Laissez-faire Leadership Behaviors Research Articles

The Impact of Leadership Styles, Cultural Dimensions and Values on Academic Leaders

This study investigates the cultural dimensions, values, and leadership styles of school leaders in Indian K-12 and European schools, specifically focusing on cross-cultural differences. The objective is to explore how leadership styles and cultural orientations differ between Indian and European school leaders and to examine how these variations impact organizational culture and decision-making processes. A non-experimental quantitative research design was employed, utilizing standardized instruments such as the Multi-factor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ-Form 6S), OCTAPACE, and the Scale of Individual Cultural Values (CV) to measure leadership styles and cultural dimensions. Data were collected from 165 Indian leaders across Punjab, Haryana, Delhi-NCR, and Uttar Pradesh, as well as 156 European leaders from Croatia, Hungary, Poland, and others, using purposive and convenience sampling methods. Independent t-tests and Discriminant Function Analysis (DFA) were used to compare the two regions' leadership styles and cultural orientations. The findings reveal that Indian school leaders predominantly demonstrate transformational and laissez-faire leadership behaviors, influenced by hierarchical structures prioritizing collective goals and authority delegation. Indian leaders scored higher on openness, trust, and collaboration dimensions, which align with collectivist and hierarchical cultural norms. In contrast, European leaders emphasized confrontation, authenticity, and individual autonomy, reflecting a preference for more egalitarian and individualistic decision-making approaches. These insights contribute to a deeper understanding of how leadership and cultural values shape educational practices in different contexts.

Leadership behavior and organizational change management in selected public universities of Ethiopia: Exploring the impact of leadership influences and change processes

The study explored the impact of leadership behavior on organizational change management process in selected public Universities in Ethiopia. The authors utilized a concurrent mixed Triangulation design, combining quantitative and qualitative methods. The Quantitative data collected from 581 questionnaires were distributed to 379 academic staff and 202 academic leaders. Besides, qualitative data was collected from 12 top management bodies and 48 student representatives by using interviews and focus group discussions respectively. This ensured that a representative sample was obtained from the target population. The researchers used mean, standard deviation, independent sample t-test, correlation and regression to analyze and interpret the data collected. The study findings revealed a positive and significant impact of autocratic, democratic, laissez-faire, and transactional leadership behaviors on organizational change management process. However, there was a negative and significant impact of transformational leadership behavior on organizational change management process. Indeed, the study identified significant differences in the perceptions of leadership behaviors and organizational change management between academic staff and academic leaders. Based on the study findings, the authors recommended that leaders in public Universities customize and apply the identified positive leadership behaviors (autocratic, democratic, laissez-faire, and transactional) to effectively manage organizational change.

The impact of leadership behaviors on startup's entrepreneurship in Vietnamese Southern areas in the time of Covid-19

PurposeThis paper examines the impact of leadership behaviors on startup's entrepreneurship in Vietnamese southern areas in the time of Covid-19.Design/methodology/approachThe paper uses OLS regression model to evaluate the impact of leadership behaviors on startup's entrepreneurship in Vietnamese southern areas. Besides, the paper also uses AHP method to identify the factors that influence leadership behaviors in startups in the context of economic shock like the Covid-19 pandemic.FindingsResults reveal that the transformational leadership behavior has a positive correlation with startup's entrepreneurship while the transactional and laissez-faire leadership behaviors are negatively related to startup's entrepreneurship. In addition, using AHP method, certain determinants of leadership behaviors in startups have been specified; among which, the most profound influencing factors are respectively hi-tech use (0.081), training policy (0.079) and check (0.78). In contrast, the factors with negligible impacts include recruitment policy (0.004) and culture (0.037) in startups in the context of economic shock like the Covid-19 pandemic.Research limitations/implicationsThis research only evaluates this impact in the Covid-19 times. In the future, comparisons between the time after the Covid-19 at traditional enterprises and state enterprises are to be done to clarify the difference of this impact.Practical implicationsBy using OLS model and AHP model with the data collected from 209 start-ups, the paper examines the impact of leadership behaviors on start-up's entrepreneurship in the time context of economic shock like the Covid-19 pandemic and propose some recommendations to enhance entrepreneurship in startups in the developing countries.Social implicationsThis study is a step forward in the entrepreneurship research branch that investigates the entrepreneurship issue from the perspectives of social and interpersonal processes. With the identification of the leadership behaviors’ role in shaping start-up's entrepreneurship come highly applicable implications towards the emergence of more effective entrepreneurial startups in the time of Covid-19 and this prevalent digital context.Originality/valueWith the identification of the leadership behaviors' role in shaping startup's entrepreneurship come highly applicable implications toward the emergence of more effective entrepreneurial startups in the time of Covid-19 and this prevalent digital context. This study is conducted to analyze the impact of leadership behaviors on startup's entrepreneurship in the southern areas of Viet Nam having the most startups but affected the most seriously by the Covid-19 pandemic, which has not research on this topic for startups in a developing country like Vietnam in the context of an economic shock.

