Individual-focused Transformational Leadership Research Articles

Individual-focused transformational leadership: taking charge, psychological capital and thriving at work

PurposeThis paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies.Design/methodology/approachThis briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.FindingsPerceived individual-focused transformational leadership (IFTL) is strongly and positively associated with psychological capital, thriving at work and taking charge. Thriving at work partially mediates the relationship between IFTL and taking charge. The hypothesis that thriving at work mediates the relationship between psychological capital and taking charge is partially supported (the effect of psychological capital on taking charge is significant but weakens when thriving at work is present).Originality/valueThe briefing saves busy executives, strategists and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.

Impact of individual-focused transformational leadership on individual work performance: mediating role of work engagement and moderating role of regulatory focus

PurposeThis study aims to investigate how the individual-focused transformational leadership effect of transformational leadership impacts the team member’s individual work performance through the intermediary mechanisms of work engagement and regulatory focus.Design/methodology/approachA moderated mediation model was analyzed through PLS-SEM by using a sample of 462 team members across diverse work teams in Sri Lankan organizations.FindingsResults revealed that individual-focused transformational leadership positively impacts the team member’s individual work performance through the mediation of the team member’s work engagement. The direct relationship between individual-focused transformational leadership and the team member’s work engagement was found to be positively moderated by the team member’s promotion regulatory focus.Practical implicationsThis paper demonstrates implications for team designing and leadership development and highlights the importance of team leaders utilizing individual-focused transformational leadership to gain improved work performance from each team member.Originality/valueThis study provides empirical evidence for the mediating role of work engagement and the moderating role of promotion regulatory focus in deriving the team member’s work performance, which contributes to constructing a more refined profile of individual-focused transformational leadership.

Individual-focused transformational leadership and change-oriented organizational citizenship behavior: mediating and moderating mechanisms of job crafting and employee resilience

PurposeDrawing on the transformational leadership theory, this study empirically tests the relationship between individual-focused transformational leadership (IFTL) (i.e. individualized consideration and intellectual stimulation) and change-oriented organizational citizenship behavior (Ch-OCB), proposing the mediating mechanism of job crafting. Also, this study examines the moderating role of employee resilience on the relationship between job crafting and Ch-OCB.Design/methodology/approachA nested data model using a 4-wave time-lagged sample of 210 employees–supervisors dyads from Indian information technology (IT) organizations was tested using hierarchical linear modeling.FindingsThe study results showed a significant association between IFTL and Ch-OCB. Furthermore, job crafting mediated the relationship between IFTL and Ch-OCB. Additionally, the findings indicate that the positive relationship between job crafting and Ch-OCB was found to be stronger when employee resilience levels were higher.Practical implicationsThe study offers significant practical implications to managers, counselors and human resource management (HRM) practitioners for stimulating Ch-OCB. The study findings would aid HRM practitioners in designing individualized-oriented leadership programs to encourage employees to exhibit proactive job-crafting behavior, further augmenting Ch-OCB.Originality/valueThis paper adds to the existing transformational leadership literature by proposing new pathways through which IFTL stimulates job crafting, further leading to enhanced Ch-OCB. Mainly, research studies need to shed more light on leadership characteristics that influence employees' proactive and adaptive work behavior, i.e. job crafting and Ch-OCB. Essentially, this study examined the underlying mechanism through which IFTL relates to employees' Ch-OCB.

Exploring the role of individual-focused transformational leadership in facilitating taking charge: mediating mechanism of psychological capital and thriving at work

PurposeDrawing on the “conservation of resources” theory, the current study examines the mechanisms by which individual-focused transformational leadership (i.e. individualized consideration and intellectual stimulation) is associated with employees' taking charge by investigating the mediating roles of psychological capital and thriving at work.Design/methodology/approachA three-wave research study was conducted, and the data for the study included 220 employees’-supervisors’ dyads from Indian IT (information technology) organizations. Further, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was utilized to assess the measurement model, and study hypotheses were tested using Process macro.FindingsThe study results showed that individual-focused transformational leadership (IFTL) is strongly associated with psychological capital, thriving at work and taking charge. The findings of Process macro analyses indicated that IFTL, directly and indirectly, impacts taking charge behavior via psychological capital and thriving at work.Practical implicationsThe study offers significant practical implications to managers, counsellors and HRM practitioners for crafting workplace interventions to augment employees taking charge behavior. The study findings would aid HRM practitioners in designing individualized-oriented leadership programs for building employees' positive psychological capabilities and thriving experiences for taking charge.Originality/valueThis paper broadens the existing leadership literature by proposing new pathways through which IFTL encourages employees to take charge. Mainly, research studies need to shed more light on leadership characteristics that influence employees' positive psychological behavior, that is psychological capital and thriving at work. Consequently, this study examined the underlying mechanism through which leadership, psychological capital and thriving interact to stimulate employees taking charge behavior.

