Leadership power discrepancies and worker morale: A test of ecological dissonance theory

The present study attempted to develop a new measure of ecological dissonance (Miller, Topping, & Wells-Parker, 1989) for an organization and to assess its relationship with measures of alienation, involvement, and satisfaction. Questionnaires were administered to 94 faculty members at Mississippi State University. It was hypothesized that respondents experiencing greater ecological dissonance would also show higher alienation scores, lower involvement scores, and lower satisfaction scores with regard to their jobs; it was also hypothesized that the ecological dissonance levels would vary among the four influence systems (department head, dean, provost, and president of university) and would affect morale to different degrees. Correlational analyses indicated significant correlations between the measures of ecological dissonance, alienation, involvement, and satisfaction. A regression analysis revealed that the ecological dissonance generated within the department head’s influence system was the best predictor of morale. Additionally, a repeated measures analysis of variance revealed that the four influence systems differed significantly in ecological dissonance. The results supported the hypotheses and ecological dissonance theory.