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 readers 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. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personality and Transformational and Transactional Leadership: A Meta-Analysis.

This study was a meta-analysis of the relationship between personality and ratings of transformational and transactional leadership behaviors. Using the 5-factor model of personality as an organizing framework, the authors accumulated 384 correlations from 26 independent studies. Personality traits were related to 3 dimensions of transformational leadership--idealized influence-inspirational motivation (charisma), intellectual stimulation, and individualized consideration--and 3 dimensions of transactional leadership--contingent reward, management by exception-active, and passive leadership. Extraversion was the strongest and most consistent correlate of transformational leadership. Although results provided some support for the dispositional basis of transformational leadership--especially with respect to the charisma dimension--generally, weak associations suggested the importance of future research to focus on both narrower personality traits and nondispositional determinants of transformational and transactional leadership. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The bright-side and the dark-side of CEO personality: Examining core self-evaluations, narcissism, transformational leadership, and strategic influence.

This article reports on an examination of the relationships between chief executive officer (CEO) personality, transformational and transactional leadership, and multiple strategic outcomes in a sample of 75 CEOs of Major League Baseball organizations over a 100-year period. CEO bright-side personality characteristics (core self-evaluations) were positively related to transformational leadership, whereas dark-side personality characteristics (narcissism) of CEOs were negatively related to contingent reward leadership. In turn, CEO transformational and contingent reward leadership were related to 4 different strategic outcomes, including manager turnover, team winning percentage, fan attendance, and an independent rating of influence. CEO transformational leadership was positively related to ratings of influence, team winning percentage, and fan attendance, whereas contingent reward leadership was negatively related to manager turnover and ratings of influence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Transformational leadership and moral reasoning.

Terms such as moral and ethical leadership are used widely in theory, yet little systematic research has related a sociomoral dimension to leadership in organizations. This study investigated whether managers' moral reasoning (n=132) was associated with the transformational and transactional leadership behaviors they exhibited as perceived by their subordinates (n=407). Managers completed the Defining Issues Test (J. R. Rest, 1990), whereas their subordinates completed the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (B. M. Bass & B. J. Avolio, 1995). Analysis of covariance indicated that managers scoring in the highest group of the moral-reasoning distribution exhibited more transformational leadership behaviors than leaders scoring in the lowest group. As expected, there was no relationship between moral-reasoning group and transactional leadership behaviors. Implications for leadership development are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Transformational and Transactional Leadership: A Meta-Analytic Test of Their Relative Validity.

This study provided a comprehensive examination of the full range of transformational, transactional, and laissez-faire leadership. Results (based on 626 correlations from 87 sources) revealed an overall validity of .44 for transformational leadership, and this validity generalized over longitudinal and multisource designs. Contingent reward (.39) and laissez-faire (-.37) leadership had the next highest overall relations; management by exception (active and passive) was inconsistently related to the criteria. Surprisingly, there were several criteria for which contingent reward leadership had stronger relations than did transformational leadership. Furthermore, transformational leadership was strongly correlated with contingent reward (.80) and laissez-faire (-.65) leadership. Transformational and contingent reward leadership generally predicted criteria controlling for the other leadership dimensions, although transformational leadership failed to predict leader job performance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Superiors' evaluations and subordinates' perceptions of transformational and transactional leadership.

Transformational leaders are postulated to be responsible for performance beyond ordinary expectations as they transmit a sense of mission, stimulate learning experiences, and arouse new ways of thinking. Transactional leaders achieve performance as merely required by the use of contingent rewards or negative feedback. Previous research has shown that subordinates' perceptions of transformational leadership add to the prediction of subordinates' satisfaction and effectiveness ratings beyond that of perceptions of transactional leadership. The present study replicates the previous augmentation effects using subordinates' effectiveness ratings but was unable to confirm the augmentation hypothesis with independently attained superiors' evaluations as the criteria because of smaller sample size, although trends in the correlations were in the hypothesized direction. Transformational leadership obtained from their subordinates' ratings significantly differentiated top performing managers (identified as such through other sources) from ordinary managers as hypothesized. Results are discussed as they relate to a domestic work force that is becoming better educated and is more concerned about interesting work and self-development. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of leadership style and anonymity on group potency and effectiveness in a group decision support system environment.

