The Effect of Transformational and Transactional Leadership Perceptions on Feedback-Seeking Intentions

This paper explores the relationship between leadership style as operationalized by trans-formational/transactional leadership (Bass, 1985) and feedback-seeking behavior. Participants ( n = 132) were presented with a vignette describing either a transformational or a transactional leader. Leadership style (transformational leader) was significantly related to higher feedback-seeking intentions. Further, controlling for manipulated leadership style, participants' perceptions of leader consideration behaviors resulted in higher feedback-seeking intentions. These findings suggest that not only does exposure to a certain leader affect feedback-seeking behavior, but also perceptions of certain characteristics of a leader's behavior are important. These findings explain one potential mechanism through which transformational leaders might affect the development of their subordinates and raises interesting implications for leadership coaching.     

Bases of power in relation to leader behavior: A field investigation

Hypotheses addressing the relationships between bases of power and transformational and transactional leadership, and propositions concerning the extent to which perceptions of leader power and behavior were shared by a leader's followers, were addressed in this study. Two hundred eighty employees reporting to 118 supervisors in 45 organizations provided data for the investigation. Results provided support for hypothesized relationships between personal power and transformational leadership as well as between positional power and transactional leadership. In addition, ratings of both leader power and leader behavior were found to be individually-based phenomena; that is, followers of a focal leader did not share perceptions about that leader's power or behavior. Implications for managerial practice and future research are discussed.We thank Bruce Avolio, Bernard Bass, and Gary Yukl for their helpful comments.     

Male or Female Athletic Director? Exploring Perceptions of Leader Effectiveness and a (Potential) Female Leadership Advantage with Intercollegiate Athletic Directors

We investigated whether transformational leadership was associated with more positive perceptions of outcomes among intercollegiate athletic directors in the U.S. Also, we examined whether leader gender influenced perceptions of participants, and if there was an interaction between leadership style and leader gender in predicting organizational outcomes. Division I and II male participants (n?=?99) evaluated either a male or female transactional or transformational leader on extra effort, satisfaction, and effectiveness. MANOVA and post hoc analyses were used in our evaluation. Findings indicated transformational leadership was related to more positive organizational outcomes, that there was no difference between male and female leaders on attaining these outcomes, and that there was no interaction between leadership style and leader gender.     

领导行为对员工创造力的影响:基于变量中心和个体中心的视角*

以10家IT企业的305名员工为被试,采用变量中心和个体中心的分析策略,考察领导行为对员工创造力的影响。变量中心的分析发现,变革领导行为和交易领导行为均显著正向预测员工创造力。个体中心的分析发现,中变革/中交易与(中、低)被动结合的领导类型最为普遍,占全部领导的69.2%;无论被动放任行为高低,高变革与高交易行为组合领导下的员工创造力最高,说明高变革和高交易领导行为的结合最有利于员工创造力,领导类型对员工创造力的影响主要由使用变革和交易这两种领导行为的程度所决定。     

Five-factor model of personality and transformational leadership

This study linked traits from the 5-factor model of personality (the Big 5) to transformational leadership behavior. Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness to Experience, and Agreeableness were hypothesized to predict transformational leadership. Results based on 14 samples of leaders from over 200 organizations revealed that Extraversion and Agreeableness positively predicted transformational leadership; Openness to Experience was positively correlated with transformational leadership, but its effect disappeared once the influence of the other traits was controlled. Neuroticism and Conscientiousness were unrelated to transformational leadership. Results further indicated that specific facets of the Big 5 traits predicted transformational leadership less well than the general constructs. Finally, transformational leadership behavior predicted a number of outcomes reflecting leader effectiveness, controlling for the effect of transactional leadership.     

Transformational and Transactional Leadership and Followers’ Achievement Goals

Purpose

Achievement goals, or the standards of competence employees pursue in their work, have far-reaching consequences for employee and organizational functioning. In the current research, we investigated whether employees’ achievement goals can be predicted from their supervisor’s leadership style.

