How Value Fit Moderates the Impact of Transformational Leadership on Employee Job Performance

Abstract

Transformational leadership has long been pointed to as a lever that managers can pull to improve performance. However, it seems premature to assume that transformational leadership is universally effective. In this paper, we argue that transformational leaders raise performance to higher levels when person- organization value fit is high. How well values embedded in a vision resonates with employees is expected to depend on the match between organizational values and employees’ set of existing values. To empirically evaluate this argument, we draw on a field experimental design. 74 managers of childcare centers were randomly assigned to a one-year leadership training program in transformational leadership or to a control group. Using pre- and post-surveys of 441 preschool teachers’ perception of the person-organization value fit and evaluations of their job performance, we find that the effect of the transformational leadership intervention on employees’ job performance indeed is higher when the initial fit between organization and employee values is high.