Leaders’ responses to receipt of proactive helping: Integrating theories of approach–avoidance and challenge–hindrance

How do leaders lead in a complex environment? Leaders often rely on help from others. However, not all help is necessarily beneficial to leaders, especially when it is offered without being asked (i.e., proactive helping). Unfortunately, theory to date has failed to understand the consequences associated with leaders’ receipt of proactive helping at work. To address this shortcoming, we integrate theories of approach–avoidance and challenge–hindrance to unravel how leaders respond to receipt of proactive helping at work, which enabled us to capture both favorable and unfavorable responses to receipt of proactive helping. Our results demonstrated that leaders with higher levels of approach-oriented characteristics were likely to perceive the receipt of proactive helping as more challenging and less hindering. We further found that leaders’ challenge and hindrance appraisals prompt them to engage in transformational and laissez-faire leadership behaviors, respectively. Our work provides an answer to the question of why and under what conditions leaders’ receipt of proactive helping results in constructive leadership.

How to Prevent Hostile Behaviors and Emotional Exhaustion among Law Enforcement Professionals: The Negative Spiral of Role Conflict

The nature and characteristics of the current work environment of law enforcement professionals point out role-conflict situations as one of the main reasons leading to the occurrence of hostile behaviors and the worsening of employees' well-being. Precisely, this research analyzes the mediating role of role conflict between laissez-faire leadership and hostility or police professionals' emotional exhaustion. To mitigate the negative effects of role-conflict situations, the moderating role of certain personal resources such as self-efficacy, and organizational variables such as interactional justice, the meaning of the work and family-work enrichment is also analyzed. Structural equation modeling and multigroup analysis are used in a sample of 180 police professionals. The results show that role conflict fully and positively mediates the relationships between laissez-faire leadership and hostile behaviors or emotional exhaustion. Moreover, self-efficacy and interactional justice moderates the relationship between laissez-faire leadership and role conflict; the meaning of the work moderates the relationships between role conflict and hostile behaviors, and family-work enrichment moderates the relationship between role conflict and employees' emotional exhaustion. The huge relevance of the work of law enforcement professionals and its implications for society justify this research, which aims to highlight the importance of avoiding role-conflict situations to improve labor welfare and prevent counterproductive and unhealthy behaviors.

LAISSEZ-FAIRE LİDERLİK: ALANIN BİR HARİTASI VE BİBLİYOMETRİK BİR ANALİZ / Laissez-Faire Leadership: A Map Of The Field And A Bibliometric Analysis

Laissez-faire liderlik üzerine araştırmalar henüz yeterli düzeyde değildir. Bu çalışmada, 1990-2021 yılları arasında WoS veri tabanında yayınlanan ve başlığında laissez-faire liderlik, pasif liderlik veya kaçınmacı liderlik kelimeleri yer alan 58 makale analizlere dahil edilmiştir. Bu çalışmada, alanın yıllar içindeki gelişimi, alandaki en önemli yayınlar, dergiler, yazarlar ve ülkeler belirlenerek haritalandırılmıştır. Ardından, ortak anahtar kelime analizi ve bibliyografik eşleşme analizleri uygulanmıştır. Sonuçlar en fazla makalenin 2021 yılında yayınlandığını, en üretken dergilerin Work And Stress ve Frontiers in Psychology, en üretken yazarın Skogstad, A., en üretken ülkenin ise ABD olduğunu göstermiştir. Bibliyometrik analiz sonuçlarına göre, en yoğun kullanılan anahtar kelimeler; laissez-faire liderlik, pasif liderlik, liderlik, dönüşümcü liderlik, etkileşimci liderlik, laissez-faire, güvenlik iklimi, pasif kaçınmacı liderlik ve işyeri zorbalığıdır. Bibliyografik eşleşme gücü en yüksek olan yazar, Skogstad, A.; dergi, Work and Stress; ülke ise ABD’dir. Sonuçlar, araştırmacılara alandaki mevcut yönelime ilişkin anlayışı geliştirmeleri ve yeni trendleri tespit etmeleri için güçlü bir temel sağlayabilir.