A longitudinal laboratory experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of leadership style (transactional vs transformational) and anonymity level (identified vs anonymous) on group potency and effectiveness of 36 undergraduate student work groups performing a creativity task using a Group Decision Support System (GDSS). GDSS are interactive networks of computers for generating solutions to unstructured problems. Results indicated that GDSS anonymity amplified the positive effect of transformational leadership on group potency relative to transactional leadership in the group writing session of the task. GDSS anonymity also increased the effect of transformational leadership relative to transactional leadership on group effectiveness. Implications for practice and future research are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Transformational Leadership: Relations to the Five-Factor Model and Team Performance in Typical and Maximum Contexts.

This study examined the 5-factor model of personality, transformational leadership, and team performance under conditions similar to typical and maximum performance contexts. Data were collected from 39 combat teams from an Asian military sample (N = 276). Results found that neuroticism and agreeableness were negatively related to transformational leadership ratings. Team performance ratings correlated at only .18 across the typical and maximum contexts. Furthermore, transformational leadership related more strongly to team performance in the maximum rather than the typical context. Finally, transformational leadership fully mediated the relationship between leader personality and team performance in the maximum context but only partially mediated the relationship between leader personality and team performance in the typical context. The Discussion section focuses on how these findings, although interesting, need to be replicated with different designs, contexts, and measures. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stigma and barriers to care in soldiers postcombat.

The present study examined the effects of leadership and unit cohesion on mental health stigma and perceived barriers to care. A sample of 680 soldiers from combat support units were surveyed 3 months after their return from combat operations in Iraq. The survey included scales on psychological symptoms and perceptions of leader behaviors and unit cohesion, as well as items assessing stigma and barriers to care. The sample was used to test the independent and interactive effects of leadership and unit cohesion on soldiers’ perceptions of stigma and barriers to care. Analyses yielded significant interaction effects between leadership and cohesion in predicting stigma and barriers to care, while controlling for the effects of mental health symptoms. Soldiers who rated their leaders more highly and who reported higher unit cohesion also reported lower scores on both stigma and perceived barriers to care. Thus, positive leadership and unit cohesion can reduce perceptions of stigma and barriers to care, even after accounting for the relationship between mental health symptoms and these outcomes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The ties that bind: The impact of leader-member exchange, transformational and transactional leadership, and distance on predicting follower performance.

The authors examined the linkages between leader-member exchange (LMX), transformational and transactional leadership, and physical distance in predicting performance of 317 followers over a 1-year period. Results from a partial least squares analysis revealed that LMX was related positively to transformational and contingent reward leadership and negatively to management-by-exception. LMX and active management-by-exception positively predicted follower performance, and physical distance moderated leadership-performance relationships. Transformational leadership produced significantly higher follower performance in close versus distant situations, whereas LMX produced high follower performance irrespective of physical distance between leaders and followers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Embracing transformational leadership: Team values and the impact of leader behavior on team performance.

The authors investigated the relationship between transformational leadership behavior and group performance in 218 financial services teams that were branches of a bank in Hong Kong and the United States. Transformational leadership influenced team performance through the mediating effect of team potency. The effect of transformational leadership on team potency was moderated by team power distance and team collectivism, such that higher power distance teams and more collectivistic teams exhibited stronger positive effects of transformational leadership on team potency. The model was supported by data in both Hong Kong and the United States, which suggests a convergence in how teams function in the East and West and highlights the importance of team values. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

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. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The two faces of transformational leadership: Empowerment and dependency.

Followers' identification with the leader and the organizational unit, dependence on the leader, and empowerment by the leader are often attributed to transformational leadership in organizations. However, these hypothesized outcomes have received very little attention in empirical studies. Using a sample of 888 bank employees working under 76 branch managers, the authors tested the relationships between transformational leadership and these outcomes. They found that transformational leadership was positively related to both followers' dependence and their empowerment and that personal identification mediated the relationship between transformational leadership and followers' dependence on the leader, whereas social identification mediated the relationship between transformational leadership and followers' empowerment. The authors discuss the implications of these findings to both theory and practice. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Managing diversity and enhancing team outcomes: The promise of transformational leadership.

In a sample of 62 research and development (R&D) teams, the authors examined transformational leadership as a moderator of the relationship of age, nationality, and educational background diversity with team outcomes. When levels of transformational leadership were high, nationality and educational diversity were positively related to team leaders' longitudinal ratings of team performance. These relationships were nonsignificant when transformational leadership was low. Age diversity was not related to team performance when transformational leadership was high, and it was negatively related to team performance when transformational leadership was low. Two mediated moderation effects help explain these findings. Transformational leadership moderated the relationship of the 3 examined diversity dimensions with the elaboration of task-relevant information, which in turn was positively associated with team performance. Moreover, transformational leadership moderated the relationship of the 3 diversity types with collective team identification, which in turn was positively related to the elaboration of task-relevant information. The authors discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these results. Overall, this study suggests that transformational leadership can foster the utilization of the potential, but frequently untapped, benefits entailed by both demographic and informational/cognitive team diversity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Advice and Influence Networks of Transformational Leaders.

