TY - JOUR AB - Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between transformational leadership and a transactional leadership component (management by exception‐active), and fulfillment of the basic needs of autonomy, competence and relatedness.Design/methodology/approach– The paper is based on cross sectional data from 661 employees who completed validated questionnaires such as the the multifactor leadership questionnaire (MLQ) and the basic need satisfaction at work (BNSW). The data were analysed using structural equation modeling in AMOS 18.0.Findings– The results show that both transformational leadership and the transactional behavior management by exception active are significantly related to fulfillment of the basic needs. Significant regression weights of 0.50 (p<0.01) 0.46 (p<0.01), and 0.21 (p<0.01) from transformational leadership to relatedness, autonomy and competence were also found. Negative and smaller paths were revealed from management by exception to relatedness (=−0.12, p<0.01), competence (=−0.12, p<0.05), and autonomy (=−0.18, p<0.01). Squared multiple correlations (R2) for relatedness, competence and autonomy were 0.28, 0.06, and 0.27, respectively.Originality/value– The paper empirically addresses the theoretically suggested link between transformational leadership and need fulfillment. VL - 16 IS - 5 SN - 1362-0436 DO - 10.1108/13620431111168903 UR - https://doi.org/10.1108/13620431111168903 AU - Hetland Hilde AU - Hetland Jørn AU - Schou Andreassen Cecilie AU - Pallesen Ståle AU - Notelaers Guy PY - 2011 Y1 - 2011/01/01 TI - Leadership and fulfillment of the three basic psychological needs at work T2 - Career Development International PB - Emerald Group Publishing Limited SP - 507 EP - 523 Y2 - 2024/04/19 ER -