Is it Laissez-Faire Leadership or Delegation? A Deeper Examination of an Over-Simplified Leadership Phenomenon

Characterized simply as “the absence of leadership,” scholars have generally written off “laissez-faire leadership” as the inaction of poor managers disinterested in their followers and organizational outcomes. In this study, we question whether this simple understanding of the construct is always true, arguing that delegation, a conceivably positive behavior, is sometimes perceived as laissez-faire leadership by subordinates. We examine how perceived leader competence and subordinate gender determine how delegation affects perceptions of laissez-faire leadership and, indirectly, dysfunctional subordinate resistance. Our test of this model reveals a significant three-way interaction between delegation, perceived leader competence, and gender in influencing perceptions of laissez-faire leadership and dysfunctional resistance. We conclude that laissez-faire leadership is a more complex phenomenon than is often assumed in research. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed in this study.