ADMINISTRATIVE ATTRIBUTION THEORY
| Published date | 01 February 1981 |
| Pages | 153-176 |
| Date | 01 February 1981 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb009845 |
| Author | JAMES M. FRASHER,RAMONA S. FRASHER |
| Subject Matter | Education |
THE JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL ADMINISTRATION
VOLUME XIX, NUMBER 2 SUMMER 1981
ADMINISTRATIVE ATTRIBUTION THEORY
JAMES M. FRASHER AND
RAMONA S. FRASHER
It is hypothesized that the growing body of empirical data concerning the naive
psychology of the assignment of cause — attribution theory — yields a substantial
number of concepts which are logically assumed to offer significant potential insight
into the administrative process. In order to stimulate the research necessary to test
this hypothesis the existing research is presented and a theoretical formulation
entitled Administrative Attribution Theory is offered. The structural framework of
this conceptualization rests with five constructs: (1) asymmetry, i.e., attributions
reflect a general positive bias; (2) concomitance, i.e., attributions vary with pre-
conditioned mind sets; (3) enhancement, i.e., attributions provide the individual
psychological control of the environment; (4) process, i.e., the attributional process
is highly generalizable, and (5) reconstruction, i.e., existing attributions may be
altered through the manipulation of external variables. Examples of researchable
questions are given to further facilitate field testing in educational administration.
INTRODUCTION
Attribution theory and research have occupied the attention of leading
social psychologists for more than a decade. Now, according to some, it is
time for the application of attribution theory to be tested under real world
conditions where individuals' perceptions of the causes of their own and
others' behaviour may actually affect their attitudes and reactions.1
The credibility of such implications has been recognized only recently by
the education profession. For example, the 1979 AERA program index
had no entries under the term attribution; the 1980 program included five
sessions focusing on the topic.2 With few exceptions, the education
research literature has been devoid of serious attention to the questions
addressing attributional concepts.
What is attribution theory? What is its relevance for education,
specifically for educational administration?
In the simplest context, attribution theory and research are concerned
with the pursuit of the solution to the question "Why?" as it relates to one's
attempts to ascribe causality for their own and others' behavior, beliefs,
and attitudes. At the more complex level of recent attempts to analyze
behavior in terms of attributions, psychologists have concluded that the
quest for causality is motivated by the need to control. The latent goal in
JAMES M. FRASHER is Associate Professor of Educational Administration and Supervision
and RAMONA S. FRASHER is Associate Professor of Curriculum and Instruction, Georgia
State University, Atlanta, Georgia.
154 Frasher & Frasher
this pursuit is to provide the basis on which one can most successfully
manage oneself and one's environment to achieve one's desires.
Given the consistency of the latent goal of the attribution process with
the manifest goal of educational administration, i.e., control, one would
predict wide-spread application of attribution theory in education
administration. However, a few years ago, in preparing a paper in which
the application of attribution theory was to be made to educational
administration, we found no references to this theory in the education
administration literature. Earlier this year a survey of ten of the most widely
used general textbooks in educational administration programs also
yielded no reference to attribution theory. Because we feel that the theory
indeed has utility for this field, we have attempted to structure a theory of
administrative attribution and have sought to provide some insight into the
potential contribution we believe it can make to the study of educational
administration.
Therefore, it is the purpose of this paper to stimulate interest in the
validation and testing of attribution theory among theoreticians and
researchers in the field of educational administration. Toward this end we
propose to present 1) a brief description of the theory, 2) the empirical
base on which the theory currently rests, and 3) examples of potential
research questions.
HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
Both laypersons and philosophers have been preoccupied with the
question of assigning cause throughout recorded history. And since its
establishment as a formal discipline focusing on the study of human
behavior, the field of psychology has intensified the attempt to understand
the human attribution of cause to fate, to spiritual entities, to the
environment, or to personal characteristics. An analysis of the relationship
between causal attribution and an individual's perception of another's
behavior, however, can be traced to the work of a twentieth century social
psychologist. Fritz Heider's paper, "Social Perception and Phenomenal
Causality", published in 1944, is considered the seminal contribution to
the formulation of the theory of attribution.3 It has given rise to a steadily
growing body of research that has yielded a sizeable empirical basis of
information and has led to numerous refinements, restrictions, and
enlargements of the theory.
The majority of attribution research has been conducted by social
psychologists employing the experimental model, laboratory settings, and
college student samples. Obvious concerns about external validity imply
considerable caution in applying the results to real world settings as well as
a great need for research in those settings and appropriate data-based
reformulations of the theory.
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