How far does leadership travel? A multidimensional understanding of relational distance in organizations

UnrestrictedCenturies after distance became a concern for individuals and organizations, two key developments in the nature of work are driving the need to examine more closely the construct of relational distance -- the prominence of remote work and simultaneous changes taking place in the structure and composition of organizations. In response to these developments, my outstanding question is: How do we perceive relational distance and how does our perception of relational distance affect organizational functioning? This question is important for organizations in general, and hierarchical reporting structures in particular, because relational distance influences leader-follower relationships which, in turn, have been shown to impact many organizational outcomes (Bass, 1990; Lowe, Kroeck, & Sivasubramaniam, 1996; Northouse, 2001). In this dissertation, I attempt to answer my question by demonstrating that relational distance is perceived in three interactive dimensions -- structural, status, and psychological. Structural distance is comprised of physical distance, channel of communication, and frequency of interaction; status distance includes demographic and social; and psychological distance is the lack of affinity between people. I then test the effect of relational distance on individual outcomes of follower performance (measured by organizational performance evaluations) and satisfaction with work (measured by followers). These two outcomes are often studied in leadership research but they have not been examined in the context of varying distance. I find that psychological distance has a negative influence on satisfaction with work but a slightly positive influence individual performance. Structural distance is found to have a negative influence on performance. I anticipate my three-dimensional construct will lead to further research and, therefore, greater recognition of the complexity of relational distance and its effects on a wide variety of job-related outcomes