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Self-Serving Biases in Leadership: A Laboratory Experiment

Jeanne M. Russell

Louisiana State University

The present study investigated the role of self-serving biases in leaders' and subordinates' attributions for group performance and their appropriateness ratings of various supervisory actions. Subjects were 144 undergraduate students who were randomly assigned to the roles of leader or subordinate and asked to work on a simulated manufacturing task. Following a 20-minute work session, groups received either high or low performance feedback. Leaders and subordinates then made attributions for the group's performance and rated the appropriateness of various supervisory actions. Analyses indicated that leaders attributed low group performance to subordinates, whereas subordinates attributed low group performance to leaders. In addition, leaders rated the supervisory actions of training and punishment as more appropriate than did subordinates. The implications of these findings for attributional approaches to leadership, leader-subordinate conflict, and leadership training are discussed.

Journal of Management, Vol. 12, No. 4, 475-483 (1986)
DOI: 10.1177/014920638601200403


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