Transformational leadership and personal outcomes: empowerment as mediator

Abstract

Purpose

Creating and maintaining sustainable businesses require an understanding of the role of leadership in enhancing personal outcomes of employees, and of the processes by which they can be enhanced. The purpose of this paper is to report a study on analyzing how transformational leadership is related to followers’ meaning in life and subjective wellbeing, with psychological empowerment being a mediating variable.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were collected from 285 managers (69 females and 215 males) of a large manufacturing organization in western India. They responded to questions about their superior's transformational leadership and their own empowerment, meaning in life and wellbeing.

Findings

Empowerment mediated the relationship between transformational leadership and follower's meaning in life and wellbeing.

Research limitations/implications

Same‐source bias is a possible limitation of the study. Leader's self‐rating on transformational leadership could be taken, but it would not be as valid as the rating given by followers. Another limitation is the collection of all data at the same time.

Practical implications

The strong and positive relationship between empowerment and meaning in life sheds light on making followers see greater meaning in life. Attempts to enhance meaning in life should first focus on increasing self‐efficacy. If followers do not have faith in their own capability to do their job, it may not be possible for them to see meaning in life.

Originality/value

This study adds to the existing literature by clarifying the process by which transformational leaders enhance followers’ meaning in life and subjective wellbeing.

Citation

Krishnan, V.R. (2012), "Transformational leadership and personal outcomes: empowerment as mediator", Leadership & Organization Development Journal, Vol. 33 No. 6, pp. 550-563. https://doi.org/10.1108/01437731211253019