Existing transformational leadership research has focused primarily on the behaviors of leaders and their effects on followers. The authors extended this research by examining the social networks of managers who exhibit transformational leadership behaviors. Their focus was on the network of relationships that managers develop and whether they hold key positions in the organization's informal social networks. In a field study using data from 39 managers and 130 nonmanagement employees of 6 organizations, the authors found that managers who score higher on transformational leadership tend to hold more central positions in organizational advice and influence networks. Furthermore, the direct reports of these leaders were also more central in informal organizational networks. These results illuminate one of the ways that managers who exhibit transformational leadership behaviors may exert influence in organizations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of transformational and change leadership on employees' commitment to a change: A multilevel study.

The effects of transformational leadership on the outcomes of specific change initiatives are not well understood. Conversely, organizational change studies have examined leader behaviors during specific change implementations yet have failed to link these to broader leadership theories. In this study, the authors investigate the relationship between transformational and change leadership and followers' commitment to a particular change initiative as a function of the personal impact of the changes. Transformational leadership was found to be more strongly related to followers' change commitment than change-specific leadership practices, especially when the change had significant personal impact. For leaders who were not viewed as transformational, good change-management practices were found to be associated with higher levels of change commitment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Leadership, Collective Personality, and Performance.

By viewing behavior regularities at the individual and collective level as functionally isomorphic, a referent-shift compositional model for the Big 5 personality dimensions is developed. On the basis of this compositional model, a common measure of Big 5 personality at the individual level is applied to the collective as a whole. Within this framework, it is also hypothesized that leadership (i.e., transformational, transactional, and passive) would predict collective personality and that collective personality would be significantly related to collective performance. The results supported these hypotheses using a sample of franchised units. On the basis of recent research at the individual level, several interactions among the various personality dimensions were hypothesized and supported. Implications are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Advice networks in teams: The role of transformational leadership and members' core self-evaluations.

This article examines the team-level factors promoting advice exchange networks in teams. Drawing upon theory and research on transformational leadership, team diversity, and social networks, we hypothesized that transformational leadership positively influences advice network density in teams and that advice network density serves as a mediating mechanism linking transformational leadership to team performance. We further hypothesized a 3-way interaction in which members' mean core self-evaluation (CSE) and diversity in CSE jointly moderate the transformational leadership–advice network density relationship, such that the relationship is positive and stronger for teams with low diversity in CSE and high mean CSE. In addition, we expected that advice network centralization attenuates the positive influence of network density on team performance. Results based on multisource data from 79 business unit management teams showed support for these hypotheses. The results highlight the pivotal role played by transformational leadership and team members' CSEs in enhancing team social networks and, ultimately, team effectiveness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Introduction to special issue on defining and measuring character in leadership.

This article introduces the background and need for this special issue of the Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research on “Defining and Measuring Character in Leadership.” The introduction reviews some of the history of the concept of character in leadership, presents the major themes of the special issue, and briefly describes the 6 papers related to 3 models of character in leadership (ethical/virtuous leadership, authentic transformational leadership, and worthy leadership) and the specific elements of integrity, ethics, virtues, and moral potency. The introduction notes that each article in the special issue indicates how character in leadership can be defined, operationalized, and assessed. The implications of each model for the practice of consulting psychology are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognition-based and affect-based trust as mediators of leader behavior influences on team performance.

We develop a model in which cognitive and affective trust in the leader mediate the relationship between leader behavior and team psychological states that, in turn, drive team performance. The model is tested on a sample of 191 financial services teams in Hong Kong and the U.S. Servant leadership influenced team performance through affect-based trust and team psychological safety. Transformational leadership influenced team performance indirectly through cognition-based trust. Cognition-based trust directly influenced team potency and indirectly (through affect-based trust) influenced team psychological safety. The effects of leader behavior on team performance were fully mediated through the trust in leader variables and the team psychological states. Servant leadership explained an additional 10% of the variance in team performance beyond the effect of transformational leadership. We discuss implications of these results for research on the relationship between leader behavior and team performance, and for efforts to enhance leader development by combining knowledge from different leadership theories. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)