The impact of leader behavioral complexity on organizational performance

The impact of leadership behaviors on organizational performance has been the focus of study for many years. Recently, Robert L. Quinn and several of his colleagues have introduced the notion of "Behavioral Complexity" as an area of leadership research. Leader behavioral complexity is conceptualized as the behavioral counterpart to cognitive complexity, and is defined as ability of a leader to demonstrate competing and even contradictory behaviors in the performance of his/her leadership roles. Quinn's (1988) competing values framework has been the primary means by which leader behavioral complexity has been measured. Prior research has provided evidence that leaders who are more behaviorally complex are perceived as more effective leaders by both subordinates and superiors. Furthermore, research has identified links between the behavioral complexity of upper level managers and organizational performance. The present research employs Quinn's (1988) framework to determine the level of behavioral complexity of organizational leaders. The relationships between behavioral complexity and several dependent variables are then investigated. The dependent variables included in the analysis incorporate measures of perceived effectiveness supplied by both subordinates and superiors, as well as organizational performance. Secondary data was used in the analysis. The measurement model was evaluated with confirmatory factor analysis using LISREL VII. Evidence of discriminant and convergent validity were cited as support for the measurement model. Correlational analysis was then employed to determine the relationships between the dependent and independent variables. The results support the hypothesis that more behaviorally complex leaders are perceived as more effective by both subordinates and superiors. However, a direct relationship between leader behavioral complexity and organizational performance was not supported. Nevertheless, further investigation identified an indirect link from leader behavioral complexity, through leader effectiveness in a specific contect, to organizational performance. Implications of the present research for the theory and for future research are discussed.