Journal of Management Development

The role of t echnical skill in percept ions of managerial perf ormance

Sylvia J. Hysong
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Managerial
The role of technical skill in performance
perceptions of managerial
performance
275
Sylvia J. Hysong
Houston Center for Quality of Care and Utilization Studies, Received July 2006
Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center, Houston, Texas, USA Revised December 2006
Accepted December 2006

Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to determine whether technical skill provides incremental
value over managerial skill in managerial performance for first-tier managers, and explore potential
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mediators of this relationship. Hypotheses: technical skill incrementally predicts managerial

performance; referent and expert power mediate this relationship; and inspirational appeals and
rational persuasion mediate the relationship between power and managerial performance.
Design/methodology/approach – A total of 107 first-tier supervisors from local petrochemical and
engineering companies completed an online survey about their professional background and
managerial skills; subordinates rated supervisors’ technical skill, power, and influence tactic habits.
Managerial performance was measured as: production output, subordinate job satisfaction, and
subordinate ratings.
Findings – Technical skill incrementally predicted subordinate perceptions of managerial
performance over managerial skill. Referent power mediated the relationship between technical
skill and both subordinate ratings and job satisfaction; expert power only mediated for job
satisfaction. Rational persuasion mediated the relationship between expert power and subordinate
ratings of managerial performance.
Research limitations/implications – Clear measurement of multidimensional constructs such as
managerial performance and technical skill is essential. Limitations include self-selection bias and
availability of objective technical skill measures. Future research should develop component-based
measures of these constructs.
Practical implications – Technical skill is valuable to managers as a source of credibility and a
means to identify with subordinates. Technical skill should not, therefore, be the most important
criterion in selecting technical managers.
Originality/value – This study helps technical managers better leverage their technical skills in
managerial contexts, and provides new research directions for component-based performance
measurement.
Keywords Performance management, Skills, Influence
Paper type Research paper

The present study is based on the author’s dissertation while at Rice University; funding for
participant incentives was provided by the Rice University Department of Psychology. The
author would like to thank Mickey Quiñones, Robert Dipboye, Steve Currall, and Janice
Journal of Management Development
Bordeaux for their valuable insights throughout the research process, and Myrna Khan for her Vol. 27 No. 3, 2008
assistance with hierarchical linear modeling. The author would also like to acknowledge her four pp. 275-290
q Emerald Group Publishing Limited
research assistants, Nicolette Bruner, Chris McClung, Lingo Lai, and Kevin Rammage, whose 0262-1711
tireless efforts made the collection of these data possible. DOI 10.1108/02621710810858605
 JMD Is a degree in engineering required to effectively supervise engineers? Or a degree in
27,3 medicine to effectively supervise physicians? Technical skill is a common criterion
used to promote technical professionals into management (Bayton and Chapman,
1972). Often the “best and brightest” are rewarded for their technical performance with
a supervisory or management track promotion. The underlying assumption of this
practice is that individuals who excel in a given position (e.g. engineers) will also excel
276 at supervising individuals in that position; this assumption, however, is largely
untested.
As discussed in more detail below, the literature renders mixed opinions on the role
of technical skill in managerial performance. Some research suggests that technical
skill is detrimental to or incompatible with managerial skill; other literature argues that
the relationship between technical skill and managerial performance depends on the
hierarchical level of management in question; a different body proposes that it is
desirable, and others fail to address it altogether. Despite various existing perspectives,
there is no empirical test directly linking technical skill to managerial performance.
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This study aims to determine if technical skill provides any incremental value over
administrative and interpersonal skill in the performance of first-tier managers and
explores potential mediators of the relationship between technical skill and managerial
performance. It is hypothesized that technical skill adds incremental value over
managerial skill in predicting in managerial performance, and that social power and
influence tactics mediate this relationship.

Technical skill in managers: blessing or burden?

