The Impact of Transformational/Transactional Leadership on Creative Behavior: A Cross-Level Study

Abstract

This study examines how transformational/transactional leadership affects employee creative behavior during radical and continuous organizational change. We hypothesize that transformational/transactional leadership positively influence creative behavior and radical change moderates the positive relationship. Our sample consists of responses from 239 supervisors and 692 matched subordinates in 57 organizations. We also developed and validated a new scale to assess the degree of radical and continuous change for this study. Findings generally support our hypotheses. Results indicate that both leadership styles are positively related to creative behavior. Radical change, but not continuous change, moderates the relationship between transformational/transactional leadership and creative behavior, such that the relationship is stronger when the degree of radical change is high. Implications of these findings are then discussed.