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Why the brewery ran out of beer - The attribution of mistakes in a leadership context

Schyns, B.; Hansbrough, T.

Authors

T. Hansbrough



Abstract

According to Heider (1958), observers tend to discount situational factors and overemphasize the internal characteristics of the actor when making causal attributions. Specifically, in an organizational setting, leadership perceptions of followers may be influenced by the fundamental attribution error. Accordingly, followers may be more likely to attribute leader mistakes to internal factors. However, we suggest that this tendency may be modified by a variety of factors including the extent to which followers hold romantic leader images, whether leaders match followers' implicit leadership theories, the characteristics of the mistakes themselves, and the nature of the leader-follower relationship. We develop a model of attribution of mistakes to a direct supervisor, derive propositions for leadership research, and explore implications for practice.

Citation

Schyns, B., & Hansbrough, T. (2008). Why the brewery ran out of beer - The attribution of mistakes in a leadership context. Social Psychology, 39(3), 197-203. https://doi.org/10.1027/1864-9335.39.3.197

Journal Article Type Article
Publication Date Jan 1, 2008
Deposit Date Nov 23, 2010
Journal Zeitschrift für Sozialpsychologie
Print ISSN 1864-9335
Publisher Hogrefe
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 39
Issue 3
Pages 197-203
DOI https://doi.org/10.1027/1864-9335.39.3.197
Keywords Attribution, Leadership, Implicit leadership theories.
Public URL https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1546012


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