A focus on commitment: the roles of transformational and transactional leadership and self-regulatory focus in fostering organizational and safety commitment

The concept of employees’ commitment is one of the most challenging concepts in the management, organizational behaviour and human resource management literatures and research. The current study focuses on the construct of commitment as an emotional attitude, and expands the concept of general organizational commitment to a new more specific form of commitment, commitment to safety. Furthermore, commitment theorists commonly identify leadership as an important contributing factor to the development of organizational commitment. We aim to explain an underlying motivational mechanism, self-regulatory foci, through which leadership styles foster followers’ commitment. Results of three studies that used different methods (field and experimental), within different samples, demonstrated that transformational leadership was positively associated with followers’ promotion focus, which in turn was positively associated with both followers’ general and affective commitment to safety. Prevention focus mediated the positive relationship between a transactional active leadership style and both followers’ general and continuance commitment to safety. The implications of the findings for theory and practice are further discussed.     

Transformational and transactional leaderships,empowerment climate,and innovation performance: A multilevel analysis in the Chinese context

Innovation through creativity is an important factor in the success and competitive advantage of organizations. Theory and research suggest that both leadership and organizational climate have important consequences for individual creativity. However, researchers have rarely considered the interactive effects of leadership and organizational climate. This study taking a “Substitute for Leadership” perspective, develops and tests the idea that empowerment climate affect the relationship between leadership and followers' creative performance. Data were collected from 93 teams, including 465 team members and 93 team supervisors, in a large multinational company based in China. Hierarchical linear modelling was used to examine the hypothesized cross-level model. As expected, transformational leadership and team empowerment climate were positively related to subordinates' creative performance and transactional leadership was negatively related to subordinates' creative performance. In addition, the relationship between leadership and subordinates' creative performance was moderated by team empowerment climate. The study resulted in the implication of several major variables for explaining individual creativity in the Chinese context.     

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 effect of response style bias on the measurement of transformational,transactional, and laissez-faire leadership

Transformational, transactional, and laissez-faire leadership are considered to be three distinct leadership styles. In this research we argue that response style behaviour in the form of acquiescence and extreme response style can distort the measurement of these dimensions of leadership. Using a sample of 864 employees selected from 135 work teams, this research demonstrates that (1) response styles affect measurement; (2) divergent validity of the three dimensions increases when response styles are taken into account; (3) gender is spuriously related to leadership upon response styles; and (4) team ratings substantially change when controlling for response styles bias. As a secondary topic of this research, we elaborate on a relatively new approach in diagnosing response styles, i.e., a confirmatory latent-class factor analysis. We explain the advantages of this approach and illustrate the steps a researcher has to take in conducting this type of analysis.     

Innovation in top management teams: Minority dissent,transformational leadership,and radical innovations

Research among lower level teams suggests that minority dissent stimulates team innovation. We consider the role of CEO transformational leadership in the dissent–innovation relation and study this in Top Management Teams (TMTs). We propose that transformational leaders create a psychologically safe team climate, in which dissenting opinions are used effectively to create radical innovations. Members of 36 TMTs (N = 196) completed a questionnaire to assess minority dissent, transformational leadership, and participative safety. CEOs provided data about the innovations implemented by the team. Results showed that minority dissent was positively related to the number of innovations implemented by TMTs. However, only under high levels of transformational leadership were these innovations radical. It was further found that transformational leadership had this effect because it was positively associated with participative safety. These results indicate that minorities stimulate innovativeness and that through transformational leadership CEOs can create a climate in which minority input is transformed into radical innovations. Implications for TMT performance and team innovation are discussed.     

Fostering innovation in functionally diverse teams: The two faces of transformational leadership

Empirical research on the effects of functional diversity on team innovation has yielded largely inconsistent results, showing positive, negative, as well as nonsignificant effects. For capitalizing on the positive potential inherent in functionally diverse teams, opening the black box between cross-functionality and team innovation by analysing mediating and moderating processes thus seems to be highly relevant. In this article, task and relationship conflicts are introduced as mediators of functional diversity and team innovation. Within this framework, transformational leadership is discussed as a moderator. It will become apparent that the role of transformational leadership in fostering the innovativeness of cross-functional teams is rather ambiguous. The discussed mediators and the moderator transformational leadership are integrated into a comprehensive framework and propositions for future research are derived.     

