Search results

The purpose of this paper is to develop and evaluate a leadership development program with focus on transformational leadership and communication. It is explored whether these aspects of leadership can be trained in the course of a two-day intervention. Furthermore, it is tested if pre-training differences among leaders have an influence on the effectiveness of participating in the leadership intervention.

In the study, 38 leaders took part in the two-day training session. The control group consisted of 59 leaders. Information was collected from participating leaders’ followers (n=356) on pre- and post-training measures of transformational leadership as well as on communication skills (attentive and impression-leaving style).

Results show that transformational leadership behaviors improved more after training in the experimental group (EG) than they did in the control group. Also, ratings of the attentive communication style improved more in the EG compared to the control group. Furthermore, participants of the leadership development program benefitted to different degrees from their training. Participants who initially had a medium score showed the best improvement.

The present study advances the scope of leadership development by also considering the trainability of communication skills. Also, insights on the contingency of training effects are provided.

The purpose of this paper is to test the theoretical proposition, put forward by Yukl et al. (2002), that the leadership constructs of transformational and transactional leadership, laissez-faire, consideration, and initiating structure can be arranged into three meta-categories of leadership, namely, relations, task, and change-oriented leadership.

After a comprehensive literature search, 1,402 correlations from 286 sources were obtained which referred to the above mentioned leadership constructs and outcome criteria of effective leadership.

It was found that three meta-categories of leadership (i.e. relations, task, and change-oriented leadership) were sufficient to explain the leadership constructs of transformational and transactional leadership, laissez-faire, consideration, and initiating structure. Moreover, it was also found that change-oriented leadership was most effective in predicting the job satisfaction of followers. In contrast, relations-oriented leadership accounted for most of the variance in both commitment and job performance.

In combination, these results allow for a more comprehensive, integrative description of effective leadership behavior.

The results have implications for leadership assessment and development as well as leader selection and feedback.

Applying Occam’s razor, and in contrast to the majority of prior leadership studies, the present meta-analytical study provided evidence that three categories of leadership behaviors allow for a precise and comprehensive description of effective leadership behavior.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze whether German male and female leaders differ in their leadership behavior, focusing on transactional vs transformational leadership styles.

A field study in which followers were asked to evaluate their respective leaders was conducted in three different organizational contexts in Germany using questionnaires: a recreational sports club (n = 183), a government agency (n = 267), and a public transport services company (n = 203). Additionally, students (n = 518) were asked to evaluate historical world‐class leaders in terms of their leadership styles after a standardized presentation of their life and leadership style using biographies, essays, and movies.

Results in all four samples show that female leaders were perceived as exhibiting more transformational leadership behavior than male leaders. Moreover, female leaders were evaluated as more effective and as producing more satisfaction than their male counterparts.

Self‐report data were used and leadership was assessed from the perspective of the followers. Future research should also include leaders' and peers' perspectives.

The finding that women have a more transformational leadership style than men is extended to another cultural context. The importance of analyzing different organizational contexts is highlighted.

The aim of this study is to contribute to the construct validity of leadership styles. Although several theories of leadership emerged in the past decades, integrative research on leadership constructs is rare. Thus, for the first time, the present study critically tests whether the leadership constructs of transformational and transactional leadership, consideration and initiating structure, and leader‐member‐exchange are convergent, or whether they exhibit discriminant validities, as hypothesized by theory.

Applying hierarchical structural equation modeling to the multitrait‐multimethod (MTMM) approach, the present study explored the convergent and discriminant validity of leadership constructs based on data from multiple sources. Altogether, N=148 dyads of leaders and subordinates from various industries in Germany participated in the present study.

Results demonstrated evidence for the convergence of the leadership constructs.

In leadership feedback projects in organizations, practitioners should utilize multiple rating perspectives for adequate descriptions of leadership behaviors.

Interestingly, approximately the same amount of variance in the data was due to the rating sources as it was to the leadership constructs, suggesting strong method effects in leadership research. The present study was among the first MTMM approaches that addressed the construct validity of several leadership constructs simultaneously and thus, allows new insight into the overall network of leadership theories.

This study aims to explore the simultaneous impact of employees' participation in non‐technical training, technical training, and coaching on subsequent job performance, job involvement, and job satisfaction.

The present study was based on a sample of German call center employees and on a longitudinal, multiple‐sources‐of‐data research design.

It was found that non‐technical training impacted subsequent soft skills and that technical training predicted subsequent hard skills as well as job involvement. Moreover, employees' participation in coaching predicted job satisfaction.

The present study was the first to demonstrate positive effects of technical training on job involvement, and of coaching on job satisfaction. In sum, validity of several developmental interventions was highlighted.

Organizations designing and implementing various developmental interventions should pay attention to the relative effectiveness of these interventions on various organizational‐relevant outcome criteria.

For the first time, the simultaneous impact of multiple human resource development interventions on several outcome criteria was tested empirically.

In today's organizations, the heterogeneity of work teams is increasing. For example, members of work teams have different ages, genders, and/or cultural backgrounds. As a consequence, team leaders have to face the challenge of taking into account the various needs, values, and motives of their followers. However, there has been very little empirical research to test whether the influence of leadership behaviors on performance is moderated by facets of team heterogeneity. This paper aims to address this issue.

