Leadership

LEADERSHIP AND EXPECTATIONS:

PYGMALION EFFECTS AND OTHER

SELF-FULFILLING PROPHECIES

IN ORGANIZATIONS

Dov Eden

Tel Aviv University

The Pygmalion effect is a type of self-fulfilling prophecy (SFP) in which raising manager expectations

regarding subordinate performance boosts subordinate performance.

Managers who are led to expect

more of their subordinates

lead them to greater achievement. Programmatic

research findings from

field experiments

are reviewed, and our present knowledge about the Pygmalion

effect in the

management

of industrial, sales, and military organizations

is summarized.

A model is presented in

which leadership is hypothesized to be the key mediator through which manager expectations influence

motivation,

effort, and performance.

The

subordinate

self-efficacy,

performance

expectations,

behaviors that comprise the Pygmalion Leadership Style are described. Besides creating the one-onone Pygmalion effect, additional ways for managers to assert their leadership by creating productive

organizationwide

SFP are suggested. An agenda for research on SFP applications is proposed.

Expectations

play an important role in determining

leadership effectiveness. Scholars

and practitioners have assumed for a long time that leaders who expect more get more

(e.g., Likert, 1961, 1967; McGregor, 1960). Despite this general awareness, until recently

there was little empirical research illuminating

how and why leader expectation effects

operate, and how they can be profitably utilized in practice. In parallel, work motivation

theorists have long postulated the central role of self-expectations

in motivating the

exertion of effort in job performance

and in determining

the level of productivity

achieved (Atkinson,

1957; Atkinson

& Feather, 1966; Atkinson

& Raynor,

1974;

McClelland, Atkinson, Clark, & Lowell, 1953; Rotter, 1943, 1945; Vroom, 1964; Zuroff

*Direct all correspondence

to: Dov Eden, Tel Aviv University,...