Research in various areas suggests that technical skill is unnecessary for managerial
performance. Studies recording observations of a manager’s activities suggest a low
incidence of activities requiring technical skill (Bayton and Chapman, 1972; Beauvais,
1992; Dunning, 1993). Personality research conducted with various personality
inventories suggests that the personality characteristics that make good engineers (an
occupation which requires high technical skill) are diametrically opposed to the
characteristics that make good managers (Brown and Brooks, 1991; Hill, 1993; Lacey,
1974a, b). Finally, different models of management propose conflicting roles for
technical skill; some models skirt the issue of technical skill entirely (Kotter, 1982;
Mintzberg, 1973). Other models of management propose that at best, technical skill is a
peripheral competency of management (Boyatzis, 1982). Still other models of
management suggest that the need for technical skill depends on the level of
management in question (e.g. Katz, 1974). These three areas loosely suggest that
technical skill could be a hindrance to good management. However, research also exists
suggesting that technical skill could be an asset to good management, especially at the
lower levels of management.
In his model of engineering managers, Badawy (1995) posited that the need for
technical skill decreases as a manager rises to higher levels of management. However,
he also proposed that technical skills are critical for first-tier managers, serving several
important functions such as communicating effectively with subordinates, verifying
the soundness of the decisions they make, and making program-level decisions based
on subordinates’ suggestions. Other researchers have shown that technical skill is
perceived to be a very important managerial characteristic, especially in high
performing teams and during the early stages of a project (Grant et al., 1997). It has also
 been suggested that supervisors and subordinates who are similar in technical skill Managerial
identify with each other (and ostensibly communicate better) than those with performance
dissimilar technical skill levels (Snyder and Bruning, 1985). Finally, research suggests
that work groups with directive, technically trained leaders perform better than groups
whose leaders are not directive or technically trained (Murphy et al., 1992; Snyder and
Bruning, 1985). This research suggests that technical skill may be valuable after all;
nevertheless, none of the research either in favor or in opposition of technical skill 277
provides a suitable empirical test of this issue. The present study seeks to fill this gap
in the literature, and proposes that technical skill can contribute incremental value to
managerial performance, over and above what is contributed by other skills such as
interpersonal and administrative prowess.
H1. Technical skill will account for unique variance in managerial performance,
over and above that explained by interpersonal and administrative (i.e.
managerial) skill.
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The previous discussion suggests that the relationship between technical skill and
managerial performance is neither simple nor direct. Two studies alluded to the
possibility that technical skill could be related to referent and expert power (Grant et al.,
1997; Snyder and Bruning, 1985). Other research (discussed below) also suggests
relationships between technical skill, power, and managerial performance; it could thus
be theorized that power and influence tactics provide some explanatory mechanisms
for this relationship. The present study explores this possibility.

Sources of power
Research on social power has centered around two main themes: Sources of power and
influence tactics. The predominant taxonomy in the power literature is that of French
and Raven (1959), which posits that managers’ power over subordinates stems from
one or more of five sources: legitimate (power due to their title), reward (power due to
their ability to give rewards), coercive (power, due to their ability to punish) expert
(power due to expertise in a specific area), and referent power (and power due to others
identifying and relating well to the manager). One of the recurring themes in this
literature is that referent and expert power are associated with positive managerial
behaviors, while reliance on legitimate and coercive power is associated with
sub-optimal managerial behaviors. In several studies, expert and referent power have
been positively correlated with commitment and attitudinal compliance (Fontaine and
Beerman, 1977; Rahim and Afza, 1993). Other research has shown that effective leaders
use expert and referent power more often than legitimate, reward, and coercive power
(Stahelski et al., 1989). Expert and referent power have also been positively related to
subordinate performance (Podsakoff and Schriescheim, 1985). These findings suggest
a relationship between power and managerial performance. In addition, credibility
research suggests that higher credibility is associated with higher perceived power,
and that attitudes are more easily influenced by a credible source (Garlick and
Mongeau, 1993; Harmon and Coney, 1982) and by a trustworthy source (McGinnies and
Ward, 1980). Taken together, these studies suggest that expert and referent power may
provide a mediating mechanism for the relationship between technical skill and
managerial performance:
 JMD H2a. Expert power will mediate the relationship between the technical skill of
27,3 entry-level supervisors and their managerial performance ratings.
H2b. Referent power will mediate the relationship between the technical skill of
entry-level supervisors and their managerial performance ratings.

