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The dominant view of laissez-faire leadership has so far been avoidant or regarded as zero leadership. Consequently, it has been suggested that laissez-faire leadership is likely to lead to negative consequences in subordinates’ performance and attitudes. The purpose of this paper is to argue that this conventional view is biased from the start as it is burdened with the concept that laissez-faire leadership is non-strategic and therefore implies negative consequences. This paper further argues that to be able to unveil the real outcomes of laissez-faire leadership, focus should shift to the behavioral aspect of laissez-faire leadership, or non-involvement of a leader/leadership.

This conceptual presentation and presented propositions could stimulate the examination of laissez-faire leadership in more balanced ways.

Shifted focus to the behavioral aspect of laissez-faire leadership, or non-involvement of a leader/leadership allows this paper to explore possible positive outcomes, especially with consideration with dynamics of time. While extant studies about laissez-faire leadership have been partial to negative consequences, this paper explores different contexts in which laissez-faire leadership could be positive.

This paper is one of the first attempts to tease out possible outcomes of laissez-faire leadership, which could be not just negative, by adapting the behavioral aspect of non-involvement of a leader.

The purpose of the study was to examine the relationship between perceived leadership styles and telecommuter intent to leave an organization.

A quantitative non-experimental design was used to examine the relationship between perceived leadership styles and telecommuter intent to leave an organization. In all, three leadership styles were examined: transactional, transformational, and laissez-faire. Telecommuters responded to a single online survey combining two validated survey instruments, the MLQ 5X Rater Form and the Staying or Leaving Index. Respondents were instructed to consider their current manager when responding to the survey.

Linear regression results indicated a significant relationship between perceived transformational and telecommuter intent to leave an organization (F(1, 111)=34.36, p<0.001) suggesting the more a leader demonstrates a transformational leadership style, the more a telecommuter wants to leave the organization. Results indicated a significant negative relationship between perceived laissez-faire leadership style and intent to leave an organization (F(1, 111)=20.01, p<0.001) suggesting the more a leader demonstrates a laissez-faire leadership style, the less a telecommuter wants to leave the organization. No relationship existed between perceived transactional leadership style and telecommuter intent to leave an organization.

The data collected represents perception of leadership behavior vs actual leadership style. Further research should gather both perceived and actual leadership behavior. Research encompassing perceived and actual behaviors would allow for an assessment of the degree of convergence and assist in judging the accuracy of perceptual data.

A relationship was found to exist between perceived transformational leadership style and telecommuter intent to leave an organization. A significant negative relationship was found to exist between perceived laissez-faire leadership style and telecommuter intent to leave an organization. No relationship was found to exist between perceived transactional leadership style and telecommuter intent to leave an organization. The findings were unexpected for all three leadership styles.

Extending the study to gather actual leadership behavior instead of perceived behavior, expanding the populations to include greater diversity, and conducting the study as a longitudinal study to capture leadership over time are recommended for future research. Organizational leaders may wish to use the results of the study to aid their understanding of which leadership styles affect telecommuter intent to leave an organization.

This article focuses on the empirical effects of cognitive differentiation and persuasive skills on transformational, transaction, and laissez-faire leadership. Subjects (N = 294) completed measures of independent and dependent variables. Findings confirmed prior findings, however findings some reflected differences. Cognitive differentiation was positively related to transformation leadership (r = .16, p = .038), unrelated to transactional leadership (r = -.02, ns), and negatively related to laissez-faire leadership (r = -.22, p = .002). Findings were nearly identical for the persuasive skills variable showing a positive relationship with transformational leadership (r = .19, p = .021), no relationship with transactional leadership (r = -.007, ns), and negatively related to laissez-faire leadership (r = -.27, p = .001). In a regression analysis cognitive differentiation and persuasive skills accounted for 5.4% of the unique variance of transformation leadership (F = 4.02, df = 2,139, p = .02). Implications to leadership educators were discussed.

There are several permutations of destructive leadership types. Most involve active leadership actions, but some involve passive actions (or lack of leadership). A review of the literature reveals a relative dearth of root causes of destructive leadership type, but a reasonable sampling of causal factors and predictors of destructive leadership results. The author focuses on three relevant and representative destructive leadership types: Pseudotransformational, Laissez-Faire, and Unethical, and scoured the literature for root causes, causal factors, and predictors related to each. He further compared and contrasted these leadership types to differentiate their similarities and differences and discussed the causal factors and predictors associated with the operationalization of these leadership styles.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the excecution of various leadership styles, namely, transactional, transformational and laissez-faire that are being practiced among the government organizations in the Kingdom of Bahrain. The study compares and differentiates these three leadership styles with that of the major Islamic leadership concepts.

The study used a descriptive analytical method. A number of 100 government employees participated in the survey which has been selected as the sample of the study using the snowball sampling technique.

The study detects that the transactional leadership is the most highly applied leadership style in the government organizations of Bahrain. The finding is identified on the basis of the employees’ attributes based on their gender (male and female); current positions (employee and manager); work experience (less than a year, from one to five years, from 6 to 10 years); and age (less than 20 years, from 20 to 35 years, from 36 to 50 years, more than 50 years). Meanwhile, the second style mostly applied among the employees is the transformational leadership style. It is perceived that this style has been applied by employees with 10 years of work experience and are in the age group of more than 50 years. The least applied leadership style is the laissez-faire.

The study can be used by the Government of Bahrain to set up policies on how to improve efficiency within the government organizations in the Kingdom. This study also fills up the gap in the leadership styles literature, as no prior studies of this manner involving the government organizations of the Island have ever been conducted.