Effective Leadership Differs Between Organizations: A Comparative Study of US and German Multinational Corporations in South Korea

Effectively implementing leadership is critical for organizational success. In consideration of this issue, this study investigated effective leadership in US- and Germany-based multinational companies (MNCs) operating in South Korea. Drawing on transformational leadership (TL) theory and leadership contingency theory, the study clarified the contextual dependency of TL effectiveness. A survey was administered to 258 employees of the target MNCs, during which the participants were asked to rate their supervisors’ transformational leadership behaviors. The responses were empirically analyzed on the basis of the research framework. The findings showed that a leader’s group-focused TL behaviors indirectly influenced organizational commitment and that this relationship was mediated by psychological empowerment in the US-based MNCs. Conversely, a leader’s individual-focused TL behaviors demonstrated a pronounced effect on organizational commitment and that this association was also mediated by psychological empowerment in the Germany-based MNCs. The leadership behaviors that effectively empowered employees and increased their organizational commitment differed depending on the cultures prevalent in the organizations’ countries of origin. Adopting the two-dimensional model of TL, this study confirmed the contextual dependency of TL behaviors and suggested the need to incorporate an organization’s cultural context into predictions regarding the effects of certain leadership behaviors.

Untangling the team social capital–team innovation link: The role of proportional task conflict as well as group- and differentiated individual-focused transformational leadership

Findings from prior research on the relationship between a team’s social network architecture and team innovation have been inconclusive. Integrating social network theory with input–process–output models of team innovation, our research aims to reconcile the mixed findings in the literature by introducing a novel process perspective as well as highlighting a relevant contingency factor to untangle the team social capital–team innovation link. We propose that team social capital, operationalized as bridging and bonding social capital, negatively influences team innovation via team proportional task conflict, which is the level of task conflict teams experience proportional to the general level of team conflict (i.e. task, relationship and process conflict). In addition, we expected group and differentiated individual-focused transformational leadership to buffer the negative indirect effect of team social capital on team innovation via team proportional task conflict. Results from time-lagged data collected from research and development teams in Iraq revealed that teams with bonding and bridging social capital are less innovative because they experience less proportional task conflict. Furthermore, group-focused transformational leadership buffered the negative indirect relationship of team bridging social capital on team innovation via proportional task conflict. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

Dual-Focused Transformational Leadership, Teachers’ Satisfaction of the Need for Relatedness, and the Mediating Role of Social Support

Basic psychological need satisfaction is essential for the wellbeing of teachers and motivation at work. Transformational leadership contributes to the development and maintenance of a respectful, constructive atmosphere, a supportive working climate, and has been suggested to be a crucial factor for the satisfaction of the need for relatedness of employees. Transformational leadership is also considered as an ideal leadership style in the school setting, but most studies did not distinguish between individual and team effects of this leadership behavior. In the present study, we applied the dual-focused model of transformational leadership and focused on social processes to address the question of whether individual- and group-focused transformational leadership behavior contribute differently to satisfaction of the need for relatedness of teachers. Based on longitudinal data with three measurement points across one school year of N = 1,217 teachers, results of structural equational models supported the notion of the dual effects of transformational leadership: Individual-focused transformational leadership was directly positively related to change in satisfaction of the need for relatedness of teachers. The relationship between group-focused transformational leadership and change in satisfaction of the need for relatedness was mediated by received social support from team members. These findings emphasize the importance of school leadership behavior of principals for satisfaction of the need for relatedness of teachers. The satisfaction of the need for relatedness is, therefore, not only satisfied through the direct interaction between the school principal and the individual teacher but also through interactions of the school principal with the whole team. Our results confirm that school principals should focus their leadership behavior both on individual need satisfaction of teachers as well as on team development.

Differentiated transformational leadership, conflict and team creativity: an experimental study in China

PurposeThe authors investigated the impacts of differentiated transformational leadership (TFL), including team-focused TFL and individual-focused TFL, on team creativity through the mediating effect of team conflict, consisting of task conflict and relationship conflict.Design/methodology/approachThe authors designed and conducted a close-to-reality experiment, enrolling 180 students and six professors from a large Chinese university. Student participants worked on a real marketing project and professor participants imitated the behaviors of transformational leaders. Using the computed values of team-focused TFL, individual-focused TFL, team creativity, task conflict and relationship conflict, the authors assessed the relationship among differentiated TFL, team creativity and team conflict.FindingsTeam-focused TFL has a significantly positive impact on team creativity through the mediating effect of task conflict, whereas individual-focused TFL has a significantly negative impact on team creativity through the mediating effect of relationship conflict.Originality/valueFrom a new perspective of team conflict, the authors revealed the “black box” of the differentiated TFL–team creativity relationship. Moreover, other determinants were well controlled in the experiment, and thus, the authors effectively clarified the intervening mechanism of differentiated TFL on team creativity through the mediating effect of team conflict.

