The impact of transformational leadership on CWBs: the moderating effect of management level in a developing country

Abstract

The main objective of the present study is to investigate the effects of transformational leadership on Counterproductive Work Behaviours (CWBs) and talent management, by considering the moderating role of management level among employees. The statistical sample of this research includes 321 middle and top level employees of Rasht municipality. A questionnaire is used to collect required data. The overall results of SEM, hierarchical regression (HR) using SPSS (version 25) and LISREL (version 8.8) indicated that transformational leadership has a negative effect on CWBs, as well as a positive effect on talent management. However, the impact of talent management on CWBs of workforce was not supported. Finally, the moderating effect of management level on the relationship between transformational leadership and CWBs was confirmed. Thus, leadership styles, especially transformational leadership, have an undeniable impact on the development of organisations, by enabling them to achieve their goals via talent management and prevention of employees’ destructive behaviours.