The impact of posttraumatic growth,transformational leadership,and self-efficacy on PTSD and depression symptom severity among combat Veterans

Previous research has established self-efficacy as essential to postdeployment adjustment among Veterans, and perceived transformational leadership is well known for its positive effects on follower outcomes across contexts. However, little is known regarding how transformational leadership may relate to posttraumatic growth and self-efficacy in fostering psychological wellbeing among combat Veterans. The purpose of this study was to examine the role of transformational leadership in predicting posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression symptoms among combat Veterans, as well as how posttraumatic growth and postdeployment coping self-efficacy may influence these relations. The study sample consisted of 130 combat Veterans recruited from a university, Veterans Affairs medical center, and the greater community. Path analysis based on bootstrapped resampling revealed postdeployment coping self-efficacy and perceived transformational leadership as predictors of lower PTSD and depression symptom severity. In addition, mediation modeling revealed that postdeployment coping self-efficacy mediated the relation between transformational leadership and both PTSD and depression, while posttraumatic growth did not predict PTSD symptoms. These findings may aid in the prediction of PTSD and depression symptoms among Veterans, which may then influence pre-deployment leadership training among military personnel as well as clinical treatment protocols for Veterans.     

Leaders under pressure: time pressure and state core self-evaluations as antecedents of transformational leadership behaviour

ABSTRACT

This study examines situational antecedents of transformational leadership by (a) studying the effect of time pressure on the emergence of transformational leadership behaviours, and (b) examining the mediating role of leaders’ state core self-evaluations. Twice per day for 10 consecutive working days, 42 leaders reported on their state core self-evaluations, transformational leadership behaviours and the time pressure they experienced, yielding 531 observations. Using multilevel path analysis, we found that time pressure had an indirect effect on transformational leadership through leaders’ state core self-evaluations. This mediated relationship was curvilinear; with time pressure having little to no effect on transformational leadership via state core self-evaluations when time pressure is below a leader’s average level of time pressure. However, once this characteristic average level is exceeded, time pressure has a negative effect on transformational leadership via its negative relationship with state core self-evaluations, and this relationship becomes stronger for increasing levels of time pressure.     

Innovation in multidisciplinary teams: The moderating role of transformational leadership in the relationship between professional heterogeneity and shared mental models

Research on the effectiveness of multidisciplinary teams has been equivocal. In an attempt to understand when a team’s professional heterogeneity (PH) is positively related to innovation (INN), we proposed an integrative model in which shared mental models (SMMs) are theorized as a mechanism to leverage INN in highly multidisciplinary teams. In addition, we claim that transformational leadership (TL), which is usually regarded as a factor contributing to team effectiveness, will attenuate the effect of teams’ PH on team SMM. In a field study of 55 R&D teams in Israel, we found that SMMs mediated the relationship between PH and INN, and that TL moderated the relationship between PH and Team SMM. We discuss the theoretical and practical implication of these findings.     

Transformational,transactional, and laissez-faire leadership styles: a meta-analysis comparing women and men

A meta-analysis of 45 studies of transformational, transactional, and laissez-faire leadership styles found that female leaders were more transformational than male leaders and also engaged in more of the contingent reward behaviors that are a component of transactional leadership. Male leaders were generally more likely to manifest the other aspects of transactional leadership (active and passive management by exception) and laissez-faire leadership. Although these differences between male and female leaders were small, the implications of these findings are encouraging for female leadership because other research has established that all of the aspects of leadership style on which women exceeded men relate positively to leaders' effectiveness whereas all of the aspects on which men exceeded women have negative or null relations to effectiveness.     

