Does shared and differentiated transformational leadership predict followers' working conditions and well-being?

Transformational leadership has been widely researched and is associated with followers' performance, attitudes, and subjective well-being at the individual level. Less research has focused on transformational leadership as a group phenomenon. In a survey study (425 followers and 56 leaders), we examined how group-level and differentiated transformational leadership shape followers' perceptions of their working conditions and individual subjective well-being. There was stronger evidence that differentiated transformational leadership's relationships with indicators of well-being was mediated by perceptions of working conditions, in that 10 out of 20 tests for mediation using differentiated transformational leadership were significant, compared to just three out of 20 for group-level transformational leadership. The results suggest that transformational leadership needs to be studied as a group phenomenon considering how group-level perceptions may impact on followers' well-being and that leaders need to realize that there is an “I” in groups and addition to a “we” in groups.     

A new substitute for leadership? Followers' state core self-evaluations

In this experimental study we integrate transformational leadership theory with recent theoretical considerations and research on core self-evaluations (CSE) in a contingency approach to leadership. We analyze to what extent high state CSE may represent a substitute for transformational leadership in terms of its influence on follower motivation and performance. In a 2 × 2‐design the relationship between transformational leadership and followers' motivation and performance is compared for followers with high versus low state CSE. Participants (76 students) were randomly assigned to four groups. High or low state CSE was activated through a priming manipulation. After that, participants were presented with a written vignette of a transformational or a nontransformational leader who instructs them to perform the subsequent task, a word-search puzzle. Results reveal that followers' state CSE moderated the relationship between transformational leadership and followers' motivation and performance. As expected, followers' state CSE represents a substitute for transformational leadership. Results are discussed for leadership research and management practice.     

All I want for Christmas is recovery – changes in employee affective well-being before and after vacation

Abstract

Transformational leaders employ a visionary and creative style of leadership that inspires employees to make independent decisions and develop in their work. There is some evidence that the transformational (inspirational) leadership style is linked to employee burnout and stress. However, little research has focused on the psychological mechanisms that could explain this link, nor has there been a focus on positive affective well-being. We propose that transformational leaders influence their followers' self-efficacy, thereby affecting affective well-being in followers. This study extends previous work by examining the direct link between leadership and well-being both cross-sectionally (N=447) and longitudinally (N=188), and testing the mediating effects of self-efficacy. The study was carried out within parts of an elderly care department in a Danish local government. A theory-driven model of the relationships between leadership, self-efficacy and affective well-being was tested using Structural Equation Modelling. The results indicated that followers' self-ratings of self-efficacy mediated the relationship between transformational leadership style and positive affective well-being. Only limited evidence for a direct path between leadership behaviour and positive affective well-being was found. These findings have implications for how organizations may promote employee well-being, through interventions directed at supporting transformational leadership behaviours.     

Followers' Personality and the Perception of Transformational Leadership: Further Evidence for the Similarity Hypothesis

Managers and supervisors are thought to affect their followers' attitudes and behaviour. Within leadership research, behaviour of leaders and managers is usually considered as the independent variable whilst followers' reactions are considered the dependent variable. In this study, we reverse this order and investigate the degree to which the evaluation of leadership is a result of followers' perceptions and attributions. In order to corroborate and extend previous experimental research, a field study was conducted to analyse the influence of followers' personality and perceived leader personality on followers' perception of leadership within an organizational setting. The results provide further evidence that followers' personality influences the perception of transformational leadership and commitment to the supervisor. Moreover, the perception of leaders' personality was related to the perception of leadership and commitment to the supervisor. The finding that the perception of supervisors' personality mediates both the relationship between followers' personality and the perception of leadership and commitment provides support for the similarity hypothesis. Results are discussed in the light of feedback and leader development.     

The awestruck effect: Followers suppress emotion expression in response to charismatic but not individually considerate leadership

This study examines how followers regulate their outward expression of emotions in the context of two types of leadership that are commonly associated with transformational leadership, namely charismatic leadership and individually considerate leadership. Based on new theorizing and a series of three studies involving experiments and field work, we show that the two types of leadership have different effects on followers' emotional expressiveness. Specifically, we find that followers under the influence of leaders' charisma tend to suppress the expression of emotions (we call this the “awestruck effect”), but followers express emotions when leaders consider them individually. Awestruck followers may suffer from expressive inhibition even as charismatic leaders stir their hearts.     