278 Influence tactics

In contrast to the power literature, the influence tactics arena focuses on the behavioral
strategies managers choose to attempt to gain compliance and commitment from
others. Recurring research in this area suggests that rational persuasion and
inspirational appeals are associated with positive managerial outcomes, whereas
pressure is associated with negative managerial outcomes.
Several studies have found links between referent and expert power, rational
persuasion, inspirational appeals, and pressure; both (Hinkin and Schriesheim, 1990;
Yukl et al., 1996) found that referent power was positively related to inspirational
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appeals and negatively related to pressure tactics. Results also indicated that referent
power was unrelated to rational persuasion (Yukl et al., 1996), while referent power
showed weak and inconsistent relationships to inspirational appeals (Hinkin and
Schriesheim, 1990).
Other research has demonstrated that successful influence outcomes are positively
associated with rational persuasion and inspirational appeals, yet negatively
associated with pressure tactics (Yukl et al., 1996). This indirectly suggests the
presence of a relationship between influence tactics and managerial performance. Said
relationship has been tested more directly by Yukl and others, who found that rational
persuasion and inspirational appeal were positively associated with managerial
performance ratings, while pressure tactics negatively correlated with managerial
performance (Brennan et al., 1993; Yukl and Tracey, 1992). Finally, there is also
research to support the idea that power is an antecedent to influence tactics, that is,
that a manager will choose what influence tactic to use on a subordinate depending on
his/her base(s) of power (Raven, 1992; Raven et al., 1998; Yukl and Tracey, 1992; Yukl
et al., 1996). Taken together, hypotheses can be formulated about the relationship
between power, influence tactics, and managerial performance:
H3a. Rational persuasion will positively mediate the relationship between expert
power and managerial performance.
H3b. Inspirational appeals will positively mediate the relationship between referent
power and managerial performance.
H3c. Pressure will negatively mediate the relationship between both referent and
expert power and managerial performance: reports of greater referent and
expert power will be negatively associated with reports of more frequent use
of pressure attempts; pressure attempts will in turn be negatively associated
with ratings of managerial performance.

Method
Participants
A total of 107 first-tier managers and their subordinates (n ¼ 360) from public and
private computer, petrochemical, and engineering companies in a large metropolitan
 area in the Southwestern US participated in this study. Of the 30 companies contacted, Managerial
ten allowed their employees to participate. The average response rate for a given performance
company was 12 percent.
As first-tier status varies widely across companies, the human resources manager at
each participating company provided a contact list of eligible first-tier managers (and
their subordinates) based on the following criteria:
(1) The first-tier managers’ subordinates could have no supervisory duties (i.e. had 279
to be line personnel, not other managers).
(2) The first-tier managers’ subordinates had to be in what is colloquially
considered a technical field (e.g. engineering or computer programming);
managers in departments such as finance or human resources were excluded
from the study.
(3) The first-tier managers had to have formal supervisory authority (e.g. signing
timesheets, approving travel); technical leads, who supervise others with
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respect to a specific project (and whose authority ends when the project does),
were excluded from the study.

Only first-tier managers who met these criteria (and their subordinates, as listed by
company records) were invited to participate. First-tier managers confirmed they met
these criteria in their questionnaires; additionally, subordinates also confirmed in their
questionnaires that their named supervisor had formal supervisory authority over
them and that they themselves had no formal supervisory authority.
Although 107 managers participated in the study, not all of their subordinates
participated, resulting in several incomplete data points. Of the 107 managers, 85 had
matching subordinate data (with an average of three subordinates per manager).
Therefore, despite efforts to encourage participation, most analyses and subsequent
conclusions were based on the sample of 85. All available data were used wherever
possible.

