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.     

The communality-bonus effect for male transformational leaders – leadership style,gender, and promotability

Women have made considerable inroads into the workforce but remain underrepresented in leadership positions. Even though studies show that men and women hardly differ in their leadership behaviours, we argue that male and female leaders are evaluated differentially contingent on the gender-congruence of their leadership style. Drawing arguments from expectancy violation theory, we investigate evaluations of men and women who show transformational leadership (a style consisting of communal behaviours in line with stereotypes about women) and autocratic leadership (a style consisting of agentic behaviours in line with stereotypes about men). We employed a three-study research design combining two experimental studies and a two-wave field study with business leaders (overall N = 344). Overall transformational leadership resulted in higher evaluations of promotability due to higher perceptions of leaders’ communality and leadership effectiveness. Importantly, these effects were stronger for men, and men showing transformational leadership were evaluated to be more promotable than women. This implies a communality-bonus effect for male transformational leaders. There was no difference in promotability evaluations for women versus men showing autocratic leadership. This effect was mediated by agency and effectiveness perceptions for women but not for men. Implications are discussed.     

Enjoyment of Sexualization and Feminism: Relationships with Sexual Self-Schema and Psychosexual Health

Feminists have debated whether enjoyment of sexualization (ES)—when women find sexualized attention from men rewarding—represents empowerment or patriarchal oppression. The purpose of this study was to investigate the psychosexual correlates of ES—sexual self-schema (SSS) and psychosexual health—among heterosexual college women (n?=?754) and men (n?=?389). Among women, ES was associated with a SSS in which women saw themselves as more heterosexual, more attractive, more open to unconventional sex acts, and having greater sentimentality about romantic relationships. Regarding psychosexual health, ES was not linked with general self-esteem but was associated with higher sexual esteem and lower sexual depression. Among men, ES was not related to SSS or psychosexual health. Overall, among women, ES was linked with positive outcomes, and it may represent women conforming to societal norms and using sexualized attention in order to obtain romantic intimacy. Rather than internalized misogyny, ES may represent an open approach to sexuality in which women take advantage of their sexualized position in society for their own empowerment.     

Self-Monitoring and Performance in Nontraditional Occupations

Previous studies have found that self-monitoring can enhance the job performance of women in traditional male occupations (computer sales, management). The present study tested for this same enhancement effect among men in the traditional female job of staff nurse. Correlations between nurses' scores on the revised Self-Monitoring Test and hospital performance evaluations indicated that the self-monitoring factor of Sensitivity to Expressive Behavior of Others was highly correlated with male nurses' job success but was uncorrelated with female staff nurses' job success. This same self-monitoring factor was also correlated with the job success of female nursing administrators, a job that is "nontraditional" for women in the sense that masculine occupation expectations are generally associated with leadership and management behaviors. It was concluded that self-monitoring ability can facilitate adaptation to nontraditional occupations for both men and women probably because the social skills associated with high self-monitoring can enhance perceptions of occupation legitimacy.     

Relations of Parenting Styles and Friendship Quality to Self-Esteem,Life Satisfaction and Happiness in Adolescents

This study aims to examine the effects of mother’s and father’s perceived parenting style and friendship quality on several indicators of adolescents’ well-being. High school students (n?=?401) completed scales assessing their perception of their mother’s and father’s parenting style (authoritarian, authoritative and permissive), quality of friendship, self-esteem, general satisfaction with life and subjective happiness. The results showed that the perceived parenting style of both parents as well as the quality of friendship had significant effects on adolescent’s well-being, while the interaction effects of friendship quality and either parent’s parenting style were not significant. Adolescents of authoritative and permissive mothers reported higher self-esteem and life satisfaction than adolescents who had authoritarian mothers. Also, adolescents who considered their mothers authoritative were happier than those with authoritarian mothers. Adolescents who perceived their fathers as authoritative or permissive showed higher results on all assessed indicators of well-being than adolescents whose fathers were authoritarian. Furthermore, adolescents with a higher quality of friendship reported more happiness, life-satisfaction and self-esteem. The obtained results highlight the importance of the role of parents and peers in fostering positive development in adolescence.     

