WHAT LEADERSHIP BEHAVIORS DO CPA’S PREFER FROM THEIR MANAGERS? THE PREFERRED BEHAVIORS MOST RELATED TO QUALITY OF RELATIONSHIPS

David Notgrass Tarleton State University

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between followers’ perception of quality of relationship with their leaders and followers’ preferred leadership behaviors from their leaders among 105 Certified Public Accountants working in the United States for U.S. companies with more than 1,000 employees. Four self-reporting scales were used to measure the study’s variables: the LMX-7 questionnaire was used to measure followers’ perceived quality of dyadic relationship with their leader and the MLQ (Form-5X) was used to measure followers’ preference for transformational leadership behaviors, transactional leadership behaviors, and leadership-avoidant behaviors from their leader. Pearson correlation (rs) and two-tailed t-tests determined both positive and negative significant levels of relationship between follower’s perceived quality of relationship and follower’s preference for specific transformational, transactional,            and leadership-avoidant         leadership         behaviors.        Linear regression       testing determined the predictive values for those behaviors with the highest correlations. Implications   for improving leadership practices for leading CPAs and directions of future research are discussed. The results of the study determined that followers’ perceived quality of relationship could significantly predict their level of preference for specific leadership behaviors.