Measures
Managerial performance. For this study’s purposes, managerial performance was
defined as both tangible and intangible outcomes of a group led by a manager. Thus,
three outcomes were examined: production output, subordinate job satisfaction
(Luthans, 1988), and subordinate perceptions of managerial performance.
Production output was measured as an aggregation of the percent of projects in the
manager’s department on or ahead of schedule, and the percent of projects on or under
budget. This has been the traditional unit of production output in most engineering
environments (Gray, 1979), and thus it is used here.
To measure subordinate job satisfaction, subordinates completed the job-in-general
(JIG) scale of the job descriptive index (JDI) (Ironson et al., 1989). The alpha coefficient
for the JIG scale was 0.91.
Finally, subordinates rated the overall performance of the manager in carrying out
his/her responsibilities. These single-item ratings were made on the same one-to-nine
scale used by Yukl and Falbe (1991) to assess managerial performance.
Technical skill. Because the participant sample is limited to professionals in science
and engineering, technical skill was conceptually defined in this study as an adeptness
at addressing technical issues and solving problems of science and engineering. Two
 JMD measures of technical skill were thus used in the study: the manager’s self-reported
27,3 educational degree, and subordinates’ ratings of technical skill. Educational degree
was coded after data collection on a scale from 1 to 5: 1 ¼ no college degree; 2 ¼
college degree in a non-technical field; 3 ¼ bachelor’s in a technical field 4 ¼ masters
in a technical field, 5 ¼ doctorate in a technical field. The subordinates’ rating
consisted of a single-item measure with a nine-point scale similar to that used by Yukl
280 and Falbe (1991).
Managerial skill. Managers completed an abridged version of the managerial
practices survey (MPS) (Kim and Yukl, 1998). The abridged version contains 42 items
that classify into 14 scales internal consistencies ranged from 0.73 to 0.89. Factor
analysis of the 14 scales indicates the scales reduce to a single factor of managerial
skill; thus, the 42 items were thus combined into 14 scales, and then averaged to obtain
an overall measure of managerial skill per (Kim and Yukl, 1998). The internal
consistency for this overall scale of managerial skill is 0.94.
Social power. Subordinates provided ratings of their supervisors’ bases of power
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using (Hinkin and Schriesheim, 1989) measure of French and Raven’s bases of social
power. The scale contains 20 items (four items per scale); internal consistencies ranged
from 0.87 to 0.91.
Influence tactics. Subordinates completed the influence behavior questionnaire (IBQ)
(Yukl et al., 1990; Yukl and Tracey, 1992), containing 36 items that classify into nine
scales, each corresponding to a different influence tactic. Reliability coefficients ranged
from 0.68 to 0.86.

Procedure
All data were collected via the web. Participants were invited by either letter or e-mail.
As an incentive, individuals who completed the questionnaire entered a raffle for a
$100 gift certificate to a computer/electronics store. Managers and subordinates were
each directed to a different web address to complete their respective questionnaires, to
minimize cross-level contamination of the data.
Managers completed the managerial potential scale, the technical skill measures,
the production output measures, the influence behavior questionnaire, and a
demographics questionnaire. Subordinates completed the JIG scale, power scale, the
technical skill and managerial performance items, and answered demographic
questions about themselves. Upon completion of the questionnaire, participants
navigated to a new web page for debriefing.

Results
Table I lists descriptive statistics and correlations for all variables in the study.

Tests of homogeneity and dimensionality

Homogeneity of sample. Research has suggested that scientists and engineers should
not be studied together as a single category because they have different personality
characteristics, goals, and orientations (Allen, 1977; Keller, 1997; Ritti, 1968); similar
concerns could arise when combining participants from multiple industries into a
single group. Analyses of variance were conducted to test this possibility. No
significant mean differences were found across industries, nor across position (scientist
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Measure Mean SD 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

