EV-0022
The experiment that separates vision from the way it is delivered
Kirkpatrick, S. A., & Locke, E. A. (1996). Journal of Applied Psychology, 81(1), 36–51 · Source
What this entitles us to say
A controlled experiment that manipulated vision, vision implementation and charismatic communication style independently, finding that implementation drove performance, vision alone mainly moved attitudes, and charismatic delivery affected only whether the leader was perceived as charismatic.
What it found
Three components were drawn from seven charismatic and transformational leadership theories and manipulated in a fully crossed design, with two trained actors playing the leader and 282 upper-level business students performing a simulated production task:
- Vision (of high quality) — weakly affected performance quality, but significantly affected many attitudes. - Vision implementation (task cues — translating the vision into what to do) — affected performance quality and quantity. - Charismatic communication style — affected only the perception of charisma.
An exploratory path analysis found a two-part sequence: vision and vision implementation each affected self-set goals and self-efficacy, which in turn affected performance.
Why it matters here
This is the entry that survives the critique in EV-0021, because it manipulates rather than measures. And what it finds is the practical spine of the Vision module.
Casting the vision is not the job. Translating it is. Vision on its own largely moved how people felt; what moved output was the unglamorous work of turning it into task-level direction. And the charismatic delivery — the part most leadership training sells — changed nothing except how charismatic the leader appeared.
That last finding is worth stating plainly to an executive audience, because it is the opposite of what they have been sold before: style bought the impression, not the result.
The mediation matters too. Vision worked through self-set goals and self-efficacy, which hands the module its bridge into Commitment and Discipline and connects directly to EV-0023.
The limits
A laboratory simulation with 282 business students on a simulated production task — high control, low realism, and student participants performing a short task are not employees in a career. Effects on a simulated task may not scale to organizational outcomes over years. The path analysis was exploratory, and the authors present it as such. Verified to abstract level.
What we do not say
that this proves the same holds in a real company over a year. It is a laboratory task with students, and the realism trade is the price of the control that makes it valuable.