Dyadic agreement about ideal leadership behaviors and its relationship to job satisfaction and performance ratings

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between actual dyadic similarity and the work outcomes of job satisfaction and performance ratings in a Latin American population. Furthermore, this study included a comparison of the traditional difference-score analysis of similarity with a multiple regression modeling approach. Finally, the multiple regression technique was used to test Organization-Based Self-Esteem (OBSE) as a moderator of the relationship between dyadic similarity and work outcomes.; Participants were 30 supervisors and 118 subordinates employed by the Latin American affiliates of an U.S. multi-national oil and gas corporation in the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, and Puerto Rico. Respondents completed a questionnaire comprised of demographic items, beliefs about ideal leadership behaviors, Organization-Based Self-Esteem, and a job satisfaction scale. Furthermore, supervisors provided performance ratings for their subordinates. Matching supervisor and subordinate responses resulted in 115 matched dyad responses for analysis.; An effect of dyad sex similarity on performance ratings was observed. The mean performance rating for male subordinates of female supervisors was significantly lower than for subordinates in the other three dyad sex combinations. There was no significant effect for job satisfaction. The use of difference-scores did not reveal any relationship between dyadic similarity on beliefs about ideal leadership behaviors and performance ratings or job satisfaction. This result was confirmed by multiple regression analysis. The multiple regression analysis did reveal a relationship between the joint effects of supervisor and subordinate beliefs about ideal leadership behaviors and performance ratings which was not symmetrical and did not conform to the models implied by the difference score approach.; The hypothesis that OBSE moderates the relationship between dyadic similarity on beliefs about ideal leadership behaviors and work outcomes was not supported. However, the multiple regression analysis did reveal a moderating effect of OBSE on the relationship between supervisor beliefs about ideal leadership behaviors and performance ratings. Subordinates with high OBSE received consistently higher performance ratings. For subordinates with low OBSE, performance ratings varied with the supervisors' ratings of ideal leadership behaviors.