Dual-focused transformational leadership and individual creativity: moderating effects of team scout activity and individual perspective-taking

This paper developed and tested a research model in which team- and individual-focused transformational leadership (TFL) influence individual creativity through psychological empowerment and the positive effects of team- and individual-focused TFL are moderated via team scout activity and individual perspective-taking. Using multilevel and multisource matched data collected from 44 team leaders and 151 employees in 21 companies, we found that team- and individual-focused TFL had a significant indirect effect on individual creativity through psychological empowerment. The effect of team-focused TFL was significant only when team scout activity was high, whereas the effect of individual-focused TFL was significant only when individual perspective-taking was high.

The Dual Effect of Transformational Leadership on Individual- and Team-Level Performance: The Mediational Roles of Motivational Processes.

Using matched four-stage data from 477 team members and their 132 team leaders in Chinese companies, we examined a cross-level model in which group- and individual-focused transformational leadership (TFL) and their influence on team and member performance from the perspective of multilevel model of motivation in teams. The results indicated that group-focused TFL exerts positive effects through sequential mediation of team efficacy and team process whereas individual-focused TFL has a positive effect on team members' performance through sequential mediation of followers' self-efficacy and individual regulation process. In addition, we also find significant cross-level mediation effects demonstrating that group-focused TFL was positively related to self-efficacy through the mediator of team efficacy, team efficacy was positively related to the individual regulation process through the mediator of the team process, team process was positively related to individual performance through the mediator of the individual regulation process. Theoretical and applied implications are discussed.

개인중심의 변혁적 리더십, 직무기반 심리적 주인의식, 일 몰입 및 직무성과의 구조적 관계

This study aims to examine how individual-focused transformational leaders play an essential role in employee job performance by assessing the mediating role of job-based psychological ownership and work engagement. Data was collected from a sample 597 employees working in a public sector organization in Korea. The research hypotheses were verified using a structural equation model.BRThe results indicate that individual-focused transformational leadership has a positive impact on job performance. Work engagement partially mediated the relationship between those variables, but job-based psychological ownership did not. And job-based psychological ownership and work engagement have sequential mediating effects that relationship. By identifying individual-focused transformational leadership as a determinant of job-based psychological ownership and work engagement, this paper provides a comprehensive framework to understand the process through which leadership influences individual behavior and motivation toward job performance of front-line employees.

Individual-focused transformational leadership and employee strengths use: the roles of positive affect and core self-evaluation

PurposeThrough the lens of affective events theory, this study sought to investigate the associations of individual-focused transformational leadership, namely individualized consideration and intellectual stimulation, with employee strengths use (ESU) and the mediating role of positive affect and the moderating role of core self-evaluation (CSE) in these associations.Design/methodology/approachThe authors collected data by a three-wave research design. Hypotheses were examined with a sample of 178 employees working in various organizations in China.FindingsThe results revealed that both individualized consideration and intellectual stimulation have positive relationships with ESU and positive affect partially mediates these two relationships. Contrary to our hypotheses, CSE negatively moderated the relationship of intellectual stimulation with positive affect and the mediational effect of positive affect on the relationship between intellectual stimulation and ESU. However, CSE did not moderate the relationships between individualized consideration, positive affect and ESU.Originality/valueThis study was the first to empirically examine the relationships of individualized consideration and intellectual stimulation with ESU and the mediating effect of positive affect and the moderating effect of CSE on these relationships.

Team Social Capital and Team Innovation: The Role of Task Conflict and Transformational Leadership

Drawing on the input-process-output model of teamwork, this study examines team innovation using a social capital lens. We propose that team social capital, operationalized as bridging and bonding social capital, negatively influences team innovation vi a team proportional task conflict, which is the level of task conflict teams experience proportional to relationship and process conflict. In addition, we expected group and individual-focused transformational leadership (TFL) to buffer the negative indirect effect of team social capital on team innovation. Results from time-lagged data collected from 324 employees in 45 research and development (R&D) teams supported most of our predictions. We found that teams with both bonding and bridging social capital are less innovative because they experience less proportional task conflict. Furthermore, group-focused TFL buffered the indirect relationship for teams with bridging social capital in that the negative effect on team innovation was only present for teams with leaders displaying low as opposed to high levels of group-focused TFL. However, a buffering effect of individual-focused TFL for teams with bonding ties was not detected. We discuss theoretical and practical implications of these findings.

