Heroism versus competence: Competing explanations for the effects of experimenting and consistent management

B. M. Staw and J. Ross (Journal of Applied Psychology, 1980, 65, 249–260) present data which suggest that one barrier to experimenting management is an implicit theory of heroic leadership favoring managers who are consistent in the face of failure, The currant research tests this theory of heroism against an implicit theory of competent management. Subjects read a case study describing a manager who was either experimenting or consistent, and either immediately successful or successful only after initial failure (i.e., ultimately successful). The results supported the implicit theory of competent management with the consistent managers, whose first policies were effective, rated significantly higher than the ultimately successful-experimenting manager, whose first two policies failed. The immediately successful-experimenting manager was unexpectedly rated significantly higher than all other managers. The results show that there is not a general bias against experimentation in favor of consistency, and that reactions to managers are based more upon evidence of competence than upon experimenting and consistency per se.