Abstract

Current heories and models of leadership seek to explain the influence of the hierarchical superior upon the satisfaction and performance of subordi-nates. While disagreeing with one another in important respects, these theories and models share an implicit assumption that while the style of leadership likely to be effective may vary according to the situation, some leadership style will be effective regardless of the situation. It has been found, however, that certain individual, task, and organizational variables act as "substitutes for leadership, " negating the hierarchical superior's ability to exert either positive or negative influence over subordinate attitudes and effectiveness. This paper identifies a number of such substitutes for leadership, resents scales of ques-tionnaire items for their measurement, and reports ome preliminary tests. A number of theories and models of leadership exist, each seeking to most clearly identify and best explain the presumedly powerful effects of leader behavior or personality attributes upon the satisfaction and per-formance of hierarchical subordinates. These theories and models fail to