Riet, Megin van (2025) When Does Shared Leadership Work? A Dyadic Investigation of Task Interdependence as a Moderator. Bachelor thesis, Psychology.
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Abstract
Traditional leadership is marked by an individual with formal authority over their subordinates, however increasingly more organisations recognize the value of shared leadership, where influence and decision making are distributed among team members. While shared leadership is often linked to increased performance, the conditions under which this effect is most pronounced remain unclear. Drawing on contingency theories of leadership, this research investigates whether task interdependence moderates the relationship between shared leadership and employee performance. More specifically in the context of Dutch organisations, which are characterized by a low power distance and collaborative work environment. Using a quantitative, cross-sectional survey design, data was collected from 130 leader-employee dyads, with employees rating shared leadership and task interdependence, and leaders rating employee performance and task interdependence. Results suggest that shared leadership is positively associated with employee performance, but only when employee-rated task interdependence is moderate to high. At lower levels, this relationship is not significant. Interestingly, employee-rated task interdependence negatively predicted performance, while leader-rated task interdependence was not a significant predictor or moderator. These findings cautiously suggest employees’ perceptions of task interdependence are especially important in shaping the effectiveness of shared leadership, and suggest that organizations should consider these perceptions when implementing distributed leadership structures. By focusing on the dyadic level, this study extends shared leadership research that has mostly been conducted at the team level.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Bachelor) |
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| Supervisor name: | Bucur, R.E. |
| Degree programme: | Psychology |
| Differentiation route: | None [Bachelor Psychology] |
| Date Deposited: | 09 Jul 2025 09:07 |
| Last Modified: | 09 Jul 2025 09:07 |
| URI: | http://gmwpublic.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/5397 |
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