Abstract:

Nowadays, the volumes of information are so large that there is no person there who would know everything and be conversant in anything, and this is where experts — epistemic authorities become essential source of information. The epistemic authority is most frequently studied in a learning environment, by evaluating the relationship between students and pupils and the teaching staff, or in a hospital environment, by studying the patient-perceived epistemic authority of their attending doctors. The authors believe that it is essential to study the relationship between supervisors and their subordinates in the context of epistemic authority in organisations of other types as well. An epistemic authority is an expert in a knowledge area who provides information which an individual relies upon and is ready to accept. A manager is a mediator between the top management of the organisation and the other employees, and this is why it is important that the employee perceives their direct supervisor as a significant source of knowledge. The results of the research study help to find out how the employees evaluate the epistemic authority of their supervisors, what reasons (knowledge, proficiency etc.) make them rely upon their supervisors, and what job satisfaction factors the employees are more or less satisfied with. Frequently, the knowledge and competences of the supervisor are essential for the employees to perceive their supervisor as an authority and rely upon it. The aim of the research is to study the links between the epistemic authority of supervisors, reliance upon it and job satisfaction of the personnel in a Latvian joint-stock company. There are five research questions: Are supervisors epistemic authorities for their subordinates? What are the key reasons for reliance upon the supervisor? Is the knowledge of the supervisor a key reason for reliance? What factors of job satisfaction is the personnel most satisfied with? Are there statistically significant relations between the epistemic authority of the supervisors, reliance upon it and job satisfaction? The authors used three surveys for the collection of the data. The obtained results indicate that the employees acknowledge the epistemic authority of their supervisors. The reasons for reliance are evaluated on a high degree. The most significant of them are knowledge, proficiency and fairness. The responses to the questions regarding job satisfaction showed that the employees were more satisfied with such job satisfaction factors as management, knowledge and competences of the supervisor, job specifics and the colleagues, but less with such factors as the payment or career opportunities. The evaluation of the level of knowledge and reliance on knowledge components of epistemic authority is significantly influenced by the direct supervisor of the employees. At the end of the research study, the authors also developed some recommendations for the supervisors regarding the conduct of informative seminars. In order to strengthen the authority of the supervisors (managers), the Training Centre should organise leadership training for the supervisors to improve their leadership qualities.

Keywords:

Epistemic authority, reliance, knowledge, job satisfaction.