Transactional Leadership Behaviors Research Articles

Relationships Among Leadership, Organizational Commitment, and OCB in Uruguayan Health Institutions

We develop and test a model that relates leadership behaviors, organizational commitment, and organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs). We test the model using structural equations with a sample of 116 doctors from Uruguay. Consistent with expectations, our results show that transactional leadership behaviors increase followers' continuance commitment and decrease their growth commitment, whereas transformational leadership behaviors increase followers' growth commitment and also their normative commitment. Besides, organizational commitment mediates in the relationship between leadership and OCB. The turbulent socio-economic context of hospitals in Uruguay make this sample of special interest, since almost all the research published in the field to date has been conducted in developed economies, and during times of macroeconomic prosperity or stability.

Personality and Transformational and Transactional Leadership: A Meta-Analysis.

This study was a meta-analysis of the relationship between personality and ratings of transformational and transactional leadership behaviors. Using the 5-factor model of personality as an organizing framework, the authors accumulated 384 correlations from 26 independent studies. Personality traits were related to 3 dimensions of transformational leadership--idealized influence-inspirational motivation (charisma), intellectual stimulation, and individualized consideration--and 3 dimensions of transactional leadership--contingent reward, management by exception-active, and passive leadership. Extraversion was the strongest and most consistent correlate of transformational leadership. Although results provided some support for the dispositional basis of transformational leadership--especially with respect to the charisma dimension--generally, weak associations suggested the importance of future research to focus on both narrower personality traits and nondispositional determinants of transformational and transactional leadership.

A one-minute measure of the Big Five? Evaluating and abridging Shafer's (1999a) Big Five markers

Across four studies, involving 960 participants including university students and working adults, the predictive validity of Shafer's (Shafer, 1994) 30-bipolar-item measure of the Big Five was compared to the predictive validity of three abridged versions of Shafer's measure: (1) a 15-bipolar-item measure; (2) a measure that clustered all of Shafer's 60 adjectives onto five items; and (3) a five-bipolar-item measure. Criteria included respondents’ grade point average, self-reports of job satisfaction, job security, job stress, relationship satisfaction, relationship commitment, trust, and provision of social support, as well other-reports of transactional and transformational leadership behaviours, organisational citizenship behaviours, and assertiveness. Results showed good predictive validity for all four Big Five measures, with only a slight decline in predictive validity as the number of items and adjectives in the Big Five measures decreased. The results support the use of the abridged measures under conditions when administration time is short, rater fatigue is likely or when multiple measures are being administered.

Effects of leadership on organizational performance in Russian companies

This study investigated concurrently the main effects of the transformational- and transactional-leadership behaviors on organizational performance of Russian companies, the moderating effects of support for innovation on the relationship between the transformational-leadership behaviors and organizational performance, and the impact of group cohesiveness on transformational-leadership behaviors in a Russian context. The results demonstrated that transformational leadership directly and positively predicted organizational performance of Russian companies over and beyond the impact of transactional leadership; Russian managers who displayed more transactional-leadership behaviors also made a positive contribution to the achievement of organizational goals; support for innovation significantly moderated the relationship between transformational leadership and organizational performance; and group cohesiveness was positively related to the ratings of transformational leadership. These research findings were, then, used to draw conclusions concerning finding new effective ways to promote organization development (OD) and to achieve better organizational performance results in Russia. The potential benefits for Russian companies of Full Range of Leadership Development Modules, process consultation (PC), sensitivity training, and other OD techniques were discussed.

Transformational leadership and moral reasoning.

Terms such as moral and ethical leadership are used widely in theory, yet little systematic research has related a sociomoral dimension to leadership in organizations. This study investigated whether managers' moral reasoning (n = 132) was associated with the transformational and transactional leadership behaviors they exhibited as perceived by their subordinates (n = 407). Managers completed the Defining Issues Test (J. R. Rest, 1990), whereas their subordinates completed the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (B. M. Bass & B. J. Avolio, 1995). Analysis of covariance indicated that managers scoring in the highest group of the moral-reasoning distribution exhibited more transformational leadership behaviors than leaders scoring in the lowest group. As expected, there was no relationship between moral-reasoning group and transactional leadership behaviors. Implications for leadership development are discussed.

