpersonal influence exercised in situations and directed, through the communication process, toward the attainment of a specified goal or goals” (Tannenbaum, Weschler, & Massarik, 1961, 24). Leadership effectiveness is then measured by the achievement (or nonachievement) of these goals, as well as by followers' satisfaction with such goals. One commonality underlying these different definitions of leadership is the importance of follower perceptions and attributions in the recognition of a leader. In fact, from a social-cognitive perspective, leadership can be defined as “social perception, grounded in social-cognitive psychological theory, that produces an influence increment for the perceived leader” (Lord & Smith 1999, 195), which is the definition adopted in this entry.

Attributions play a major role in leadership perceptions. It is the perceptions of observers and the attributions they make regarding the causes of the leadership behavior, as well as their perceptions of the causes of the outcomes obtained, that make observers perceive other as leaders. The scholars James Meindl and Sanford Ehrlich underline the importance of the process of attribution when they observe that leadership is a social construction process centered in the perceiver, as does Katherine Farquhar when she states that “leadership emerges from follower attributions over time” (Farquhar, 1995, 165). Though followers' perceptions of leadership are born of the attributions they make for the behaviors they observe, it is also clear that a leader's personal characteristics have a major impact on this process.

Attributional Processes and Leadership

In their seminal article on attributional processes in the leader-member relationship, Steve Green and Terry Mitchell stress that there is a cyclical, mutually influencing process of leader attributions, leader behavior, follower attributions, and follower behavior. While this entry focuses on only half of this process—the attributions followers make concerning leaders—many of the same principles apply when considering a leader's attributions regarding followers.

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