Effects of Leadership Style,Creativity Technique and Personal Initiative on Employee Creativity

Transformational leadership is assumed to enhance employees' creativity. However, results of meta‐analytic research on the relations between transformational leadership and creativity have fallen short of expectations. The authors argue that, besides leadership style, the creativity technique that a leader employs is an important means of stimulating employees' creativity. In addition, it is assumed that leadership styles and creativity techniques may have different effects, depending on the measure of creativity output (quantitative vs qualitative). Therefore, in an experimental setting, the effects of different creativity techniques (provocation technique vs brainwriting) and leadership styles (transformational vs transactional) on both quantitative and qualitative creativity were examined. Results showed that transformational leadership and provocation technique led to higher levels of qualitative creativity than transactional leadership and brainwriting, respectively. Conversely, transactional leadership and brainwriting were more effective for quantitative creativity. The additional benefit of the provocation technique in qualitative creativity was found to be higher in the transactional leadership condition than in the transformational leadership condition. Moreover, personal initiative made a significant and independent contribution to both qualitative and quantitative creativity. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.     

Transformational leadership,job satisfaction,and team performance: A multilevel mediation model of trust

In spite of calls for deliberate differentiation between individual and team levels of analysis, leadership research based on well-grounded theory referring to multiple levels is scarce. We seek to fill this gap by analyzing the relations between transformational leadership, trust in supervisor and team, job satisfaction, and team performance via multilevel analysis. Results are based on a sample of 360 employees from 39 academic teams. Transformational leadership was positively related to followers' job satisfaction at individual as well as team levels of analysis and to objective team performance. The relation between individual perceptions of supervisors' transformational leadership and job satisfaction was mediated by trust in the supervisor as well as trust in the team. Yet, trust in the team did not mediate the relationship between team perceptions of supervisors' transformational leadership and team performance. Implications for theory and research of leadership at multiple levels as well as for practice are discussed.     

A multilevel study of transformational leadership,identification, and follower outcomes

Using a sample from a large diversified company, this study examines the influence processes of transformational leadership (TFL) at both the individual and group levels concurrently and explores cross-level relationships. Results showed that, at the individual level, followers' personal identification with the leader mediated the effects of individual-focused TFL behavior on individual performance and empowerment. At the group level, group identification mediated the effect of group-focused TFL behavior on collective efficacy. Results also supported two cross-level effects from the group level to the individual level. The paper addresses the implications for leaders of motivating individuals and teams, at the same time.     

Does valuing androgyny and femininity lead to a female advantage? The relationship between gender-role,transformational leadership and identification

The notion of ‘think manager–think male’ has been demonstrated in many studies. The current study examines whether leaders are perceived as more effective when they have ‘feminine’, ‘masculine’ or ‘androgynous’ characteristics, and how this relates to the leader's and followers' sex. Using carefully matched samples of 930 employees of 76 bank managers, we studied the relationship between managers' gender-role identity (perceived ‘femininity’, ‘masculinity’ and ‘androgyny’) and how this relates to leadership effectiveness in terms of transformational leadership and personal identification with the leader. Our findings show that among both male and female leaders, ‘androgyny’ was more strongly related to transformational leadership and followers' identification than ‘non-androgyny’, and that leaders' ‘femininity’ was more strongly related to leadership effectiveness than ‘masculinity’. Furthermore, the results show that women paid a higher penalty for not being perceived as ‘androgynous’ (mixing ‘femininity’ and ‘masculinity’), in comparison to men with regard to personal identification. When examining same- versus cross-sex relationships, we found that ‘non-androgynous’ male managers were rated higher by their male employees than by their female employees. Our findings suggest that women and men who are interested in being perceived as effective leaders may be well advised to blend ‘feminine’ and ‘masculine’ behaviors, and even more so when they are in situations of non-congruency (i.e., women in leadership roles and leading in cross-sex relationships). We discuss the implications of these findings for both theory and practice.     