Daily work pressure and exposure to bullying-related negative acts: The role of daily transformational and laissez-faire leadership

The present study integrates the work environment hypothesis and the effort-reward imbalance model to argue that work-related antecedents of workplace bullying are moderated by the day-to-day leadership practices of one’s immediate leader. Specifically, we propose that individuals’ daily experiences of work pressure are positively related to their daily experiences of bullying-related negative acts. Moreover, we claim that this relationship is weaker on days when those individuals report high (vs. low) levels of transformational leadership behaviour, and stronger on days when they report high (vs. low) levels of laissez-faire leadership behaviour. To test these three hypotheses, we asked 61 naval cadets on a tall ship sailing from Northern Europe to North America to fill out a diary questionnaire for 36 days yielding 1509 observations. The results of multilevel analyses supported our hypothesis of a positive relationship of cadets’ daily reports of work pressure with their daily reports of bullying-related negative acts. In addition, laissez-faire leadership behaviour (but not transformational leadership behaviour) moderated the work pressure–bullying-related negative acts relationship. Our findings support the assumption that laissez-faire leadership is an important component in the development of conflict escalation and workplace bullying, while transformational leadership is not. We discuss theoretical as well as practical implications of these findings.

Full range indeed? The forgotten dark side of leadership

PurposeThe full-range leadership theory, and the distinction between transformational, transactional and laissez-faire leadership behaviour has strongly influenced leadership theory and research in the last several decades. However, in spite of its impact on theory and practice, it has a few shortcomings, as, in its essence, it disregards several essential aspects of a leader’s behaviour, such as the dark side of leadership behaviour. Therefore, to capture various leader behaviours, we provide a more comprehensive leadership model named the “complete full range of leadership”.Design/methodology/approachBased on reviewing the relevant theoretical and empirical literature, we propose an extended theoretical model, which addresses the existing shortcomings of the full range leadership model.FindingsFirst, we added a new active and more destructive facet of leadership style named active, destructive leadership style. Second, based on existing empirical findings, we restructured the transactional facet of full-range leadership by collapsing its components into two new distinct facets representing active constructive leadership style and passive destructive leadership style. Finally, drawing on Hersey and Blanchard’s model, we add a new passive and constructive facet named passive constructive leadership.Originality/valueOur suggested “complete full range of leadership” contributes to leadership theory by addressing the gap between existing theory and empirical findings, making a clear distinction between lack of leadership and delegation and by comprising the dark side of leadership with its bright side into one comprehensive leadership model.

The dynamic relationship between laissez-faire leadership and day-level stress: A role theory perspective

Previous research on laissez-faire leadership and stress has focused on between-person differences by looking at general ratings of leader behaviours. Yet, researchers have demonstrated a high situational contingency of leadership behaviours that call for a more detailed analysis of within-person differences. We adopt a role theory perspective to explain why daily laissez-faire leadership is linked to daily stress of followers. Also drawing on role theory, we further explain fluctuations of supervisors’ laissez-faire leadership behaviour over time in relation to follower perceptions of day-specific stress. Finally, we also take followers’ level of neuroticism into perspective to describe when followers are particularly vulnerable to laissez-faire leadership. We conducted a diary study spanning over 5 days within 1 working week to test whether daily laissez-faire leadership and its variability were positively related to followers’ daily stress and whether these relations were moderated by follower neuroticism. A total of 201 participants completed the diary surveys ( M = 4.79 days × 201 participants = 963 data points) and provided information in an initial survey. Results gave support for most of our hypotheses and showed a positive relationship between daily laissez-faire leadership and daily stress as well as a positive relationship between laissez-faire leadership variability and daily stress. Neuroticism moderated the positive relationship between laissez-faire leadership variability and daily stress in the way that the relationship between laissez-faire leadership variability and daily stress was stronger for individuals with high neuroticism.