The leadership behaviors of transactional and transformational leadership, laissez‐faire, consideration, and initiating structure, as well as three facets of heterogeneity (i.e. age, gender, and culture) were assessed in an empirical study based on a sample of n=283 members of German fire departments. These team members also provided self‐ratings for their performance.

The results revealed that the relationship between three leadership behaviors (i.e. transformational leadership, laissez‐faire, and consideration) and performance was being moderated by facets of team members' heterogeneity.

Both transformational leadership and consideration work best when the work team is heterogeneous with regard to gender.

The importance of the contextual influences of team members' heterogeneity for effective leadership processes was explored theoretically, and subsequently, demonstrated empirically for the first time.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a comprehensive examination of different leadership constructs investigated extensively, namely transformational and transactional leadership, laissez-faire, consideration, and initiating structure, as well as leader-member-exchange. The theoretical overlap as well as the empirical correlations between these constructs is explored.

Overall, 735 correlations were analyzed to generate a meta-analytical correlation matrix.

The meta-analyses revealed highly interrelated leadership constructs (0.26<∣ρ∣<0.74). Results of confirmatory factor analyses suggest a one factor solution of leadership.

The uniqueness and construct validity of leadership constructs is challenged, calling for a revision of the respective leadership theories. Ultimately, an integrative theory of leadership should be developed which accounts for similarities as well as differences between leadership constructs. An integrated theory of leadership would help: researchers to combine their forces and, consequently, organizations across the globe to better select and develop leaders for the future.

By taking a critical, cross-theoretical compare and contrast approach, the present study yielded a comprehensive picture of the interrelationship and partial redundancy of several of the currently researched leadership constructs.

New insights into the overlap between leadership constructs were generated and confirmed by meta-analyses.

The present study aims to examine how employees' formal (e.g. off‐the‐job training) and informal (e.g. discussion with colleagues) career‐related continuous learning (CRCL) activities affect the development of self‐reported work‐related competencies.

Participants were 372 employees working in one of 19 companies from a wide range of industries in Germany.

Results revealed that informal CRCL affected professional, method, and social competencies. In addition, employees' participation in formal CRCL activities that focused on social issues was positively related to social competencies. Three types of competencies (professional, method, and social) are distinguished in the present study.

Additional influences on competency such as motivation and commitment should be controlled for in future studies. Also, competencies should be rated by supervisors. Objective measures of formal CRCL should be assessed.

Organizations that aim to enchance employees' level of competencies should invest in informal CRCL and formal CRCL activities that focus on social competencies. The fact that the study was conducted in a variety of firms supports the idea that the findings could be generalized to other industrial settings.

To the authors' knowledge, this study is the first to demonstrate positive effects of CRCL on employees' levels of social competencies. In addition, the value of informal CRCL for the development of competencies was highlighted.

Followers’ affective commitment to change has been found to constitute a strong predictor of the success of change initiatives in organizations. Several studies have yet shown positive effects of transformational leadership on followers’ commitment to change. However, up to date there is no study examining the direct effects of different transformational leadership behaviors on followers’ commitment to change and the moderating impact of leaders’ commitment to change on these relationships. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

This study uses a cross-sectional, multilevel design based on multisource date from 38 teams from different organizations with a total of 177 participating team members. Data of leaders’ and followers’ commitment to change as well as ratings of transformational leadership behavior were captured applying a quantitative approach.

Results show a significant positive effect of the transformational leadership behavior “individual support” on followers’ affective commitment toward change. Moreover, the transformational leadership behavior “providing an appropriate model” was shown as only positively contributing to followers’ commitment to change when leaders’ own commitment toward change was high.

Due to the multilevel and multisource data, the sample is relatively small which limits the external validity of findings. Also, future studies should invest in longitudinal replication of relationships. Research on leaders’ and followers’ commitment to change should continue to develop more complete models of interacting influence factors.

For team leaders and organizations, results underline the importance of individual support of team members. Thus, leaders need to be enabled to invest individual leadership in the long run. Also, leaders need to become aware of their own commitment toward the change and, going beyond, need to develop a positive bond to the change if they want to be able to act as successful role models.

This paper contributes to existing literature by offering a more detailed insight for researchers and practitioners into the effectiveness of transformational leadership in change by exploring the impact of different transformational leadership behaviors effecting followers’ commitment to change. Moreover, it provides important knowledge about the relevance of leaders’ own commitment to change as a moderator of effective leadership in change.

Although proposed from theory, the assumption that career‐related continuous learning (CRCL) has a positive impact on subsequent job performance has not been tested empirically. The present study aims to close this gap in the literature. A model is derived from theory that predicts a positive impact of CRCL, learning climate, and initial job performance on consequent job performance. In addition, CRCL is hypothesized to mediate the impact of learning climate on final job performance.

Implementing a longitudinal approach, this model was tested empirically in a call center context. Within the first year of their respective career, multiple source data were gathered from employees about their formal CRCL activities, their initial performance, as well as their perception about learning climate.

Results indicated that CRCL predicted final job performance and mediated the impact of learning climate on final job performance. A total of 28 percent of final job performance was explained by the proposed model, highlighting the importance of CRCL for organizational contexts.

The results of this study support the notion that CRCL programs are highly useful for both employees and organizations.

For the first time, the impact of CRCL on job performance is demonstrated empirically.