IME this is much more prevalent in organizations that hire "nontechnical managers". I personally will never work in such companies again, the experience of having your boss have literally no clue what it is you do for a job is not one I'll sign up for again.
IME the differentiator is not a technical background; it's whether they care more about ladder climbing/appeasing their own managers or doing something useful.
I regularly ask the question "how do know I'm doing good" in exactly those words. You'd be surprised at how easy it is to identify their management style from the answer to that question.
I think the problem is a bit harder than that. I've seen a lot of managers who were once technical, but whose last hands-on experience was years, or decades ago. They have a vague idea of what they need to know/do but lack the skills to find things out themselves. and they turn into a major drag on productivity.