1. Production output 67.78 49.27 –

2. Sub. job satisfaction 41.57 9.54 0.03
3. Sub. ME ratings 6.52 1.53 2 0.12 0.42 –
4. Managerial skill 0.00 1.00 0.12 0.03 0.07 –
5. Rational persuasion 2.97 0.74 0.08 0.53 * * 0.22 0.03 –
6. Inspirational appeals 2.26 0.73 0.01 0.36 * * 0.34 * 0.02 0.57 * * –
7. Pressure 1.71 0.60 0.01 2 0.20 2 0.08 20.09 20.11 20.11 –
8. Referent power 3.71 0.82 2 0.04 0.65 * * 0.42 * 0.01 0.52 * * 0.55 * * 2 0.28 * –
9. Expert power 3.38 0.92 2 0.03 0.65 * * 0.42 * 20.01 0.58 * * 0.45 * * 2 0.08 0.76 * * –
10. Educational degree 3.27 1.01 2 0.06 2 0.15 0.25 20.03 20.15 20.07 0.15 2 0.15 2 0.17 –
11. Subord. TS ratings 7.05 1.44 0.04 0.16 2 0.10 0.01 0.07 20.02 2 0.27 * 0.39 * 0.36 20.12 –
12. Group autonomy 3.25 0.56 0.21 0.14 0.28 20.11 0.05 20.13 0.09 0.02 0.02 0.19 0.16 –
Notes: *p , 0.05; * *p , 0.01
correlation coefficients

performance
Managerial
for hypothesized

Means, standard
deviations, and
variables

Table I.

281
 JMD versus engineers). Consequently, all subsequent analyses were conducted using all
27,3 available cases.
Dimensionality of managerial performance. A principal components factor analysis
with a varimax rotation revealed that the three measures of managerial performance
did not load on a single factor. Consequently, the three measures were analyzed
separately for each hypothesis test.
282
Tests of hypotheses
Because the dependent variables were measured at different levels of analysis, two
different types of analyses were used. Hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) was used to
test hypotheses where subordinate job satisfaction and subordinate ratings of
managerial performance were the dependent variables, as these were subordinate level
variables with both subordinate- and manager-level predictors. Since production
output was collected at the manager level, predictors collected at the subordinate level
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were aggregated to the manager level (analyses using Rwg indicated that aggregation
was appropriate for all relevant variables); hypotheses were then tested using ordinary
least squares (OLS) regression.
Hypothesis 1. This hypothesis proposed that technical skill would incrementally
predict managerial performance over and above managerial skill. This hypothesis was
tested via hierarchical regression (OLS for production output, HLM for job satisfaction
and subordinate ratings); increase in incremental variance was assessed with the 2 2
log likelihood ratio (2 2LLR) (Dunning, 1993), a goodness-of-fit index based on the
asymptotic distribution of the generalized likelihood ratio. Smaller indices indicate a
better fitting model; thus, a significant decrease (tested via chi-square) in the 2 2 log
likelihood ratio when adding the technical skill variables to the model suggests that the
technical skill variables contribute additional variance to the prediction of managerial
performance. These analyses are summarized in Table II.
Managerial skill significantly predicted production output, as evidenced by the
significant B-weight (B ¼ 0:62, p ¼ 0:04); however, adding measures of technical skill
contributed no incremental variance, as evidenced by the non-significant B-weights
and the increase in the 2 2LLR index compared to that of the managerial skill only
model.
Managerial skill did not significantly predict subordinate job satisfaction (as
evidenced by the non-significant B-weights), nor did adding the various measures of
technical skill contribute incrementally to said prediction; this is evidenced by the
non-significant B-weights in the expanded model and the non-significant difference
(x2 ¼ 1:3, n.s.) in the 2 2LLR index compared to that of the managerial skill only
model.
Managerial skill did not significantly predict subordinate ratings of managerial
performance. In contrast to production output and subordinate job satisfaction
however, adding measures of technical skill contributed significant incremental
variance in predicting subordinate ratings of managerial performance, as seen by the
significant decrease in the 2 2LLR index in the expanded model (x2 ¼ 16:9, p , 0.001),
and the significant B-weights for subordinate ratings of technical skill (B ¼ 0.37,
p , 0.001). Thus, H1 was partially supported: subordinate perceptions of technical
skill accounted for incremental variance in the prediction of subordinate perceptions of
managerial performance.
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Production output† Subordinate job satisfaction Subordinate ratings