The transformational‐transactional leadership model in practice

Explores the nature of transformational and transactional leadership among business executives. Comments reveal that most executives believe there are weaknesses as well as strengths with both leadership constructs in practice. Overall, major leadership strengths are in the role modelling, coaching, and consideration behaviors of executives. Major weaknesses are in failure to motivate and challenge workers beyond the expected outcomes. Other facets of each of the four transformational and two transactional leadership behaviors are examined in this article. Lists leadership strategies and approaches for achieving positive results and implications for future research are also provided.

Transformational and Transactional Leadership and Salesperson Performance

This study examines the impact of transformational and transactional leader behaviors on the sales performance and organizational citizenship behaviors of salespeople, as well as the mediating role played by trust and role ambiguity in that process. Measures of six forms of transformational leader behavior, two forms of transactional leader behavior, trust, and role ambiguity were obtained from 477 sales agents working for a large national insurance company. Objective sales performance data were obtained for the agents, and their supervisors provided evaluations of their citizenship behaviors. The findings validate not only the basic notion that transformational leadership influences salespeople to perform “above and beyond the call of duty” but also that transformational leader behaviors actually have stronger direct and indirect relationships with sales performance and organizational citizenship behavior than transactional leader behaviors. Moreover, this is true even when common method biases are controlled. The implications of these findings for future research are discussed.

The MLQ revisited: psychometric properties and recommendations

The Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) is one of the most widely used instruments to measure transformational and transactional leader behaviors in the organizational sciences. A review of this literature reveals inconsistent research findings, which may be due to the psychometric properties of the MLQ. Data from four samples of managers were employed to investigate the underlying factor structure of the MLQ. In independent samples, the data fail to support the hypothesized structure of the MLQ in first- and second-order confirmatory factor analyses (CFA). However, a reduced set of items from the MLQ appear to show preliminary evidence of construct and predictive validity. Implications for future research and theoretical development are discussed.

Transformational leadership in schools – Panacea, placebo or problem?

Describes a study, which investigated the relationship between the transformational and transactional leadership behaviours of school principals in selected New South Wales state secondary schools with some teacher outcomes and aspects of school learning culture. Analysis suggested that there were two factors which were transformational, two factors which were transactional and one teacher outcome factor. Five school learning culture factors were identified. Furthermore, the transformational leadership behaviour (individual concern) was associated with the teacher outcomes – satisfaction, extra effort and perception of leader effectiveness. Contrary to what might be expected, transformational leadership behaviour (vision/inspiration) had a significant negative association with student learning culture. Significant interactions suggested that this relationship may be more complex than might be expected.

Women civil servants and transformational leadership in Bangladesh

Explores the issues of women and leadership style in a non‐commercial and non‐Western context. Attempts to describe and discuss research that was undertaken with 49 women from the Civil Service of Bangladesh in order to determine their perceptions of their own leadership behaviour. Consider whether these perceptions are likely to lead to the adoption of either a predominantly transformational or transactional leadership behaviour style.

Leadership and Relationship Commitment: A Focus on the Supplier–Buyer–User Linkage

This study examines the effects of transformational and transactional leadership behaviors on relationship commitment in the supplier–buyer–user supply chain. The focus is on the activities and relationships between (1) the corporate buyers and the internal users and (2) the corporate buyers and the external suppliers in the supply chain. To assess the relationships in the supplier–buyer–user supply chain, two different samples are used to test the developed framework: (1) a user sample consisting of 346 strategic business unit users of a major multinational corporation and (2) a buyer sample consisting of the corporate buyers of 200 National Association of Purchasing Management member corporations. Overall, the results suggest that transformational leadership behaviors have a positive influence on building commitment in the dyadic relationships between (1) users and buyers and (2) buyers and suppliers. As such, transformational leadership affects the quality of the supply chain relationship among the interdependent units that form a long-linked partnership to serve customers.