Gender and Age Differences in Brazilian Children's Friendship Nominations and Peer Sociometric Ratings

This article reports on an investigation into the relation between young adults' retrospective reports of their mothers' and fathers' division of household labor (egalitarian or traditional) and parenting styles (authoritative, permissive, authoritarian, or disengaged). Participants' own gender attitudes were also tested in relation to parents' division of labor and parenting. The sample included 294 women and men (M =19-years old) who were raised in 2-parent households and came from a range of ethnic backgrounds. When mothers' parenting was evaluated, permissive parenting was more likely among those from egalitarian households whereas authoritarian parenting was more likely among those from traditional households. When fathers' parenting was evaluated, authoritative parenting was more likely among participants from egalitarian households and disengaged parenting was more likely among those from traditional households. The association between fathers' parenting style and division of labor was specific to the division of childcare (rather than housework). Participants' gender attitudes were not related to parents' division of labor or parenting style.     

Parenting Style and Children’s Life Satisfaction and Depressive Symptoms: Preliminary Findings from Romania,France, and Russia

This study evaluated how culture relates to parenting and children’s life satisfaction and depressive symptoms, and whether there are cultural differences in how maternal parenting style relates to children’s adjustment among three cultural contexts: Romanian, Russian, and French. The sample included 325 children, aged 9–11 years, from Romania (n = 123), Russia (n = 112), and France (n = 90). Children completed questionnaires regarding their perceptions of maternal parenting style, and their life satisfaction and depressive symptoms. French children reported lower levels of authoritative parenting style and higher levels of authoritarian parenting style compared to their Romanian and Russian peers. Further, French children reported higher levels of depressive symptoms than both their Romanian and Russian peers, while Russian children had higher life satisfaction than their Romanian and French peers. The strengths of the associations between parenting style and both children’s life satisfaction and depressive symptoms, however, did not differ based on children’s cultural context. Our findings suggest the importance of cultural context in relation to parenting styles and children’s life satisfaction and depressive symptoms. Further, our study shows that the relations between parenting and children’s adjustment are similar across the cultural contexts included in this study.     

Gender roles in the experimental community: Rajneeshpuram

This study examined gender roles at the now disbanded commune of Rajneeshpuram in Eastern Oregon. The study was a multimethod, social-psychological research project. It was expected that community members would describe themselves as androgynous. Both men and women scored high on the Feminine scale of the Personal Attributes Questionnaire, and they rated their ideal partners as androgynous. The interviews indicated that women and men did not think of themselves as feminine or androgynous, but rather as “soft.” This concept of softness is not as affect laden as that of femininity, and hence was likely to attenuate the resistance to men becoming more feminine. It was further hypothesized that occupations would have an equal number of women and men. Strict equality was not found, but many occupations manifested more of a gender balance than is seen outside of the commune. In sharp contrast to other findings, femininity was highly correlated with self-esteem.     

Androgyny,depression, and self-esteem in irish homosexual and heterosexual males and females

An examination was made of the following research questions: (a) Do Irish homosexuals and heterosexuals differ in the frequency of their classification in sex-role categories? (b) Is sexual orientation related to psychological adjustment? (c) Is androgyny related to psychological adjustment? Subjects were 112 Irish men and women who were administered Bem's Sex-Role Inventory, Rosenberg's Self-Esteem Scale, Zung's Self-Rating Depression Scale, and a questionnaire. Results indicated that Irish homosexuals were classified more frequently than Irish heterosexuals as androgynous. Homosexuals did not differ from heterosexuals in self-esteem or depression scores. Among these Irish subjects, psychological sex-role category is a more powerful influence on psychological health than actual sexual orientation. It is not whether you are homosexual or heterosexual that affects your psychological health, but how you perceive your own psychological masculinity and femininity.     

Coping with work and family: How do dual‐earners interact?

Juggling the demands of both work and family has become increasingly difficult, especially for dual‐earner households; nevertheless, families have developed strategies to deal with work‐family challenges. This paper uses couple level analyses (APIM models) with 100 dual‐earner couples to provide insight about partners' mutual influence on the use of work‐family coping strategies. The results show that women's use of coping strategies is more associated with work‐family conflict and work‐family enrichment than men's coping. In addition, using partner coping, having a positive attitude towards multiple roles, using planning and management skills and avoiding having to cut back on professional responsibilities is associated with better outcomes (more enrichment and less conflict). Surprisingly, the use of childcare facilities is associated with women's conflict and partner effects were only found concerning the use of management and planning skills. These skills, however, have distinct effects for men and women's outcomes: their use by men reduces their own conflict but increases their wives', while their use by women decreases their own conflict and increases their own and their partner's enrichment. These results point to the fact that gender roles continue to be a hallmark of work‐family issues. Our design and results point out the need for new interventions that take couple interdependences into account.     