Impact of leadership style and emotions on subordinate performance

This article examines whether the emotions of frustration and optimism mediate, fully or partially, the relationship between leadership style and subordinate performance in the context of structural equation modeling. The findings show that transformational leadership has a significant direct influence on frustration and optimism, with the negative influence of frustration having a stronger effect on performance than the positive influence of optimism. Frustration and optimism are found to have a direct influence on performance, and the emotions, frustration and optimism, fully mediate the relationship between transformational leadership and performance. Thus, the effect of transformational leadership style on performance is significant, but indirect.     

The influence of leader core self-evaluation on follower reports of transformational leadership

The role of leader core self-evaluations (CSE) was investigated for its influence on follower perceptions of transformational leadership (TFL) dimensions in a sample of 464 employees and 150 leaders from three Chinese organizations. As hypothesized, after controlling for leaders' and followers' demographic variables and modeling fixed-effects to account for the potential impact of omitted variables, we found that leader CSE was significantly and positively related to follower perception of leader TFL. The result enhances the understanding of TFL antecedents.     

Leadership and team identification: Exploring the followers' perspective

This study investigates the influence of leadership on followers' identification with their work group. Adopting a qualitative research approach, it takes on the followers' perspective for inductively deriving leadership behaviors that pertain to the development of team identification. Based on in-depth data from members of seven teams in the context of UN peacebuilding operations, four aggregate leadership dimensions can be identified that are conducive to members' team identification: providing guidance, encouraging involvement, role modeling, and administering teamwork. Accordingly, this study adds to the exploration of leadership behaviors relevant for team identification that have not been considered by extant research. The results may lay the foundations for future investigations on complementary effects of different leadership behaviors for fostering followers' identification with their work group.     

How leader displays of happiness and sadness influence follower performance: Emotional contagion and creative versus analytical performance

Previous studies have found mixed results regarding the influence of positive and negative leader affect on follower performance. We propose that both leader happiness and leader sadness can be beneficial for follower performance contingent on whether the task concerns creative or analytical performance. This proposition was put to the test in two experiments in which leader affective display was manipulated and the performance of (student) participants was assessed. The results supported our hypothesis that a leader's displays of happiness enhance follower creative performance, whereas a leader's displays of sadness enhance follower analytical performance. Contrasting these findings with evidence for a subjective rating of leadership effectiveness, in line with an implicit leadership theory interpretation, leaders were perceived as more effective when displaying happiness rather than sadness irrespective of task type. The second study showed that the effects of leader affective displays on followers' creative performance and perceived leadership effectiveness are mediated by follower positive affect, indicating that emotional contagion partly underlies these effects.     

Effects of leader intelligence,personality and emotional intelligence on transformational leadership and managerial performance

This study investigates the effects of intelligence, personality traits and emotional intelligence on transformational leadership and the effective performance of leaders in the organizational context. Data were collected from 134 midlevel managers from a large Brazilian company that operates in the energy sector. Our findings suggest that leadership effectiveness, as measured by the achievement of organizational outcomes, is a direct function of a leader's transformational behaviors, and is an indirect function of individual differences (experience, intelligence and conscientiousness) that work through transformational behaviors. A negative effect of neuroticism on leadership effectiveness was also observed. In addition, while emotional intelligence seemed to be statistically related to transformational leadership if considered in isolation, when ability and personality were controlled for, the effect became non-significant. We discuss implications for theory, research and practice.     

Charismatic leadership and organizational citizenship behaviour: examining the role of stressors and strain

This study analyses the impact of followers' stress on the relationship between charismatic leadership and organizational citizenship behaviour (OCB). Stressors are distinguished as the objective component of work-stress, and strain as the subjective component of work-stress. It is assumed that stressors will moderate the relationship between charismatic leadership and OCB (Hypothesis 1). In addition, it is hypothesized that followers' strain will mediate the relationship between charismatic leadership and OCB (Hypothesis 2). Results from a study interviewing 142 nurses from three German hospitals confirmed the second hypothesis: followers' strain fully mediated the relationship between charismatic leadership and followers' OCB.     

