Transformational leadership,psychological empowerment,and the moderating role of mechanistic–organic contexts

The current study examines the empowering effects of transformational leaders and the extent to which these effects differ across mechanistic–organic organizational contexts. Psychological empowerment is hypothesized to provide a comprehensive motivational mechanism explaining the relationships between transformational leadership and employee job‐related behaviors. In addition, the relationships between transformational leadership, employee psychological empowerment, and job‐related behaviors are hypothesized to be stronger in organizations with more organic as opposed to mechanistic structures. Results based on a cross‐organizational sample of employees and their immediate supervisors provide support for the hypothesized relationships. Psychological empowerment mediated relationships between transformational leadership and employee task performance and organizational citizenship behaviors. The mediating role of psychological empowerment was then found to be conditional upon mechanistic–organic contexts. More specifically, organic structures enhanced, whereas mechanistic structures constrained, the empowering influence of transformational leaders. In highly mechanistic contexts, the indirect effects were no longer statistically significant. Implications for theory, research, and organizational management are discussed. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Transformational leadership,relationship quality,and employee performance during continuous incremental organizational change

Although transformational leadership has been investigated in connection with change at higher levels of organizations, less is known about its “in‐the‐trenches” impact. We examined relations among transformational leadership, explicit change reactions (i.e., relationship quality), change frequency, and change consequences (i.e., task performance and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB)) during continuous incremental organizational change at lower hierarchical levels. In a sample of 251 employees and their 78 managers, analyses revealed that the quality of relationships between leaders and employees mediated the influence of transformational leadership on employee task performance and OCB. We also found that change frequency moderated the positive association of relationship quality with task performance and OCB, such that associations were stronger when change frequency was high. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A psychological contract perspective on organizational citizenship behavior

This study examined the contribution of the psychological contract framework to understanding organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) using survey data gathered at three measurement points over a three‐year period from 480 public sector employees. Separating perceived contract breach into its two components (perceived employer obligations and inducements), the data suggest that perceived employer obligations explained unique variance in three dimensions of citizenship behavior (helping, advocacy and functional participation) beyond that accounted for by perceived employer inducements. Employees' acceptance of the norm of reciprocity moderated the relationship between employer inducements and the dimensions of advocacy and functional participation. Employees' trust in their employer moderated the relationship between perceived employer obligations and the dimensions of advocacy and functional participation. Contrary to the hypothesis, procedural or interactional justice did not moderate the relationship between employer inducements and OCB. The implications of the findings for psychological contract research are discussed. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Who takes the lead? A multi‐source diary study on leadership,work engagement,and job performance

Transformational leadership is associated with a range of positive outcomes. Yet, according to substitutes for leadership theory, there may be circumstances under which it is difficult, if not impossible, for leaders to inspire and challenge their employees. Therefore, we hypothesize that transformational leadership behaviors as well as employee self‐leadership strategies contribute to employee work engagement and job performance. Furthermore, we hypothesize that transformational leadership behaviors are more effective when employees have a high need for leadership, whereas self‐leadership strategies are more effective when employees have a low need for leadership. A sample of 57 unique leader–employee dyads filled out a quantitative diary survey at the end of each week, for a period of five weeks. The results of multilevel structural equation modeling showed that employees were more engaged in their work and received higher performance ratings from their leader when leaders used more transformational leadership behaviors, and when employees used more self‐leadership strategies. Furthermore, we showed that transformational leadership behaviors were more effective when employees had a high (vs. low) need for leadership and that the opposite was true for employee self‐leadership. These findings contribute to our understanding of the role of employees in the transformational leadership process. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Valuing diversity: a group‐value approach to understanding the importance of organizational efforts to support diversity

Using Leventhal's rules as well as the group‐value model of procedural justice, we first examined how the negative effects of perceived racial discrimination on procedural justice judgments can be attenuated by perceived organizational efforts to support diversity. Secondly, we examine how these effects ultimately impact affective commitment and organizational citizenship behavior. We found that employees who believe some individuals in the workplace are discriminating against them on the basis of race tend to report lower levels of procedural justice from the organization. However, this negative relationship was attenuated when employees perceived that their organization was making efforts to support diversity. Results suggest that individuals' perceptions of organizational efforts to support diversity can help restore perceptions of procedural justice for employees who experience racial discrimination at work. Improving procedural justice also positively impacts affective commitment and organizational citizenship behavior directed at the organization. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Can self‐sacrificial leadership promote subordinate taking charge? The mediating role of organizational identification and the moderating role of risk aversion

The extant literature on the relationship between self‐sacrificial leadership and subordinate behavioral outcomes has primarily focused on the influence of this leadership on subordinate affiliative behaviors. Our research proposed a theoretical model explaining why and when self‐sacrificial leadership might promote taking charge, an exemplar of challenging behaviors. We tested this model across two studies conducted in China. In addition, we also examined the differences in the boundary conditions for self‐sacrificial leadership to influence taking charge and affiliative behaviors (cooperation in Study 1 and helping in Study 2 ). Our results revealed that (i) self‐sacrificial leadership was positively related to subordinate taking charge, with organizational identification acting as a mediator for this relationship, and (ii) risk aversion moderated both the self‐sacrificial leadership–subordinate taking charge relationship and the mediating effect of organizational identification, such that the relationship and its mediating mechanism were weaker for subordinates high rather than low in risk aversion. These moderating effects, however, could not generalize to cooperation and helping. Finally, the theoretical and practical implications of our results and directions for future research were discussed. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Transformational and transactional leadership and innovative behavior: The moderating role of psychological empowerment