Ambivalent Sexism and the Sexual Double Standard

The sexual double standard is the notion that women are evaluated negatively and men positively for engaging in similar sexual behaviors. Because traditional, gender-based stereotypes are reflected in the attitudes that people hold towards men and women, it is likely that sexism plays a part in the manifestation of the double standard. The goal of the present study is to investigate the relationship between sexism (prejudice against individuals based on their gender) and the sexual double standard. There are two types of sexism: hostile (negative prejudice) and benevolent (positive prejudice). We hypothesized that participants displaying high levels of either type of sexism would be most likely to exhibit the sexual double standard. A US-sample of 232 undergraduates from a Southwestern university completed the Ambivalent Sexism Inventory (ASI) and the Ambivalence Towards Men Inventory (AMI) and then evaluated a hypothetical target individual who reported having zero, one or 12 sexual partners. Results show that participants’ sexist attitudes towards men and women were related to their exhibition of the sexual double standard. Specifically, men and women’s hostile attitudes towards targets of their own gender were related to negative evaluations of highly sexually active targets of the same gender, while men and women’s benevolent attitudes towards the opposite gender were related to positive evaluation of highly sexually active targets of the opposite gender. Implications of the present results and directions for future research are discussed.     

Confidence and aspirations: Self-esteem and self-concepts as predictors of students' life goals

Research was conducted to assess sex differences in college students' self-esteem and self-concepts, and the extent to which students' self-perceptions predict their life goals Questionnaires that included the Rosenberg Scale, Texas Social Behavior Inventory, self-concepts, life goals, and demographic and family backgrounds were completed by 804 women from seven colleges and 127 men from two colleges Men and women did not differ significantly in their self-esteem and interpersonal self-confidence, but the men rated themselves higher on math/science ability, leadership/public speaking ability, and coping/self-sufficiency Women's global self-esteem scores and interpersonal self-confidence did not predict their life goals, but women's greater self-confidence in masculine spheres predicted higher educational goals and their ranking of future careers as a more important priority in their lives Men's interpersonal self-confidence predicted their ranking time for future spouses as a high priority and time for themselves as a lower priority Men's global self-esteem and leadership/public speaking ability self-concept predicted preferences for full-time career involvement when their future children are very young Different demographic variables also predicted men's and women's goals Implications of these sex differences and predictive relationships are discussed     

Influence of children's emotional states on the recognition of emotion in peers and social motives to change another's emotional state

This experiment addressed the question of whether children's own emotional states influence their accuracy in recognizing emotional states in peers and any motives they may have to intervene in order to change their peers' emotional states. Happiness, sadness, anger, or a neutral state were induced in preschool children, who then viewed slides of other 4-year-old children who were actually experiencing each of those states. Children's own emotional states influenced only their perception of sadness in peers. Sad emotional states promoted systematic inaccuracies in the perception of sadness, causing children to mislabel sadness in peers as anger. Children had high base rates for using the label “happy,” and this significantly enhanced their accuracy in recognizing that state. Low base rates for labeling others as in a neutral state reduced accuracy in recognizing neutrality. Children were generally motivated to change sad, angry, and neutral states in peers, and they were most motivated to change a peer's state if they were to be the agent of such change. The results are discussed in terms of the limited role of children's own emotional states in their recognition of emotion in others or motives to intervene and in terms of factors influencing the perception of emotion, such as base rate preferences for labeling others as experiencing, or not experiencing, particular emotional states.     