Does A Trusted Leader Always Behave Better? The Relationship Between Leader Feeling Trusted by Employees and Benevolent and Laissez-Faire Leadership Behaviors

The concept of feeling trusted, which has received far less attention from researchers than trusting, refers to the trustee’s awareness of trustor’s exposed vulnerability and positive expectations. Previous research has merely centered on employees’ feeling of being trusted by their leaders and its influences on their work-related outcomes, but there is little work about the impact of leader feeling trusted by employees. Grounded in social exchange theory and moral licensing theory, the current research centers on explaining why leaders’ sense of being trusted by employees brings about both positive and negative reactions and considering how leaders’ moral identity moderates these effects. One qualitative study (Study 1) and two quantitative studies (Study 2 and Study 3) were conducted to examine the benefits and drawbacks of leader feeling trusted. Results demonstrated that leader feeling trusted has two main consequences: (1) trusted leaders are more likely to have strong feelings of obligation toward their subordinates, and further engage in benevolent leadership behavior to repay the kindness; and (2) leaders’ sense of being trusted may be conducive to the accumulation of moral credits, thereby stimulating leaders to display laissez-faire leadership behavior. Additionally, our findings indicate that the leader’s moral identity would affect the decisions of the trusted leader to behave better or worse, which promotes benevolent leadership behavior through enhanced felt obligation, and lessens laissez-faire leadership behavior via reduced moral credits.

Full-Range Leadership as a Predictor of Extra Effort in Online Higher Education: The Mediating Effect of Job Satisfaction

Online higher education has rapidly expanded in the United States and displays a great opportunity for growth. Coupled with the growth of e-learning is the need for adjunct faculty to satisfy the need for additional online classes. Despite the importance of online adjunct faculty, little research has been performed to determine their work experiences. This quantitative, correlational study investigated the predictive relationship between the perceived use of transformational, transactional, and laissez-faire leadership behaviors on the extra effort of adjunct faculty who facilitate online classes at a for-profit university in the United States. In a further investigation, the researcher investigated the variable of job satisfaction to determine if it mediated the relationship between leadership style and extra effort. The researcher used the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire and Spector’s Job Satisfaction survey to collect data used in inferential analysis. The researcher performed a stepwise multiple regression and a Baron and Kenny mediation analysis to answer the research questions. The results showed perceived transformational leadership behaviors displayed a statistically significant positive predictive relationship with extra effort, and job satisfaction was a partial mediator between the relationship of transformational leadership and extra effort. The results suggest transformational leadership is beneficial to the extra effort put forth by the sample of adjunct faculty who teach online classes.

Online Adjunct Faculty: A Quantitative Examination of the Predictive Relationship between Leadership and Job Satisfaction

Advances in technology and the rapid expansion and affordability of the internet have helped facilitate the use of online education, or e-learning. To accommodate increased online enrollments, universities are hiring adjunct faculty to teach online courses. Despite the importance of adjunct faculty, there is a lack of research on the experiences of adjuncts, and particularly on the experiences of adjunct faculty who teach online classes. Likewise, there is a lack of research in the for-profit sector of post-secondary education in the United States. This quantitative correlational study addressed this gap in knowledge by investigating the predictive relationship between dimensions of the Full Range Leadership Theory, transformational, transactional, and laissez-faire leadership behaviors, and the overall job satisfaction of adjunct faculty who teach online classes at a for-profit university in the United States. The Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire and Spector’s Job Satisfaction Survey were used to collect data to measure the faculty’s perceptions of leadership and job satisfaction. The results of multiple linear regression indicated transformational leadership was a significant predictor of job satisfaction, and increased overall satisfaction when present. Transactional leadership was also a significant predictor of overall job satisfaction, but demonstrated a negative relationship. Laissez-faire leadership was not a significant predictor of overall job satisfaction.