Leadership development has been viewed as a foundational component of agriculture education and the FFA since the early 20^th century (Hoover, Scholl, Dunnigan, & Mamontova, 2007). To contribute to previous research in the field of leadership, this study lays the framework for future studies on the leadership styles of those individuals who lead today’s youth in FFA programs across the State of Texas. This study describes FFA advisors of successful FFA programs in terms of their leadership styles, leadership training/educational background, and suggests how FFA advisors could use their leadership styles to improve their programs. Participants reported engaging in behaviors related to transformational leadership, M = 3.15, more often than those related to transactional, M = 2.45, or laissez-faire leadership styles, M = 0.86

Research has overwhelmingly focused on the positive side of leadership in the past. However, research into negative aspects of leadership is picking up pace. This chapter will provide an overview of two prominent aspects of negative leadership, namely, abusive supervision and laissez-faire leadership. Research has shown that both types of leadership have significant negative consequences both for organisations as a whole as well as individual followers. Examples include lower job satisfaction, stress, as well as lowered performances and a higher likelihood of counter-productive work behaviour. Both abusive supervision and laissez-faire researchers acknowledge that these leadership styles take effect through the perception of followers. That is, they consider that the same behaviour can be interpreted differently by different followers and will, hence, lead to different follower-related outcomes. Abusive supervision and laissez-faire are, however, very different in terms of the actual leader behaviours described. While abusive supervision is a style that is actively destructive, laissez-faire is destructive via lack of support for followers' goal achievement. We end the chapter with an outlook for future research, notably an attempt to systematise future research into destructive leadership with respect to the different forms it can take.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the psychological and motivational processes involved in the relationship between two forms of destructive leadership (tyrannical and laissez-faire) and employee health (burnout, affective commitment and job performance). Drawing on self-determination theory, this paper links tyrannical and laissez-faire leadership to employee health through psychological need frustration and poor-quality (controlled) work motivation.

A total of 399 Canadian nurses took part in this cross-sectional study. Structural equational modelling analyses were conducted.

Results show that tyrannical leadership frustrates nurses’ needs for autonomy, competence and relatedness, whereas laissez-faire leadership frustrates nurses’ need for autonomy only. The frustration of needs for autonomy and competence predicts low-quality (controlled) work motivation, which is consequently associated with impaired health (burnout and lower affective commitment as well as performance).

This study contributes to the scarce knowledge regarding the distinct outcomes of destructive forms of leadership and uncovers the specific psychological and motivational pathways through which these types of leadership influence employees’ health.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the empirical validity of transformational, transactional and laissez‐faire leadership and their sub‐scales among physician managers.

A nation‐wide, anonymous mail survey was carried out in the United States, requesting community health center executive directors to provide ratings of their medical director's leadership behaviors (34 items) and effectiveness (nine items), using the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire 5X‐Short, on a five‐point Likert scale. The survey response rate was 40.9 percent, for a total 269 responses. Exploratory factor analysis was done, using principal factor extraction, followed by promax rotation).

The data yielded a three‐factor structure, generally aligned with Bass and Avolio's constructs of transformational, transactional and laissez‐faire leadership. Data do not support the factorial independence of their subscales (idealized influence, inspirational motivation, individualized consideration, and intellectual stimulation under transformational leadership; contingent reward, management‐by‐exception active, and management‐by‐exception passive under transactional leadership). Two contingent reward items loaded on transformational leadership, and all items of management‐by‐exception passive loaded on laissez‐faire.

A key limitation is that supervisors were surveyed for ratings of the medical directors' leadership style. Although past research in other fields has shown that supervisor ratings are strongly correlated with subordinate ratings, further research is needed to validate the findings by surveying physician and other clinical subordinates. Such research will also help to develop appropriate content of leadership training for clinical leaders.

This study represents an important step towards establishing the empirical evidence for the full range of leadership constructs among physician leaders.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between the leadership style of a chief audit executive (CAE) and the perceived effectiveness of the internal auditing (IA) function that he/she leads. Perceived IA effectiveness is based on identified attributes in the literature influencing IA effectiveness. The aim of this paper is thus to expand the IA effectiveness debate by adding individual differences in CAEs’ leadership styles as a research focus.

A quantitative approach is followed. A survey was conducted on a sample of 58 IA students enrolled in a master’s degree programme at a South African university; all students hold senior positions in IA.

The study confirms that the CAE leadership style significantly influences the identified attributes of perceived IA effectiveness. It further shows that the traditional conceptualisation of leadership (as transformational, transactional and/or laissez-faire) might not be appropriate for or compatible with leaders of professional teams in a regulated environment.

Practically, the study identifies and explores attributes influencing IA effectiveness that are within the purview of the CAE’s leadership style and within his/her ability to influence. This information could (re)direct leadership development training programmes presented in industry and by the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA), and at organisational level, it could inform appointment and retention and succession practices for heads of and senior management in IA.

CAEs are cautioned about the limitations imposed by laissez-faire leadership on IA effectiveness. They should strive to become both transformative and transactional leaders as it has a significant influence on the effectiveness of their IA functions, and by being more effective, they can demonstrate the value proposition of IA. Organisations need to create the environment in which CAEs can act as transformational and transactional leaders. The IIA, as the pre-eminent professional body, could become involved in developing leadership skills of its members. The IIA could provide guidance on leadership styles for CAEs and could also offer formal training initiatives to internal auditors on skills needed to lead IA teams.

This paper may open a new research area in IA effectiveness by focussing on the role and leadership qualities of the CAE.