The Impact of Relationship-Focused Supportive Leadership on Attitudes of R&D Professionals

Abstract

Since most R&D leaders lack skills of managing relationships with subordinates considering their technical background. This study divided supportive leadership into relationship-focused and job-focused, and studied the relationships between relationship-focused supportive leaderships and subordinates’ working attitudes. It conducted survey on 300 researchers from four Korean companies, and adopted Structural Equation Modeling as analyzing approach. Findings of the study provide understanding on how R&D managers better their relationship with subordinates by providing relevant support can improve subordinates’ attitudes toward work