Leading via the heart and mind: The roles of leader and follower emotions,attributions and interdependence

How do followers react to their leaders' emotional expressions, and how do these reactions influence followers' perceptions of their leaders' effectiveness? This research examines cognitive and emotional reactions to leaders' expressions of positive and negative emotions, and demonstrates how these reactions affect perceptions of leadership effectiveness. We show that follower interdependence (dispositional or manipulated) plays an important moderating role in understanding reactions to leaders' emotions. Results of three studies demonstrate that followers not only share their leaders' emotions, but also make attributions about the sincerity of their leaders' intentions, and these attributions affect their perceptions of their leader's effectiveness. Results also demonstrate that interdependent followers are sensitive to leader emotional valence and react more positively to leader positivity; non-interdependent followers do not differentiate positive from negative emotions in their leader. We discuss the implications of our research for the literature on leadership.     

A conceptual replication of ambidextrous leadership theory: An experimental approach

Ambidextrous leadership theory proposes that a leader's interplay between opening behaviors and closing behaviors enhances followers' exploration and exploitation behaviors, which ultimately increases innovative outcomes. Unfortunately, previous research suffers from problems with causal interpretation and endogeneity concerns threatening the validity of the theory. Our aim was to constructively replicate previous research with an experimental design, more rigorous measures, and state-of-the-art data analytical approaches (2SLS). In two randomized experiments (Study 1: N = 395, Study 2: N = 229), we manipulated four leadership styles (opening, closing, ambidextrous, and transformational leadership) and tested their effects on participants' exploration/exploitation behaviors as well as objective innovation outcomes. We only found partial support for the hypotheses from ambidextrous leadership theory. We discuss implications in terms of refining central concepts of the theory and offering more accurate assumptions about timing. We also elaborate on more general insights from our constructive replication studies for the leadership field.     

Leadership style and activating potential moderators of the relationships among leader emotional displays and outcomes

The present study argues that leader emotional displays are important to consider both within and outside of transformational/charismatic paradigms and must look beyond positive and negative affect. Accordingly, this experiment examined the effects of emotion valence as moderated by leadership style (transformational vs. transactional) and activating potential (high vs. low) on follower satisfaction, evaluations of the leader, and creative task performance. Findings showed differential effects of positive and negative emotions for different leader styles for evaluations of transformational leadership and leader effectiveness and for follower performance. Additionally, positive emotions with higher-activating potential resulted in more desirable outcomes than those lower in activating potential, but the reverse was true for negative emotions. Findings are discussed in light of research and practical implications.     

Charismatic and transformational leadership in organizations: An insider's perspective on these developing streams of research

Over the last decade and a half, the topic areas of charismatic and transformational leadership in organizational settings have undergone a significant evolution in terms of both theory development and empirical investigations. As a result, our knowledge about these leadership forms has deepened, and there are several dominant theories that are now established paradigms in the leadership field. At the same time, despite advances, there are numerous dimensions of these leadership forms about which we still know very little. Given this moment in the field's evolution, it is only appropriate that we take stock of where we have been and where we need to go into the future. We therefore provide an overview of the evolution of charismatic and transformational leadership in organizations. We examine progress along the following dimensions: 1) leader behaviors and their effects; 2) follower dispositions and dependency dynamics; 3) contextual factors; 4) institutionalization and succession forces; and 5) the liabilities of charismatic and transformational leaders.     

Tough Love and Creativity: How Authoritarian Leadership Tempered by Benevolence or Morality Influences Employee Creativity

Influenced by Amabile's views on the intrinsic nature of creative motivation (T. M. Amabile (1988). A model of creativity and innovation in organizations’. In B. M. Staw and L. L. Cummings (eds), Research in Organizational Behavior, Vol. 10, pp. 123–167. Greenwich, CT: JAI Press), researchers have focused primarily on supportive leadership, with authoritarian leadership known to negatively influence employee creativity. Arguing from social information processing theory, the authors show that low levels of authoritarian leadership act as a stressor encouraging creativity, while high levels discourage creativity. Authoritarian leadership is one component of a larger constellation of leader behaviours known as paternalistic leadership. Under paternalistic leadership, authoritarian leadership is combined with benevolence and morality and these interact with authoritarianism. The authors argue that the presence of benevolence and moral leadership causes subordinates to view the leader's authoritarian actions as serving a positive purpose, and show that both benevolence and moral leadership act to offset the negative effects of authoritarian leadership on creativity.