Cascading Effects of Transformational Leadership and its Impact on Mission Valence

Abstract

In this paper we explore the impact of transformational leadership on employee attitudes and behavior associated with organizational success. We argue that transformational leaders ingrain their own leadership styles in their followers, while increasing the mission valence among them by clarifying organizational goals and using performance management systems. We also explore the influence of different levels of leadership on performance management, goal clarity, and mission valence. Using structural equation modeling we tested these relationships through a survey of 2,305 employees of the Georgia Department of Transportation. The model provides evidence that transformational leadership flows from higher to lower leadership levels, such that the senior departmental leadership influences the leadership behavior of the first level supervisors indirectly through their influence on middle managers. No direct flow from top-tier to lower-tier leadership was observed. Further, we also found that each level of leadership has independent effects and, in some cases, even different mechanisms by which they influence employee mission valence. While transformational leadership of all three levels was found to increase mission valence indirectly through the use of performance management, only the top-tier leadership increased mission valence by enhancing goal clarity. Consistent with previous studies (Wright et al., 2013), no evidence of a direct impact of transformational leadership on mission valence was observed.