Group- and individual-focused transformational leadership

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to build a new transformational leadership typology by demonstrating high/low degrees of group- and individual-focused transformational leader behaviors – authentic type (high-high), group-oriented type (high-low) and individual-oriented type (low-high) – and to predict that the three types relate differently to follower responses (intention to sacrifice, cognitive trust of supervisor and affective liking).Design/methodology/approachThis study uses an experimental scenario to generate the maximum levels of between-group variance among the three types. A total of 182 mainland Chinese full-time employees participated in the experiment.FindingsFollowers’ intention to sacrifice is equally high under the authentic, group-oriented and individual-oriented types of leadership. In addition, followers’ cognitive trust of supervisor is equally high under the authentic and group-oriented types and the lowest under the individual-oriented type. Finally, followers’ affective liking is equally high under the authentic and individual-oriented types and the lowest for the group-oriented type.Originality/valueA new transformational leadership typology that combines high and low degrees of group- and individual-focused behaviors is established. Based on this typology, this study shows how the three types distinctively affect followers’ reactions, including intention to sacrifice, cognitive trust of supervisor and affective liking.

Supervisory influence

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the development of leader potential in an extreme context – it develops and tests a model that describes how subordinate perceptions of individual-focused transformational leadership, subordinate trust in the leader and subordinate identification with the team influence supervisory evaluations of subordinate crisis leader potential.Design/methodology/approachSurveys were administered to emergency services personnel and their supervisors working in a large fire rescue organization in the Southeastern USA. Survey responses were analyzed using hierarchical regression.FindingsResults support the theoretical model – subordinates reporting high levels of trust in their transformational leader were evaluated by their supervisors as having stronger potential to become crisis leaders. Lower levels of subordinate identification with the team strengthened the transformational leadership to trust association and the indirect effect of perceived transformational leadership on supervisory evaluations of subordinate crisis leader potential (through subordinate trust in the leader).Practical implicationsSupervisors who are viewed as transformational and fostering trusting relationships by subordinates are more likely to evaluate subordinates as having the potential to lead in crisis situations. In an extreme context within an organization facing change, subordinates who identify less with their team might build a more trusting relationship with a leader who is perceived as demonstrating transformational behaviors.Social implicationsSubordinate focus on the leader appears to enhance supervisory evaluations of subordinate potential (for leader development) in the study. Individual-level rewards for employees that involve competition might counter efforts toward shared mental models and remain the greatest challenge in the public emergency services setting.Originality/valueEvaluating leader development, in terms of crisis leader potential, in an extreme context using a process model – to understand the interplay of individual-focused transformational leadership and trust given the moderating effect of team identification – is a key strength of the current study.

A Review of Team-Focused Transformational Leadership: Past and New Trends

Based on the new development of the transformational leadership theory, namely differentiated transformational leadership, this paper sorts out the related concepts, structures and measurements of individual-focused transformational leadership and team-focused transformational leadership. Based on contingent leadership theory, individual-focused transformational leadership focuses on individual employees and has different leadership styles for different subordinates. Team-focused transformational leadership pays more attention to the overall team, attaches importance to team goals and team interests, and consolidates the power of subordinates to achieve team goals through emphasizing the common background and values of the team. In a collectivist society, the team-focused transformational leadership is more in line with the Chinese situation. The last part elaborates the mechanism of the team-focused transformational leadership on team creativity. Most studies believe that team-focused transformational leadership can build the atmosphere of team trust and cooperation. Subordinates are happy at work, then their motivation is stronger, which is conducive to the realization of the team goal, that is, the team-focused transformational leadership can positively influence the team creativity.

Person-supervisor fit, needs-supplies fit, and team fit as mediators of the relationship between dual-focused transformational leadership and well-being in scientific teams

ABSTRACTTeam-based work structures have become prevalent in science. Scientific teams, however, are characterized by competing individual-level and team-level needs (i.e., by mixed-motive situations). This makes leading scientific teams particularly challenging: Balancing competing individual-level goals and common team-level goals requires a specific type of leadership that simultaneously considers both satisfying individual-level needs as well as team-level needs. The current study addresses this issue by combining the dual-focused model of transformational leadership with person-environment fit theory. Specifically, we investigated needs-supplies fit, person-supervisor fit, and team fit as mediators of the relationship between transformational leadership and scientific team members’ job satisfaction and work-related strain. In doing so, we provide a new perspective on leadership in scientific teams by explicitly differentiating individual-level and team-level effects of transformational leadership. We tested our hypotheses using a three-wave design with a sample of 134 members of 42 scientific teams. The relationships between individual-focused transformational leadership, job satisfaction, and work-related strain were mediated by needs-supplies fit and person-supervisor fit. Team-focused transformational leadership was positively related to job satisfaction and negatively related to work-related strain. Our findings contribute to further clarifying the mechanisms underlying the relationship between transformational leadership and members’ well-being in scientific teams.

