The influence of cognitive complexity on leadership effectiveness: Moderating effects of environmental complexity

On the basis of Kelly´s personal construct theory, Bieri proposed the concept of cognitive complexity, which was mainly applied in the measurement of differentiation grade of individual cognitive structure. Due to its significance in behavior efficiency, cognitive complexity theory has become a hot spot in the area of external cognition research. Theory suggests that leaders who possess higher cognitive complexity are likely to exhibit a higher level of leadership effectiveness. This paper studies the influence of cognitive complexity on leadership effectiveness, and explores the moderating effects of environmental complexity. While the research results show that the cognitive complexity has a significant positive correlation with leadership effectiveness, organizational performance, and organizational commitment, the relationship between cognitive complexity and employee satisfaction is not significant. In addition, environmental complexity moderates the relationship between cognitive complexity and leadership effectiveness.