Transformational Leadership Effects at Different Levels of the Army

In this investigation of officers' transformational leadership behavior, we expand the array of subordinate outcomes investigated, assess differential effects of transformational and transactional leadership behaviors, and examine differences in the occurrence and effects of such behaviors across three levels of the U.S. Army. Transformational leadership was expected to augment the effects of transactional leadership on an array of unit outcomes and across organizational levels. In support of our hypotheses, transformational behavior was found to augment the effects of transactional behaviors on followers' job motivation and affective commitment, whereas transactional behaviors were associated with subordinates' calculative commitment. Results indicated that the unique effects of transformational leadership on subordinate job motivation increased as a function of leadership level. In addition, higher ranking officers were perceived as more transformational and less passive than were lower ranking officers. Theoretical and methodological implications of these findings for transformational leadership research are discussed.

A laboratory experiment testing the antecedents of leader cognitions

A laboratory experiment was conducted to test relationships between leadership style, feedback on subordinate performance within the context of either the vision or goals of the organization, and leader cognitions representing a modified version of Wofford and Goodwin's (1994) cognitive processing model of leadership. The results indicated that: (1) positive feedback leads to the access of transformational cognitions, whereas negative feedback leads to the access of transactional cognitions; (2) negative feedback about subordinate performance causes transformational leaders to access transactional cognitions in response to subordinates; (3) the relationship between transformational leadership behavior and transformational cognitions is strengthened when feedback received about subordinates is vision-related compared to feedback that is goal-related; and (4) the relationship between transactional leadership behavior and transactional cognitions is strengthened when feedback received is goal-related compared to feedback that is vision-related. Limitations and future research directions are discussed. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Senior Australian law enforcement leadership under examination

This study compares leadership behaviors of senior Australian police officers with leadership norms established by Bass and Avolio (1990). A sample of 480 senior officers recorded the frequency of transformational leadership, transactional leadership, and non‐leadership behaviors of their leaders, using the multifactor leadership questionnaire. The leadership outcomes of extra effort, effectiveness, and satisfaction were also recorded. Comparisons of leadership behavior mean scores identified that leaders of senior Australian law enforcement officers used significantly less transformational leadership in comparison with the norm. The transactional leadership behavior of management‐by‐exception was the most frequently observed and was used significantly more than the norm. Management‐by‐exception represents leadership behavior that occurs only when the status quo has been broken. As a type of transactional leadership, management‐by‐exception relies on motivating followers by highlighting follower self‐interest, rather than developing followers. Implications for law enforcement organizations and leadership development are discussed.

The effect of global leadership on purchasing process outcomes

This study examines the effects of transformational and transactional leadership behaviors on cycle time, customer orientation, and relationship commitment in the purchasing process of a multinational services organization. The focus is on the activities and relationships between the international strategic business units (SBUs) and the corporate buying center leadership of the organization. Based on a sample of 346 SBUs and a series of 11 case studies, the results suggest that frequent and infrequent SBU users differ somewhat in the leadership behaviors preferred as determined by the effects on the three purchasing outcomes. The paper concludes with a discussion of the results and the implications for future research endeavors on global leadership in purchasing.

Identification of Transformational Leadership Qualities: An Examination of Potential Biases

A basic ingredient in transformational leadership development consists in identifying leadership qualities via distribution of the multifactor leadership questionnaire MLQ to followers of the target leaders. It is vital that the MLQ yields an accurate and unbiased assessment of leaders on the various leadership dimensions. This article focuses on two sources of bias which may occur in identifying leadership qualities. First, when followers assess the strengths and weaknesses of their leaders, they may have difficulty in differentiating between the various transformational and transactional leadership behaviours. It is found that this is only the case for the transformational leadership attributes because the four transformational leadership dimensions measured by the MLQ correlate highly and cluster into one factor. MLQ ratings on the three transactional leadership dimensions are found not to be interrelated and show evidence for three distinct factors: contingent reward, active management-by-exception and passive leadership. Second, social desirability does not seem to be a strong biasing factor, although the transformational leadership scale is somewhat more socially desirable. These findings emphasize that the measurement of so-called new leadership qualities remains a controversial issue in leadership development. Practical implications of these findings and avenues for future research are also discussed.