Design/Methodology/Approach

A multilevel study was conducted in which followers of 120 organizational leaders completed measures of their leader’s transformational leadership (focusing on individual needs and abilities, on intellectual development, and on a common team mission), transactional leadership (focusing on monitoring and achievement-related rewards), and their own mastery goals (aimed at learning, developing, and mastering job-relevant skills), and performance goals (aimed at doing better than others).

Findings

Group-level transformational leadership predicted followers’ mastery goals, whereas group-level transactional leadership predicted followers’ performance goals. Within-group differences in transformational leadership also predicted mastery goals.

Implications

These findings suggest that leadership style plays an important role in the achievement goals followers adopt. Organizations may promote transactional leadership in contexts requiring that employees outperform others. In contrast, in contexts requiring learning and development, organizations may promote transformational leadership.

Originality/Value

This research is the first to examine the relationships between leadership styles and specific follower goals, and the first to highlight the role of leadership as a social variable involved in employees’ adoption of achievement goals.     

LEADERSHIP AND SEX-SIMILARITY: A COMPARISON IN A MILITARY SETTING

In a study of the possible impact of leader and follower sex-similarity on leadership criteria, survey responses of 1,974 military cadets in 167 squads were analyzed at the completion of a month-long field training exercise. Analyses (which included a series of hierarchical linear models that explicitly accounted for the nested character of squad membership relative to a leader) yielded results that indicated that same-sex leader–subordinate pairings had more positive working relationships than different-sex pairings. However, leader ratings of subordinate performance did not yield clear evidence of such an effect. In addition, increases in the proportion of female members in a squad were not associated with differences in squad-level cohesion, while being associated with decreases in squad-level leader–member exchange (LMX). Subordinate reports of participation in decision making, although correlated positively with LMX, were not significantly different as a function of leader–subordinate sex-similarity. Implications are derived for managing demographic diversity in order to enhance within-unit functioning.     

Fairness Perceptions and Trust as Mediators on the Relationship Between Leadership Style,Unit Commitment,and Turnover Intentions of Canadian Forces Personnel

Whether fairness perceptions and leader trust mediate the relationship between leadership style and commitment and turnover was evaluated among Canadian Forces personnel (N = 1,443). Correlational analyses and structural equation modeling results provided support for the proposed meditational model. However, the influence of transactional leadership on commitment and turnover was due to its direct influence on fairness perceptions, whereas the influence of transformational leadership on these outcomes was based on its direct and indirect influence on both fairness perceptions and leader trust. It thus appears that both types of leadership style influence commitment and turnover, but the mechanism through which their effects occur may be distinct. The implications of these findings for theory, research, and practice are discussed.     

TRAIT AND BEHAVIORAL THEORIES OF LEADERSHIP: AN INTEGRATION AND META‐ANALYTIC TEST OF THEIR RELATIVE VALIDITY

The leadership literature suffers from a lack of theoretical integration ( Avolio, 2007 , American Psychologist, 62, 25–33). This article addresses that lack of integration by developing an integrative trait‐behavioral model of leadership effectiveness and then examining the relative validity of leader traits (gender, intelligence, personality) and behaviors (transformational‐transactional, initiating structure‐consideration) across 4 leadership effectiveness criteria (leader effectiveness, group performance, follower job satisfaction, satisfaction with leader). Combined, leader traits and behaviors explain a minimum of 31% of the variance in leadership effectiveness criteria. Leader behaviors tend to explain more variance in leadership effectiveness than leader traits, but results indicate that an integrative model where leader behaviors mediate the relationship between leader traits and effectiveness is warranted.     

变革型领导与交易型领导的权变分析

变革型领导与交易型领导是当前领导研究的热点。一般认为,变革型领导是比交易型领导更为有效的领导方式。然而从权变的观点出发,变革型领导与交易型领导的有效性还要受到情境因素、被领导者因素的影响。该文分析了替代领导、领导与下属的关系以及组织文化对变革型领导和交易型领导与领导效能关系的调节作用,并讨论了今后的领导行为研究中应该注意的问题。     

The utility of transactional and transformational leadership for predicting performance and satisfaction within a path‐goal theory framework

In a test of hypotheses derived from the integration of principles of path‐goal theory ( House, 1996 ) and transformational leadership theory ( Bass, 1985 ), data collected from 179 high school teachers and their principals were examined with hierarchical regression analysis. Augmentation analysis indicated that transactional leadership had a stronger role in explaining unique criterion variance beyond the contribution of transformational leadership, than did transformational leadership relative to transactional leadership. In addition, both the transactional and transformational leadership had a negative interactive relationship for predicting the outcome of performance, such that leader vision and leader intellectual stimulation were more positively correlated with employee performance when leader use of contingent reward was low. These augmentation effects, in conjunction with the findings of negative moderation, suggest that transactional leadership may have greater potential predictive value than previously assumed.     