Predictor B SE B t p 2 2LL B SE B t p 2 2LL B SE B t p 2 2LL

Step 1 533.1 1,244.6 659.3

Managerial skill 0.62 0.29 2.08 0.04 0.38 1.44 0.27 0.78 2 0.28 0.24 21.16 0.25

Step 2 537.2 1,239.2 645.9

Managerial skill 0.64 0.30 2.13 0.04 0.17 1.45 0.12 0.90 2 .29 0.25 21.17 0.24
Subordinate ratings of TC 1.03 4.18 0.25 0.81 20.06 0.065 2 0.09 0.92 0.37 0.08 4.24 , 0.001
Educational degree 24.26 5.98 2 0.71 0.48 21.33 1.17 2 1.14 0.24 0.08 0.19 20.45 0.65
Note: Analyses with production output as the dependent variable were conducted with OLS hierarchical regression, as production output was a
supervisor-level outcome, and thus not suitable for HLM analyses; analyses with subordinate job satisfaction and subordinate ratings as the dependent
variable were conducted via mixed linear modeling (restricted maximum likelihood)
managerial and technical

Summary of hierarchical
managerial effectiveness

regression analyses for

performance
Managerial
skills predicting

Table II.

283
 JMD Hypothesis 2. H2a and H2b proposed that expert and referent power would mediate the
27,3 relationship between technical skill and managerial performance. These hypotheses
were tested using the Sobel (1982) significance test for the indirect effect of a predictor
on a dependent variable via the mediator, as discussed in Baron and Kenny (1986).
Goodman’s test of significance was also calculated (MacKinnon et al., 1995a;
MacKinnon et al., 1995b; Preacher and Leonardelli, 2001) to corroborate the results of
284 Sobel’s test. Table III summarizes the results of these tests.
Expert power significantly mediated the relationship between technical skill and
managerial performance when the latter was operationalized as subordinate ratings
(z ¼ 2:11, p , 0.05). Referent power marginally mediated the relationship for both
subordinate job satisfaction (z ¼ 1:86, p ¼ 0:06) and for subordinate ratings of
managerial performance (z ¼ 1:88, p ¼ 0:06). As production output was not
significantly correlated with either type of power, no mediation tests were
conducted. Thus H2 was partially supported.
Hypothesis 3. This hypothesis predicted that the various influence tactics would
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mediate the relationship between power and managerial performance. As with H2,
these hypotheses were tested using Sobel’s and Goodman’s significance tests.
As seen in Table III, rational persuasion significantly mediated the relationship
between expert power and managerial performance when the latter was
operationalized as either subordinate job satisfaction (z ¼ 2:27, p , 0.05) or
subordinate ratings (z ¼ 3:96, p , 0.01). The same was not true, however, of the
other hypotheses: No other significant mediating effects were found. Thus, with the
exception of the mediating effect of rational persuasion on expert power and
judgment-based measures of managerial performance, H3 was not supported.

