Relationships of Leader Power to Compliance and Satisfaction with Supervision: Evidence from a National Sample of Managers

Abstract

This study investigated the effectiveness of the bases of leader power, such as coercive, reward, legitimate, expert, and referent in influencing behavioral compliance with superior's wishes and satisfaction with supervision. Regression analyses of data from a national random sample of managers (N = 476), after demographic, job-related, and other extraneous variables were controlled for, showed that expert and referent power bases were positively associated with compliance and satisfaction and legitimate power base was positively associated with compliance but negatively associated with satisfaction.