Predicting Transformational Leadership in Naval Cadets: Effects of Personality Hardiness and Training

The present study investigated whether personality hardiness predicts peer ratings of leadership style in Navy officer cadets. Cadets ( n  = 71) completed the Dispositional Resiliency (hardiness) Scale, and later rated their peers using the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (full range of leadership model). Results show the hardy–commitment facet predicted peer ratings of all leadership styles covered in the model, both before and after and intensive military exercise. The challenge facet was a positive predictor of transformational and transactional leadership and was negatively related to passive-avoidant leadership. Transformational leadership predicted leader performance, as indexed by military development grades; and a partial mediation effect was found for hardiness on the relation between transformational leadership and leader performance.     

The effects of transformational leadership behaviours on follower outcomes: An identity-based analysis

The aim of this study was to explore two of the mechanisms by which transformational leaders have a positive influence on followers. It examined the mediating role of follower's leader and group identification on the associations among different transformational leader behaviours and follower job satisfaction and supervisor-rated job performance. One hundred and seventy-nine healthcare employees and 44 supervisors participated in the study. The results from multilevel structural equation modelling provided results that partially supported the predicted model. Identification with the leader significantly mediated the positive associations between supportive leadership, intellectual stimulation, personal recognition, in the prediction of job satisfaction and job performance. Leader identification also mediated the relationship between supportive leadership, intellectual stimulation, personal recognition, and group identification. However, group identification did not mediate the associations between vision leadership and inspirational communication, in the prediction of job satisfaction and job performance. The results highlight the role of individualized forms of leadership and leader identification in enhancing follower outcomes.     

The role of within‐group agreement in understanding transformational leadership

Theories of transformational leadership imply that effective leaders should engage in a constellation of appropriate behaviours. Further, since an important component of transformational leadership is the leader's ability to create a consensus or a similar mindset among subordinates, attributions that the leader is transformational are likely to depend on both the leader's behaviours and the extent to which subordinates perceive the leader similarly. In the present study, these notions were tested using a multi‐source data set comprising 68 focal managers, 285 subordinates, 495 peers, and 68 supervisors. Results indicated that leaders who engage in higher levels of appropriate leader behaviours are more likely to have followers who agree in their perceptions of the leader. In addition, significant interactions were found between leader behaviours and agreement among subordinates, suggesting that agreement moderates the relationship between leader behaviours and attributions of transformational leadership style.     

Signaling trustworthiness: The effect of leader humor on feedback-seeking behavior

ABSTRACT

Given its capacity to cultivate a range of positive outcomes in the workplace, humor has been recognized as a valuable tool for leadership purposes. However, the theoretical understanding of leader humor remains relatively limited and the mechanism through which it influences follower outcomes has not been clearly identified. Drawing on signaling theory, we developed and empirically tested a model which delineates the relationship between leader humor and a specific follower behavior – proactive feedback seeking. We collected data from 304 employees and their respective leaders working in a large Canadian retail organization. Results of our analyses indicate that leader humor can impact subordinate feedback-seeking behavior via its influence on subordinates’ affect-based and cognition-based trust in the leader.     

Leader-Member Exchange and Transformational Leadership: An Empirical Examination of Innovative Behaviors in Leader-Member Dyads

This paper evoked leader-member exchange (LMX) and transformational leadership theories to explain innovative behavior in leader-member dyads. Data from 225 leader-member dyads in a Fortune 500 manufacturing plant found exchange quality to be positively related to follower autonomy, leader support of followers, and follower commitment to the organization. Further, followers who were supported by their leaders and who were committed to the organization were more likely to be innovative. Also, exchange quality was directly related to innovative behaviors. Contrary to expectations, transformational leadership was negatively related to innovative behaviors of followers.     