Perceptions of unconditional and conditional worth among college students

Self-esteem scales tend to represent conditional perceptions of self-esteem. The Worth Index has been previously validated as an effective measure for identifying both conditional and unconditional perceptions of worth. We administered the Worth Index to 1,161 college-aged students at Brigham Young University to assess their current perceptions of unconditional and conditional worth. Both men and women agreed more strongly with items involving unconditional worth than conditional worth. A negative correlation was found between ratings of unconditional and conditional worth. Women had lower unconditional worth scores than men, which was related to being more likely to wish they were someone else, desire to have a better body, and to being concerned about weight. Agreement with two overview measures of self-esteem involving a "good" sense of self and stability of self-esteem was positively associated with agreement on statements about unconditional worth. This research shows the importance of incorporating unconditional worth into self-esteem measures.     

Comparison of vibrotactile threshold and suprathreshold responses in men and women

Vibrotactile tb:resholds were measured on the thenar eminence of 12 men and 12 women at 10 sinusoidal frequencies. No significant differences between the two groups were observed. Magnitude estimation and production procedures carried out with 6 men and 6 women from the same groups showed that women perceive suprathreshold vibration stimuli as more intense than do men, although women and men do not differ in their estimation of the length of lines.     

Self-esteem among college students from four Arab countries

This study had three objectives: (a) to compare undergraduates from four Arab countries on self-esteem, (b) to explore the sex-related differences in self-esteem in these four Arab countries, and (c) to examine the association of self-esteem with both per-capita income and unemployment rate. Four samples of 2,643 students were recruited from Egypt (n = 576), Kuwait (n = 674), Lebanon (n = 826), and Oman (n = 567). They responded to the Arabic version of the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. Kuwaiti and Omani men had a significantly higher mean score on self-esteem than did Egyptian and Lebanese men. Egyptian women scored significantly lower than the Omani women, but the effect size was small. Regarding the sex-related differences in self-esteem, Kuwaiti men had a significantly higher mean score than did their female peers, but the effect size was small, whereas there were no significant sex differences in the other samples. The sex-related difference in self-esteem is a controversial result and it may not be replicable in different countries. It was suggested that self-esteem is associated with high per-capita income and low unemployment rate.     

Social Interactions of Obese and Nonobese Women

The stigma associated with obesity is likely to limit the opportunities obese women have to develop social skills. This hypothesis was tested by having obese (n = 15) and nonobese (n = 22) women converse on the telephone with college students who were unaware of the women's weights. Ratings made by judges who listened to the women's contributions to the conversations but who were unaware of their weights showed that obesity was negatively related to judgments about the women's likability, social skills, and physical attractiveness. The telephone partners of obese women rated the women and themselves more negatively than did the partners of nonobese women. Obese and nonobese women generally did not differ in their evaluations of their own and their telephone partners' behavior, and they also did not differ on a measure of social self-esteem. These findings suggest that there are real differences in the social behavior of obese and nonobese women and that these differences affect the impressions formed by those with whom they interact.     

Factors Associated with Transposition Behavior of Preschool Children

To assess ideas, derived from a contextual paradigm, stressing the influence of adolescents' perceptions of the physical and social components of their school environment on their self-esteems and academic performances, 183 black early adolescents (mean age = 12.1 years, SD = .5 years; 54.6% female) were administered five semantic differential scales. The first provided a measure of self-esteem, while the remaining four provided measures of perceptions of the social environment of the school (i.e., of peers and of teachers) and of the physical environment of the school (i.e., of the classroom and of the school building). There were few systematic sex differences in responses to the scales. As predicted, school environment perceptions were significantly related to self-esteem in both males and females. However, although self-esteem and a report of grade point average, as a measure of academic performance, were significantly related, there was no relation between school environmental perceptions and reported grade point average.     

Coping with threats to self-esteem: the differing patterns of subjects with high versus low trait self-esteem in first-person accounts

Based on retrospective self-reports, strategies of coping with threats to self-esteem in close relationships were investigated in a sample of 412 adults in south-west Germany. Results indicate that self-esteem was negatively associated with experiencing failure or criticism as a threat to self-esteem. There was a positive association between participants' self-esteem and their self-reported tendency to approach the problem optimistically and act in a rational manner. Self-esteem was negatively associated with feeling dependent on the partner and with treating the partner in a hostile way. As far as women were concerned, self-esteem was also positively related to coping effectiveness. In the case of men the results were less clear. It is suggested that the self-defeating coping style associated with low self-esteem may be self-perpetuating. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.