Dual-level transformational leadership and team information elaboration: The mediating role of relationship conflict and moderating role of middle way thinking

Transformational leadership studies identify a dual-level model comprising group-focused and individual-focused transformational leadership. In this study, a relational perspective is used to develop a moderated mediation model linking dual-level transformational leadership to within-team information elaboration. Data collected from 100 teams in 32 Chinese high-technology firms reveal that group-focused transformational leadership increases information elaboration, while differentiated individual-focused transformational leadership decreases information elaboration. Team relationship conflict mediates the effects. Furthermore, middle-way thinking as a culture-specific Chinese thinking style moderates the indirect effects. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Effectiveness of Group- and Individual-Focused Transformational Leadership: A Comparative Study between Korean and Japanese Employees from Crossvergence Perspective

Effectiveness of Group- and Individual-Focused Transformational Leadership: A Comparative Study between Korean and Japanese Employees from Crossvergence Perspective

A New Look at Transformational Leadership and Organizational Identification: A Mediation Effect of Followership Style in a Non-Western Context

THE FOLLOWER-LEADER RELATIONSHIP DOES NOT operate in a vacuum (Bjugstad et al., 2006). Since followers and leaders are linked together in interrelated roles and are dependent on each other, the importance of followers cannot be underestimated (Yukl, 2002). While organizations continue to devote time and money to the development of leadership, followership is what enables leadership to succeed (Oyetunji, 2013). The integrated model of followership and leadership styles can be applied and matched to fit different organizational cultures and goals (Kark et al., 2003). Organizations may tend to have certain predominant leaders and/or follower types and so organizations have to be able to fit the two types together (Yukl, 1989, 1998).In today's global market, companies must recognize that success or failure is a result of both leaders' and followers' roles (Bennis, 2010; Hollander & Offermann, 1990; Kelley, 1992; Oyetunji, 2013). Leadership and followership co-exist; there can be no leaders if there are no followers (Hollander, 1992; Kelley, 2008). Numerous developments in the study of leadership have made evident the practical significance of follower perceptions of the leader-follower relationship (Hollander & Kelly, 1990; Hollander, & Webb, 1955). Followers are as important as leaders, yet in management and organizational behavior literature, the focus is largely on the concept of leadership, while follower behavior is often ignored (Blanchard et al., 2009; Ekundayo et al., 2010; Hollander, 1964).This present study contributes to the literature by raising three questions. First, What are the different complements of transformational leadership behaviors that exert their influence on followers in this research context, the UAE? The second question we focus on is, What are the possible effects of these different behaviors on followers' styles in this research context, the UAE? The third is, What are the effects of such leadership behaviors and followership styles on organizational outcomes like organizational identification in this research context, the UAE? To this end, the current study develops and tests a theoretical model (see Fig. 1) to explore individual-focused and group-focused transformational leadership behaviors, as well as followers' style and their impact on organizational identification.A comprehensive revision of the literature of the different variables of the study is first presented. Second, I present the research model and hypotheses development. The research methodology is discussed later. Last, the research results, the implications and a future research agenda are described.Theory and literatureTransformational leadershipTransformational leadership is one of the most prevalent approaches to understanding individual, group and organizational effectiveness (Bass, 1997). Transformational leadership is a multifaceted construct (Podsakoff & MacKenzie, 1994; Podsakoff et al., 1990, 1996; Yukl, 1989). It displays certain types of behavior that imply that the motivational basis of transformational leadership is a process of changing the way followers envision themselves (see Lord & Brown, 2004; Shamir et al., 1993) either as unique persons with distinctive needs or as passionate members of a social group whose obligations align with the obligations of the group (Tajfel & Turner, 1986).Individual-focused transformational leadership behaviorsIndividual-focused leadership suggests that effective leaders vary their behavior on the basis of followers' individual differences (e.g. abilities and their behavioral styles) (Podsakoff et al., 1990; Rafferty & Griffin, 2004; Wu et al., 2010). Two components of transformational leadership behaviors-individualized consideration and intellectual stimulation-focus on individuals' needs, capabilities and affective states, rather than on their collective interests (Kark et al., 2003; Wu et al. …