A Meta-Analytic Review of Transformational Leadership Research in Public Administration

Abstract

Despite the increasing research attention devoted to transformational leadership in public administration, there is still concern over whether it is appropriate and effective in the public context. To answer the important question of whether and when transformational leadership is effective, this study meta-analytically reviewed transformational leadership research based on 70 primary studies that include 151 independent effect sizes from 718,601 participants. It was found that transformational leadership was significantly related to outcomes at both individual (motivations, attitudes, and behaviors) and organizational (performance and innovation) levels, and positively related to transactional leadership and leader-member exchange. Moderation analyses revealed that national cultural values and public/semipublic affiliation of the studied samples, as well as measurement scales of transformational leadership explained some of the transformational leadership-outcome relationship variations. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.