Who Wants to Follow the Leader? Using Personality and Work Value Profiles to Predict Preferences for Charismatic,Ideological, and Pragmatic Styles of Leading

Despite the contributions of charismatic and transformational theories, their universal applicability has recently been called into question. Dovetailing this debate is a growing interest in followers. We contribute to these discussions by examining the impact of follower individual difference profiles on preferences for charismatic, ideological, and pragmatic styles of leading. Drawing on Weber’s (1924) taxonomy of managerial authority in its reconceptualized form as the charismatic-ideological-pragmatic (CIP) model, we conducted a vignette study in which 415 working adults first completed an online survey assessing their personality and work values. Eight weeks later, a second survey asked them to read a fictional scenario about an organization and three speeches depicting each leader’s style. Participants then indicated their leader preference, which we sought to predict using their personality and work values profiles. Results of discriminant function analyses indicated certain linear combinations of personality and work values variables discriminated between participants’ leader preferences.     

Leadership and the contagion of affective phenomena: A systematic review and mini meta-analysis

We present a systematic review of literature examining leadership and the contagion of affective phenomena, namely emotion, mood, and affect. Specifically, an inductive thematic analysis approach was adopted to synthesize the findings from published studies. In addition, a mini meta-analysis was conducted to quantify reported effects. A rigorous search identified 25 studies that fulfilled the inclusion criteria for further review. Results highlighted important relationships between leadership and contagion aligned with six themes: Charismatic and transformational leadership are conducive to contagion of leader and follower positive affective phenomena; greater contagion effects exists when there is congruence between leader and follower affective states; contagion of leader and follower affective phenomena is directly linked to leader effectiveness and performance; and, individual susceptibility to the contagion of affective phenomena can moderate these relationships. These findings have salient implications for conceptualization and measurement across multiple lines of inquiry and within numerous domains of application.     

Moderators of the Relationship Between Leadership Style and Employee Creativity: The Role of Task Novelty and Personal Initiative

Transformational leadership is supposed to enhance employees' creativity. However, results of meta-analytic research on the relationships between transformational leadership and creativity fell short of expectations. In addition, the coefficients showed a huge variability. In this study, it was argued that relevant task and employee characteristics have been neglected in previous research. The benefit of transformational leadership may be limited in a context with routine tasks. Therefore, the moderating effects of task novelty and personal initiative on the relationship between transformational and transactional leadership and creativity were examined. In an experimental setting, 241 undergraduate students were instructed to act like a trainee of a management consulting company and to generate ideas. The results largely supported the hypotheses. Transformational leadership led to higher creativity than transactional leadership, and high task novelty produced higher creativity than low task novelty. As predicted, the effect of transformational leadership on creativity was stronger when task novelty was high than when task novelty was low. Moreover, the effect of transformational leadership was higher when persons were high in personal initiative than when they were low in personal initiative, indicating that the influence of transformational leadership depends on task and follower characteristics. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.     

Motivated or Demotivated to Be Creative: The Role of Self‐Regulatory Focus in Transformational and Transactional Leadership Processes

Numerous studies have recognised the importance of transformational leadership style for encouraging employees’ creativity. Self‐regulation studies have highlighted the influence of a promotion focus on employees’ creative behaviours. Yet both leadership and self‐regulation theories have paid less attention to the role transactional leadership style and situational prevention regulatory focus may play in affecting employees’ creativity. In this article we present a theoretical model which examines transformational and transactional leadership styles and both promotion and prevention situational self‐regulatory focus (SRF). The model suggests that while transformational leadership promotes creativity, at least partially by enhancing follower's situational promotion SRF, transactional leadership style (transactional active) is aligned with followers’ prevention situational SRF, which is associated with leaders’ hindering of followers’ creativity. Findings from two studies, an experimental study (N = 189) and a field study (N = 343 employees and 75 managers), support this model, showing that the relationship between different types of leadership and creativity are more complex than previously regarded. The theoretical and practical implications are discussed.