Transformational leadership and customer service: A moderated mediation model of negative affectivity and emotion regulation

Integrating theories from leadership, emotion management, affectivity, and customer service, this study examines how transformational leadership leads to favourable customer intentions via the mediation of service employees' emotion regulation, job satisfaction, and their service performance and via the moderation of employee negative affectivity. Results obtained from data of 204 matched sets of managers, service employees, and customers show that the effect of transformational leadership on amplification of pleasant emotions was conditioned on service employees' negative affectivity. Employee service performance partially mediated the effect of job satisfaction on customer outcomes. Finally, overall results reveal that transformational leadership and amplification of pleasant emotions were more strongly related to the customer outcomes, as mediated through the intervening variables in the model, when negative affectivity was high than when negative affectivity was low. Results have implications for how service workers with negative affectivity can manage their emotions to achieve effective service outcomes through interactions with a leader, how the effect of transformational leadership can be bounded, and how transformational leadership and emotion regulation are relevant to customer service.     

Teacher preference, peer rejection, and student aggression: A prospective study of transactional influence and independent contributions to emotional adjustment and grades

This study assessed the importance of teacher preference of individual students, relative to peer rejection and student aggression, as an independent predictor of children's emotional adjustment and grades. First, a longitudinal, cross-lagged path analysis was conducted to determine the patterns of influence among teacher preference, peer rejection, and student aggression. Then, parallel growth analyses were examined to test whether lower initial and declining teacher preference, beyond the influence of initial level and change in peer rejection and student aggression, predicted change in loneliness, depression, social anxiety, and grades. Social adjustment, emotional adjustment, and academic adjustment were assessed in the fall and spring of two consecutive school years with 1193 third-grade students via peer-, teacher-, and self-report instruments as well as school records. In the cross-lagged path analysis, reciprocal influence over time between teacher preference and peer rejection was found, and student aggression predicted lower teacher preference and higher peer rejection. In the growth analyses, initial and declining teacher preference were independent predictors of increasing loneliness and declining grades. Discussion focuses on the relevance of the results within a transactional model of school adaptation.     

Organizational commitment and job performance: Examining the moderating roles of occupational commitment and transformational leadership

To address why the relationship between affective organizational commitment and job performance varies, we draw on the theorization of Meyer, Becker, and Vandenberghe to propose moderation of affective occupational commitment and transformational leadership, separately and interactively. Data collected from 398 employees and their supervisors supported our hypotheses. Specifically, affective organizational commitment was more strongly associated with job performance for employees with high occupational commitment, or when a supervisor's transformational leadership was high. Importantly, in a moderated mediation relationship, we found the effect of transformational leadership on the relationship between affective organizational commitment and job performance for employees with high occupational commitment was contrary to its effect on employees with low occupational commitment. Given the significant roles of both commitments as discussed in the present study, we offer suggestions on how to consider these factors during the assessment and selection of personnel and role assignment.     

公仆型领导:概念、测量、影响因素与实施效果

公仆型领导(Servant Leadership)是近年来领导研究领域的一个前沿主题,公仆型领导坚持"服务优先"而不是"领导优先",并将下属的需求置于自己的利益之上。研究主要从公仆型领导的概念、特征结构与测量、与其它类型领导的比较及实证研究等方面,对国内外相关研究进行了系统梳理与评析。针对现有研究存在的问题和不足,未来研究应注意从公仆型领导测量工具的改进、研究层次及研究方法的完善、影响因素和实施效果的深入识别及影响机理和有效性的进一步探讨等方面展开努力。     

包容型领导:概念、测量及与相关变量的关系

包容型领导(Inclusive Leadership)作为一种新兴的领导方式,强调关注和满足下属的需求,在与下属的互动中表现出开放性、有效性和易接近性。研究者梳理了包容型领导的起源与概念、结构维度与测量,分析了与其他类型领导者之间的比较,阐述了相关实证研究,强化了本土文化的权变作用。未来研究应继续完善包容型领导的概念与维度、拓展其研究层次与方法、借鉴其与其他领导理论的比较研究视角,丰富其研究情境的有效性。