Leadership and Job Satisfaction: Adjunct Faculty at a For-Profit University

There is a lack of research in the for-profit sector of higher education in the United States. Likewise, there is a lack of research on the factors that affect the job satisfaction of adjunct faculty. To address these gaps in knowledge, a quantitative correlational study was performed to investigate the effect of administrative leadership on the job satisfaction of adjunct faculty who teach online classes at a for-profit university in the United States. The Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire, which measures perceived leadership behaviors, and Spector’s Job Satisfaction Survey, which measures job satisfaction, were used to anonymously collect data from a sample of 77 adjunct faculty. The Full-Range Leadership, which is composed of transformational, transactional, and laissez-faire leadership behaviors, was the theoretical model for leadership. Pearson’s product moment correlational analyses were performed to investigate the bi-variate relationships between the variables. The dependent variable of total satisfaction had a statistically significant, direct and strong correlation with the independent variable of transformational leadership (r = .536, p < .0005). The strength and direction of the relationship indicated that increases in the scores of total satisfaction are associated with increases in scores in transformational leadership. Total satisfaction had a statistically significant, indirect and moderate correlation with the independent variable of laissez-faire leadership (r = -.372, p = .001). The strength and direction of the relationship indicated that lower total satisfaction scores are associated with higher laissez-faire leadership scores. There was no statistically significant relationship between transactional leadership and overall job satisfaction.

An Analysis of the Relationship between School Managers’ Change Leadership Style and Multi-Factorial Leadership Styles from the Views of Teachers

<p style="text-align: justify;">The aim of this study has been to identify school managers’ leadership styles and levels in terms of teachers’ perceptions. The focus of the study includes primary, secondary and high schools in Şahinbey and Şehitkamil districts of Gaziantep. In the study, the selection of the sample, which consists of 228 teachers, was carried out by using the disproportionate cluster sampling method. The data have been collected via change leadership scale and multi-factorial leadership scale. For analysis of data Pearson Correlation coefficients have been used. According to the research results, teachers believe that among the multi-factorial leadership styles their managers show mostly transformational, transactional and change leadership behaviors, while they show laissez-faire leadership behaviors less frequently. It was also found out that there is a moderate relation between transformational and change leadership styles; a low-level weak relation between transformational and transactional leadership; and a low-level relation between transformational and laissez-faire leadership. On the other hand, there is a respectively low and meaningful relationship between change leadership and transactional leadership; a negative and very low relationship between change leadership and laissez-faire leadership. Finally, a low level relation has been detected between transactional leadership and laissez-faire leadership.</p>

The Relative Effects of Constructive, Laissez-Faire, and Tyrannical Leadership on Subordinate Job Satisfaction

Knowledge on short and long-term effects of perceived leadership behaviors on subordinates’ job satisfaction, and particularly so regarding the relative influences of constructive and destructive forms of leadership, is scarce. Based on two prospective and representative surveys, with time lags of 6 months (Study 1) and 2 years (Study 2), respectively, we investigated the relative influence of constructive, laissez-faire, and tyrannical leadership behaviors, respectively, on followers job satisfaction. Interestingly, destructive forms of leadership were the sole significant predictors in both studies. Tyrannical leadership predicted a decrease in subordinate job satisfaction over a 6-month period, while laissez-faire leadership turned out as the sole predictor of job satisfaction over a 2-year time lag. A reversed relationship was found between job satisfaction and subsequent perceived constructive leadership over the 6-month lag. Dissatisfied subordinates did not, however, report increased exposure to destructive forms of leadership, disconfirming the gloomy perception mechanism of dissatisfied and stressed subordinates to perceive their leaders in an ever more negative way. Hence, destructive forms of leadership seem to be better predictors of job satisfaction than are constructive forms of leadership which is in line with the notion that “bad is stronger than good.”