Discussion
This study tested the hypothesis that technical skill could incrementally predict
first-tier technical managers’ performance over and above what managerial skill could
predict. Further, this study hypothesized social power and influence tactics mediated
this relationship. The data partially supported these hypotheses.
Though managerial skill was found to predict production output; technical skill did
not significantly increase managerial skill’s predictive power. However, technical skill
was found to be predictive of subordinate perceptions of managerial performance, over
and above managerial skill’s non-significant contribution. Though counterintuitive on
the surface, this paradox makes sense when the results of the mediation analyses are
considered. Referent and expert power each mediated the relationship between
technical skill and perceptions of managerial performance; referent power additionally
mediated the relationship between technical skill and subordinate job satisfaction;
however, no mediation was found with production output as the dependent variable.
This suggests that subordinates can be productive “in spite of” their perceptions of
their supervisors and, on a more serious note; and that technical skill can add value to
first-tier managerial performance by enhancing supervisor-subordinate relationships.
When subordinates perceive a manager to be technically skilled, they ascribe referent
and expert power to him/her. Referent and expert power in turn, translate into more
positive subordinate perceptions of managerial performance and job satisfaction. This
is consistent with previous literature supporting relationships among power,
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Sorbel Goodman
Mediation test a Sa b Sb Critical z p-value Critical z p-value
H2a: expert power mediates the relationship between technical skill and managerial effectiveness (TS ! EP ! ME)
Production output 0.230 0.070 2 3.240 7.490 – – – –
Subordinate job satisfaction 3.25 1.47 1.60 0.10 1.68 0.09
Subordinate ratings of managerial effectiveness 0.80 * * 0.16 2.11 0.03 2.15 0.03
H2b: referent power mediates the relationship between technical skill and managerial effectiveness (TS ! RP ! ME)
Production output 0.223 0.065 2 4.037 8.465 – – – –
Subordinate job satisfaction 0.049 * 0.025 7.69 * * 1.28 1.86 0.06 1.88 0.06
Subordinate ratings of managerial effectiveness 0.049 * 0.025 1.14 * * 0.17 1.88 0.06 1.90 0.06
H3a: rational persuasion mediates the relationship between expert power and managerial effectiveness (EP ! RatP ! ME)
Production output 0.461 0.080 10.090 10.630 – – – –
Subordinate job satisfaction 0.546 * * 0.093 3.73 * 1.51 2.27 0.02 2.30 0.02
Subordinate ratings of managerial effectiveness 0.54 * * 0.09 0.70 * * 0.13 3.96 , 0.01 3.99 , 0.01
H3b: inspirational appeal mediates the relationship between referent power and managerial effectiveness (RP ! IA ! ME)
Production output 0.487 0.090 3.140 10.650 – – – –
Subordinate job satisfaction 0.336 * * 0.112 3.22 * 1.46 1.77 0.07 1.84 0.06
Subordinate ratings of managerial effectiveness 0.336 * * 0.112 0.54 * 0.23 1.84 0.06 1.91 0.055
H3c(1): pressure mediates the relationship between referent power and managerial effectiveness (RP ! Pr ! ME)
Production output 20.200 0.860 2 0.140 11.170 – – – –
Subordinate job satisfaction 20.008 0.022 2 1.67 2.46 – – – –
Subordinate ratings of managerial effectiveness 20.008 0.022 0.28 0.34 – – – –
H3c(2): pressure mediates the relationship between expert power and managerial effectiveness (EP ! Pr ! ME)
Production output 20.054 0.080 0.550 10.771 – – – –
Subordinate job satisfaction 0.005 0.01 2 1.67 2.46 – – – –
Subordinate ratings of managerial effectiveness 0.005 0.01 0.28 0.34 – – – –
Notes: a represents the unstandardized regression coefficient for the relationship between the independent variable and the mediator; Sa represents the
standard error of said regression coefficient. b represents the unstandardized regression coefficient for the relationship between the mediator and the
dependent variable, in a model that includes both the mediator and the independent variable as predictors of the dependent variable; Sb represents the
standard error of said regression coefficient. Both the Sobel and Goodman tests yield critical z-scores as the test statistic. Sobel and Goodman tests are
listed only when a and b are significant. The reader is referred to MacKinnon et al. (1995a) and to Preacher and Leonardelli (2001) for more detailed
discussions of the calculations of Sobel’s and Goodman’s tests
Results of mediation tests

performance
Managerial
Table III.

285
 JMD commitment, and compliance (Fontaine and Beerman, 1977; Rahim and Afza, 1993;
27,3 Rahim et al., 1994; Yukl et al., 1996).
First-tier managers with more expert power seemed to use more rational persuasion,
which also resulted in more positive subordinate perceptions; the same was not true,
however, of inspirational appeals. This latter finding is not consistent with the
literature; it is possible, however, that individual differences may be at work here. The
286 present study was conducted on a sample of engineers. According to the Holland codes,
engineers are dominantly investigative in type, suggesting that they may simply be
more receptive, from a personality perspective, to rational persuasion than to
inspirational appeals. Previous research has shown that target perceptions, such as the
perceived feasibility of a request, affect the impact of an influence attempt on a target
(Yukl et al., 1999). No research to date, however, has studied how target characteristics
(such as personality) could affect the impact of an influence attempt; future research
should direct its efforts along those lines.
In addition to the observed relationships, this study reminds us that
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judgment-based and non-judgment-based measures of a construct are not

