Leadership scholars have increasingly been interested in exploring multi- and cross-level relationships in their research. However, multivariate and moderator variable approaches for examining these relationships are apparently not well-developed and well-understood. Building upon the within- and between-entities analysis (“WABA”) framework of Dansereau, Alutto, and Yammarino (1984), this article first develops and then illustrates how multivariate and moderator analyses may be conducted using the WABA approach. A further extension of WABA, suggested by George and James (1993) and incorporating an analysis for between-entities moderation of within-entities effects, is also proposed and illustrated—allowing researchers to better assess whether obtained within-entity (“parts”) parameter estimates hold across all entities (i.e., indicative of only nonrelative relationships) or not. Finally, three recently raised concerns about WABA, and directions for future research, are considered briefly.
Chester A. Schriesheim (Sun,) studied this question.