This paper reports on a study that investigated the role, attitudes, and behaviors of department chairs in higher education. Specifically, the study investigated four objectives: (1) to examine role factors of effective chair performance; (2) to assess the impact of antecedent variables such as individual characteristics (gender, marital status, ethnicity, motivation to serve, career orientation), organizational characteristics (size of department, clerical assistance, ratio of tenured to untenured faculty), and positional characteristics (number of years of service, discipline, current academic rank, rank when hired) on role factors of effective chair performance; (3) to explore the association of department chair performance role factors with the behavioral outcomes of academic productivity, job satisfaction, role ambiguity, role conflict, and occupational stress; and (4) to identify, or begin to develop, a department chair profile associated with each specific performance role. A total of 539 department chairs were surveyed. Factor analysis suggested the roles of Leader, Scholar, Faculty Developer, and Manager. Findings revealed a complex combination and interaction of skills in the various components of the chair job. Findings also revealed that a number of effective leader chairs are often effective manager chairs as well. The paper concludes that the study provides a usable taxonomy of chair roles and some characteristics of those individuals who perceive themselves to be effective in those roles. Contains 23 references. (GLR)