interchangeable. This probably comes as little surprise to many researchers, as the
choice of measures is an old yet continuing dilemma. Research directly illustrates
differences in relationship strengths as a function of the type of measure used (e.g.
Quiñones et al., 1995). The present study supports this assertion by demonstrating that
the various measures of managerial performance tap different portions of the domain
in question, and that each provides useful, unique information, beyond simply
contributing to reliability, thus highlighting the multidimensionality of the managerial
performance construct. Though research has long demonstrated that managerial skill
is multidimensional – researchers have been studying the various KSAs and
competencies necessary to manage effectively for decades (Boyatzis, 1982; Brewis,
1996; Katz, 1974; Lipshitz and Nevo, 1992), the dimensionality of managerial
performance – the outcome of a manager’s efforts, has received less attention. Recent
research has begun to explore this issue (Cheng et al., 2005); however, many questions
remain unanswered. Future research should concentrate on exploring these
dimensions in more depth.

Limitations
The most apparent limitation in this study is self-selection bias. Because the study
required data from subordinates and supervisors, and because the study was
completely voluntary, self-selection occurred at the company level (companies agreeing
or declining to allow their employees to participate in the study), and at the respondent
level. Another consequence of the hierarchical data structure of the study was the
limited sample size, as there were many participants with incomplete hierarchies (i.e.
supervisors with no subordinate data, and vice versa). However, descriptive statistics
indicate that the data collected from these unused participants was reasonably
represented by the respondents whose data were used in the study, suggesting that
their absence would merely result in a loss of power, not necessarily a systematic bias.
A second limitation concerns common source variance. The largest effects found
came from measures that were collected from the same source, in this case mostly
subordinates, suggesting that common source variance may have artificially inflated
the observed effects. It has been suggested that the smallest positive correlation
 between two variables in a dataset collected via the same method (or source) can serve Managerial
as a reasonable estimate of common method (source) variance (Lindell and Whitney, performance
1999; Lindell and Brandt, 2000). As can be seen from Table I, the smallest such
correlation is between subordinate ratings of technical skill and rational persuasion,
r ¼ 0:07, n.s. This non-significant correlations suggests that the observed findings are
unlikely to be significantly inflated by common source variance.
287
Future directions
This study is a starting point for several future research streams, both in measurement
and in management. One important direction for future research is the development of
an appropriate measure of technical skill. This is hardly a simple task – the situational
specificity hypothesis would predict that technical skill can only be measured at the job
level, and that a separate measure of technical skill would have to be constructed for
each job. However, research in competency modeling (Boyatzis, 1982) suggests that
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underlying characteristics exist that could apply across a wider range of jobs. A
successful measure of technical skill would address a variety of selection, training, and
research needs in both research and industry arenas.
More importantly, however, this study reminds of the role of source credibility plays
in workplace environments. Though no evidence was found in these data that a
first-tier manager’s technical skill contributed materially to the production output,
subordinates nevertheless perceived that better technicians made better managers.
This is certainly the tradition and underlying assumption in many industries,
including engineering, medicine, and academia, despite research documenting the
skills needed to be a successful manager. More research is thus necessary to explore
how this perception can be best leveraged (especially in relation to other managerial
competencies) to improve both subordinate and managerial performance.

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About the author

Sylvia J. Hysong is an industrial/organizational psychologist and a health services researcher at
the Houston Center of Quality of Care and Utilization Studies, a Health Services Research and
Development Center of Excellence sponsored by the US Department of Veterans Affairs and
housed in the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center in Houston, TX. She is an Instructor of
Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, and an adjunct assistant professor of psychology at the
University of Houston. Dr Hysong received her PhD in industrial/organizational psychology
from Rice University in 2000. Sylvia J. Hysong can be contacted at: sylvia.hysong@va.gov

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