Although much attention has been paid to the knowledge, skills, abilities, and experiences that an individual brings when s/he transitions into an organizational role, little attention has been given to the history of the enactment of the role into which s/he is transitioning. This dissertation examines the “You’ve got big shoes to fill” phenomenon, and its inverse. A new construct, role residual, is introduced as a conceptual link between the behaviors and characteristics of the prior position-holder and the expectations for the successor, the successor’s role behaviors, and the evaluations made of the successor. A role residual is the set of expectations held by the role-set, associated with a position in an organization, which are left behind by the prior position-holder. Theories of role taking and role making, role transitions, contrast and assimilation effects, and research on previous leaders were used to derive hypotheses. These hypotheses focused on how the behaviors and characteristics of the prior position-holder influence the expectations held by the role-set for the successor, and how those expectations influence the behaviors of the successor and the subsequent evaluations of and attitudes toward the successor.
Survey data were collected at three points in time from multiple perspectives over the course of six months. The attorneys of the state bar of a small mid-Atlantic state (the role-set), and their paralegals (the focal position-holders), were invited to participate in the study. The attorneys were asked about the behaviors and characteristics of their current paralegal. When the paralegals transitioned out of their roles, the attorneys were asked to indicate their expectations for their new paralegals. These successor paralegals were asked to indicate the expectations they faced in their new roles. Finally, one month following the transition, the attorneys were asked to assess the behaviors and characteristics of the successor paralegal and to evaluate the performance of the successor and their attitudes toward the successor. If at the end of six months there had not been a transition then the attorneys were asked to assume that their paralegal had transitioned and to indicate their expectations for their hypothetical new paralegal. For hypotheses 1 – 6, the data were analyzed separately for the actual transition sub-sample (N = 22) and the hypothetical transition sub-sample (N = 229). For the remaining hypotheses, only the data for the actual transition sub-sample applied.
Results showed that the behaviors and characteristics of the prior position-holder did influence the expectations held by the role-set for the successor for the hypothetical transition sub-sample, but not for the actual transition sub-sample. The findings did not support the hypothesized moderating effect for either tenure or familiarity in either sub-sample. Cursory evidence was found indicating that the residual expectations influenced the successors’ role behaviors. Finally, limited evidence was found suggesting that meeting or exceeding the role-set expectations for some characteristics influenced the evaluations of successor performance but not the attitudes formed toward the successor. These results are discussed along with study limitations, directions for future research, and practical implications.