Abstract
"This study examines whether relational authenticity as a leader, a relatively new concept in the nonprofit literature, moderates the relationship between transformational, transactional leadership, and perceptions of organizational performance. Using an online survey experiment of executive directors at 403 nonprofit organizations, this study tests the hypothesis of the positive–negative asymmetry effects, which states that negative impressions are more impactful than positive ones. The findings illustrate that, in the case of positive personal behavior, a transformational leader (vs. transactional leader) acting favorably has a statistically significant positive influence on organizational performance. However, in the case of negative personal behavior, the treatment had null findings. This study suggests that nonprofit leaders should pay attention to achieving relational authenticity as a leader to ensure the sustainability of transformational leadership effects."
Highlights
Nonprofits’ board members and academic proponents of introducing transformational leadership into nonprofit service delivery have repeatedly claimed the importance of transformational leadership because of its significance in improving organizational performance (Jaskyte, 2004; Paarlberg and Lavigna, 2010)
This study sought to contribute to the literature on leadership style by examining whether the effect of transformational and transactional leadership on nonprofit executives’ perceptions of organizational performance varies depending on relational authenticity as a leader
The results show that achieving relational authenticity moderates the effect of leadership style, which is a direct determinant of perceptions of organizational performance
Summary
Nonprofits’ board members and academic proponents of introducing transformational leadership into nonprofit service delivery have repeatedly claimed the importance of transformational leadership because of its significance in improving organizational performance (Jaskyte, 2004; Paarlberg and Lavigna, 2010). The previous literature on transformational leadership’s effects on organizational performance in the nonprofit sector has depended heavily upon the case or observational studies in which supervisors’ leadership style is likely to be endogenous for perceptions of organizational performance (Rowold and Rohmann, 2009; Brimhall, 2019). Several scholars (e.g., Shamir and Eilam, 2005) have discussed repeatedly the possible positive effects of relational authenticity on organizational performance, an empirical evaluation of whether this holds true in nonprofit organizations is missing. Negative behavior affects the outcomes of both transformational and transactional leaderships, positive behavior influences only transformational leadership’s effects This present study extends and tests the theory of positive–negative asymmetry using a randomized experiment to investigate whether or not leaders’ negative personal behavior has detrimental effects on perceptions of organizational performance.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