The Destructiveness of Laissez-Faire Leadership Behavior

This study examined the mediating role of economic leader–member exchange (ELMX) on the negative associations between laissez-faire leadership and affective commitment, self-reported work effort, and self-reported organizational citizenship behavior. Two samples were used. Study 1 consisted of 199 employees from an international high-technology manufacturing organization. Study 2 consisted of 197 employees from an international private security firm. Both studies supported a positive association between laissez-faire leadership and an ELMX relationship. Study 1 showed that ELMX fully mediated the negative association between laissez-faire leadership and affective commitment. Study 2 showed that ELMX fully mediated the negative association between laissez-faire leadership and self-reported work effort and partially mediated the negative association between laissez-faire leadership and self-reported organizational citizenship behavior. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Fired up or burned out? How developmental challenge differentially impacts leader behavior.

Leadership development research has largely drawn on experiential and enactive learning theories to explore the positive effects of developmental challenge on leaders. In contrast, we examined potential positive and negative effects of developmental challenge (i.e., challenging job assignments) on leader behavior through an alternative theoretical lens--transactional stress theory. We predicted, on one hand, that developmental challenge may be associated with higher leader engagement and transformational leadership behavior; however, developmental challenge also has the potential to be associated with higher leader emotional exhaustion and laissez-faire leadership behavior. We further proposed that leadership self-efficacy (LSE) moderates these potential effects of developmental challenge and helps explain why leaders react either positively or negatively to developmental challenge. We tested our hypotheses in a sample of 153 leaders and 631 direct reports at a Fortune 500 company. Findings supported positive relationships among developmental challenge, leader engagement, and transformational leadership. However, we also found support for significant relationships among developmental challenge, emotional exhaustion, and laissez-faire leadership. Additionally, leaders lower in LSE were more likely to encounter the negative effects of developmental challenge by experiencing increased emotional exhaustion and displaying laissez-faire leadership behaviors. Our study contributes to theory and practice by elucidating a "dark side" of developmental challenge, identifying LSE as a moderator of the negative effects of developmental challenge, identifying antecedents of transformational and laissez-faire leadership behaviors, and investigating demands and stress in leadership roles.

Liderazgo y su Relación con Variables De Resultado: un Modelo Estructural Comparativo entre Liderazgo Transformacional y Transaccional en una Empresa de Entretenimiento en México

The purpose of this article was to determine the influence of transformational and transactional leadership behavior in the outcome variables of a sample of 100 managers within an entertainment provider organization in Mexico. Structural equation modeling showed that the leadership behavior factors of the participating managers highlighted in first place transformational subscales such as intelectual stimulation, idealized influence (behavior), idealized influence (atribute) and individual consideration. The most important outcome variable for them was extra effort. This result means that managers are interested in developing their followers skillness to resolve problems and update their staff. The theoretical and empirical findings of previous studies of the Model of Bass and Avolio were reaffirmed such as direct and significant correlations between the leadership behaviors and outcome variables and inverse correlations with laissez faire leadership behavior. Alpha Cronbach reliability values were above .70 in such variables.

Leadership behaviour and employee engagement: a Kuwaiti services company

This paper examines the impact of three types of leadership behaviour on work engagement within a Kuwaiti services company. Quantitative methodology, through a survey, was utilised to gather data from 231 participants. The results indicated a significant but small positive relationship between both transactional and transformational leadership behaviours and work engagement, and a significant negative relation between laissez-faire leadership behaviour and work engagement. These interesting results appear to reflect a transnational organisational culture, characterised by shorter-term employment and commitment by managers, whose leadership behaviours are conditioned by their relationship to the ‘employer’ culture and their rewards expectations.

Leading Interns through Humor: The Role of Humor on the Effectiveness of Leadership Behaviors

This paper examined the effectiveness of transformational, transactional and laissez-faire leadership behaviors on job attitudes and behaviors of an understudied population, the interns. To better understand the drivers of interns’ work outcomes, we hypothesized that supervisor humor would interact with her/his leadership style, sending implicit messages about the organizational and supervisory relationship and thereby affecting interns’ attitudes and behaviors. Using a sample of 168 students enrolled in internship programs, this study empirically examines, through PLS modeling, the moderating effect of humor use (positive and negative) on the relationship between leadership styles and attitudes (job satisfaction and job stress) and behaviors (negligent behaviors and intention to stay). Findings suggest that leadership style was moderated by the use of humor in its relationship with intern’s attitudinal and behavioral responses, such as that different leadership behaviors interacted with different types of humor. Implications for further research on the use of humor by leaders in internship programs are discussed.