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Editorial verdict
Landmark meta-analysis. The core SDT-LAS findings are robust across 72 studies and 32,870 participants, with consistent effect sizes and minimal publication bias — the motivational pathway model holds, though the predominantly cross-sectional evidence base and self-report reliance warrant caution on causal claims.
Executive summary
This meta-analysis examines the associations between perceived leader autonomy support (LAS) — supervisory behaviors that promote employee self-determination — and a broad range of employee outcomes in organizational settings. Drawing on self-determination theory (SDT), the authors hypothesize that LAS will correlate positively with internalized forms of work motivation, basic psychological need satisfaction, well-being, and positive work behaviors, while correlating negatively with distress and amotivation. Analysing 754 correlations across 72 studies (83 unique samples, N = 32,870), the meta-analysis finds that LAS shows a progressively stronger positive correlation with increasingly internalized motivational forms, from near-zero associations with external regulation to strong associations with intrinsic motivation (ρ = .38). LAS correlates strongly with need satisfaction (autonomy: ρ = .57), well-being (ρ = .46), job satisfaction (ρ = .56), and negatively with distress (ρ = −.33) and turnover intentions (ρ = −.40). Moderator analyses reveal no significant effects of leader proximity, cultural individualism-collectivism, publication status, or measurement operationalization. A meta-analytic path analysis confirms that basic need satisfaction and autonomous motivation mediate the relationship between LAS and employee outcomes, providing empirical support for the full SDT organizational model.
Key insights
- 1LAS shows a pattern of increasingly strong positive correlations with more internalized forms of motivation as described by SDT — strongest with intrinsic motivation (ρ = .38), near-zero with external regulation (ρ = .00), and moderately negative with amotivation (ρ = −.31).
- 2LAS is most strongly associated with the need for autonomy (ρ = .57), followed by relatedness (ρ = .46) and competence (ρ = .42), and these need satisfactions mediate the pathway from LAS to well-being and positive work outcomes.
- 3The effects of LAS appear culturally universal — no significant moderation was found when comparing individualist versus collectivist country samples — and are not contingent on whether support comes from proximal or more distal leaders.
Practical takeaways
- Organizations seeking to improve employee well-being, engagement, job satisfaction, and reduce turnover intentions may find that developing autonomy-supportive supervisory behaviors represents a coherent, theoretically grounded lever — though causal evidence from intervention studies remains limited and should be developed further.
- The LAS–work performance association is moderated by measurement type (self-report: ρ = .35 vs. other-report/objective: ρ = .15), indicating that organisations measuring performance impact of leadership development programmes through self-report data alone risk overstating effects.
Frameworks mentioned
Self-Determination Theory (SDT)
A broad theory of human motivation distinguishing autonomous from controlled motivation, and identifying three basic psychological needs — autonomy, competence, and relatedness — whose satisfaction is theorized to predict internalization of motivation, well-being, and optimal functioning.
Organismic Integration Theory
A sub-theory within SDT describing the continuum of internalization from external regulation through introjected, identified, and integrated regulation to intrinsic motivation, used here to frame expected differential associations with LAS.
References
- Ryan and Deci (2000).Self-determination and intrinsic motivation in human behavior.
- Ryan and Deci (2017).Self-Determination Theory: Basic Psychological Needs in Motivation, Development, and Wellness.
- Baard, Deci, and Ryan (2004).Work Climate Questionnaire.
- Moreau and Mageau (2012).Perceived Autonomy Support Scale for Employees.
- Deci et al. (1989).Work Climate Scale.
- Gagné et al. (2015).Multidimensional Work Motivation Scale (MWMS).
- Schaufeli et al. (2006).Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES).
- Van den Broeck et al. (2016).Basic psychological needs in the work domain: A meta-analysis.
- Taylor (1911).The Principles of Scientific Management.
- Schmidt and Hunter (2015).Methods of Research in Meta-Analysis.
Source & Provenance
springer
Gavin R. Slemp, Margaret L. Kern, Kent J. Patrick, Richard M. Ryan
May 17, 2018
Meta-Analysis/Review
Global
Original source metadata is preserved. AI analysis is generated separately.
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