The Importance of Attributional Complexity for Transformational Leadership Studies

Abstract

Attributional complexity refers to the capability of discriminating and integrating dimensions related to social judgment in order to understand social behaviour. While previous leadership research has examined the role of leader attributions, it has neglected the role of attributional complexity. We theorize and find support for a relationship between higher attributional complexity and transformational leadership behaviours, based on a sample of 100 leaders and their direct reports. Leaders who were more complex in their social judgments, attributing complex external and internal causes to others' behaviours and actions, were seen as more transformational by their direct reports. Our findings suggest that attributional complexity is a construct that warrants consideration in future research on both transformational leadership and leadership attributions.

The Effect of Relational Embeddedness, Absorptive Capacity, and Learning Orientation on SMEs’ Competitive Advantage

“…In this way, through the knowledge acquisition and the renewing of existed knowledge, SMEs can facilitate better learning and creation and thus maintain a sustainable competitive advantage ( Liao and Hu, 2007 ; Huang and Yu, 2011 ). These processes are referred to as perspectives of organizational learning and AC ( Sun and Anderson, 2012 ; Larrañeta et al, 2016 ). The development of AC reinforces, complements, and emphasizes existed knowledge base possessed by the internationalized SME ( Lane et al, 2006 ), promoting the maintenance of competitive advantage.…”

The downside of transformational leadership when encouraging followers to network

“…The data for this study came from a larger project, part of which has been published(Sun & Anderson, 2012).3 Forret and Dougherty (2001) have a 28-item measure for networking behavior, but this scale was not considered. Apart from the fact that it is a longer measure, it…”

Measurement invariance and nomological validity of theAttributional Complexity Scale: Evidence from Estonia, France, India, United States, and Vietnam

“…Attributional complexity (AC; Fletcher et al, 1986) is a construct that is emerging as one with wide ranging implications for international business (IB; Levy et al, 2007), cross-cultural management, and leadership (Lakshman, 2013; Sun and Anderson, 2012). As an individual difference construct, AC reflects the relative sophistication of individual attributional schemata (Fletcher et al, 1986; Townsend et al, 2002).…”