The influence of transformational leadership on workplace relationships and job performance

Abstract

Social-identity and social-exchange theory are employed to examine the role of leader-member relationships (LMX) and coworker relationships (CWR) in explaining the relationship between transformational leadership and task performance/organizational citizenship behavior. These relationships remain unclear in the current organizational literature. Survey data were collected from 1,040 teachers in 52 elementary schools in Taiwan. Results indicate that all 4 dimensions of transformational leadership have positive effects on LMX, whereas only individualized consideration and inspirational motivation positively affect CWR. It was also found that LMX is a more efficacious predictor of task performance than is CWR, whereas CWR, rather than LMX, is the better predictor of organizational citizenship behavior. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.