Leadership behaviours of principals in inclusive educational settings

Reveals the results of a study which investigated the principal’s leadership behaviour in schools which educate moderately and severely disabled students in regular education classrooms on a full‐time basis. More specifically, notes that the purposes of this study were to determine whether the leadership behaviours of principals, as perceived by teachers, tended to be more transformational or more transactional; and whether there was a difference in the leadership behaviours of principals and the extent to which principals motivated teachers to exert effort beyond the ordinary. Forty‐four teachers from five school districts responded to the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) developed by Bass (1985). The independent variable was leadership behaviours of principals, defined as varying degrees of transformational and transactional leadership. The dependent variable was defined as principals’ ability to affect teacher motivation. Shows that the results of the study indicated that principals were perceived by teachers to exhibit more transformational leadership behaviours than they exhibited transactional leadership behaviours. Also, teachers tended to be more highly motivated under the leadership of principals who they perceived to be more transformational than transactional.

The Effect of Leader Characteristics on the Perceived Transformational/Transactional Leadership and Impact of Interuniversity Athletic Administrators

This study examined the effect of various leader characteristics on the transformational/transactional leader behavior (Bass, 1985) and impact of interuniversity athletic administrators (n = 32), as rated by their coaches (n = 114). Gender, age, education, administrative experience, and athletic/coaching experience were examined as possible antecedents to leader behavior (Chelladurai, 1980,1993). These characteristics reflect life experiences (Avolio & Gibbons, 1988) and common indicators of occupational development of athletic administrators (e.g., Barr, 1995; Quarterman, 1992; Williams & Miller, 1983). Leader behavior was measured by the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (Bass & Avolio, 1991b). Differences in transformational/transactional leader behavior were observed for the leader characteristics of gender and age, where female and younger athletic administrators were found to exhibit transformational leader behavior more often, and transactional leader behavior less often, than their male and older counterparts, respectively. Gender and age also were associated with the coaches' perception of leader effectiveness and their frequency of extra effort.

Gender and leadership style: Transformational and transactional leadership in the Roman Catholic Church

Gender differences in transformational and transactional leadership style are assessed. Research that explores women's values and their relationship to leadership style is reviewed. Organizational context is argued to play a deciding role in the leadership style exhibited by women leaders. Traditionally masculine organizations are presented as less conducive to women's display of transformational leadership. Research findings are presented from a large-scale survey conducted in a nontraditional context. Subjects were 6,359 subordinates of leaders in all-female and all-male religious orders of the Roman Catholic Church. Subjects completed the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire to measure frequency of transformational and transactional leadership behaviors. Subordinate ratings revealed both female and male leaders exhibit more transformational than transactional leadership behaviors. However, female leaders are rated to exhibit significantly more transformational leadership behaviors and significantly fewer transactional leadership behaviors than male leaders. Both female and male subordinates rated themselves as more satisfied with transformational leadership.

A cognitive interpretation of transactional and transformational leadership theories

Cognitive processes constructs provide a framework for analysis of transformational leadership and transactional leadership behaviors. Working memory, attribution, expectation, schema, script, and strategy processes are viewed as mediators in the relationships between feedback and environmental inputs and leadership behaviors. While these processes are the bases for both transformational and transactional leadership behaviors, the specific cognitive content differs between them. Whether an individual leads by developing a vision and enlisting subordinates' ego involvement in it or by setting goals and structuring tasks, depends upon the content of relevant schemata and scripts. This content is developed through experiences in similar situations or through vicarious learning. Literature relevant to the leadership and cognitive processes areas is reviewed, propositions are presented, and implications for research and practice are discussed.