Innovative behavior is increasingly important for organizations' survival. Transformational leadership, in contrast to transactional leadership, has been argued to be particularly effective in engendering follower innovative behavior. However, empirical evidence for this relationship is scarce and inconsistent. Addressing this issue, we propose that follower psychological empowerment moderates the relationship of transformational and transactional leadership with follower innovative behavior. In a field study with 230 employees of a government agency in the Netherlands combining multisource ratings, we show that transformational leadership is positively related to innovative behavior only when psychological empowerment is high, whereas transactional leadership has a negative relationship with innovative behavior only under these conditions. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

How do transformational leaders foster positive employee outcomes? A self‐determination‐based analysis of employees' needs as mediating links

Although followers' needs are a central aspect of transformational leadership theory, little is known about their role as mediating mechanisms for this leadership style. The present research thus seeks to integrate and extend theorizing on transformational leadership and self‐determination. In particular, we propose that the satisfaction of followers' basic needs (autonomy, competence, and relatedness) mediates the relationship between transformational leadership and employee outcomes (job satisfaction, self‐efficacy, and commitment to the leader). We tested this model in two studies involving employees from a broad spectrum of organizations in Germany (N = 410) and in Switzerland (N = 442). Results revealed largely consistent patterns across both studies. The need for competence fulfillment solely mediated the link between transformational leadership and occupational self‐efficacy; the need for relatedness fulfillment solely mediated the link between transformational leadership and commitment to the leader. The mediating pattern for the link between transformational leadership and job satisfaction varied slightly across studies. In Study 1, only the need for autonomy fulfillment was a significant mediator, whereas in Study 2, all three needs mediated this relationship. Taken together, our study integrates theorizing on transformational leadership and self‐determination by corroborating that need fulfillment indeed is a central mechanism behind transformational leadership. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Transformational leadership and organizational commitment: mediating role of psychological empowerment and moderating role of structural distance

Using a sample of 520 staff nurses employed by a large public hospital in Singapore, we examined whether psychological empowerment mediated the effects of transformational leadership on followers' organizational commitment. We also examined how structural distance (direct and indirect leadership) between leaders and followers moderated the relationship between transformational leadership and organizational commitment. Results from HLM analyses showed that psychological empowerment mediated the relationship between transformational leadership and organizational commitment. Similarly, structural distance between the leader and follower moderated the relationship between transformational leadership and organizational commitment. Implications for research and practice of our findings are discussed. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The development of psychological contract breach and violation: a longitudinal study

This study examines factors affecting employees' perceptions that their psychological contract has been breached by their organization, and factors affecting whether this perception will cause employees to experience feelings of contract violation. Data were obtained from 147 managers just prior to their beginning of new job (time 1) and 18 months later (time 2). It was found that perceived contract breach at time 2 was more likely when organizational performance and self‐reported employee performance were low, the employee had not experienced a formal socialization process, the employee had little interaction with organizational agents prior to hire, the employee had a history of psychological contract breach with former employers, and the employee had many employment alternatives at the time of hire. Furthermore, perceived breach was associated with more intense feelings of violation when employees both attributed the breach to purposeful reneging by the employer and felt unfairly treated in the process. Theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Trust as a mediator of the relationship between organizational justice and work outcomes: test of a social exchange model

Data obtained from full‐time employees of a public sector organization in India were used to test a social exchange model of employee work attitudes and behaviors. LISREL results revealed that whereas the three organizational justice dimensions (distributive, procedural and interactional) were related to trust in organization only interactional justice was related to trust in supervisor. The results further revealed that relative to the hypothesized fully mediated model a partially mediated model better fitted the data. Trust in organization partially mediated the relationship between distributive and procedural justice and the work attitudes of job satisfaction, turnover intentions, and organizational commitment but fully mediated the relationship between interactional justice and these work attitudes. In contrast, trust in supervisor fully mediated the relationship between interactional justice and the work behaviors of task performance and the individually‐ and organizationally‐oriented dimensions of citizenship behavior. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Relationships between psychological contract breach and employee well‐being and career‐related behavior: The role of occupational future time perspective

Relationships between psychological contract breach and employee well‐being and career‐related behavior cannot sufficiently be explained by social exchange and reciprocity theories, yet the alternative mechanisms underlying these associations are currently not well understood. Based on the psychological contract perspective on careers, the goal of this study was to examine indirect effects of psychological contract breach on emotional engagement, emotional exhaustion, and career‐related behavior through two dimensions of occupational future time perspective (i.e., focus on opportunities and focus on limitations). Data came from 405 employees in Australia, who responded to three surveys across 12 months. Results showed that psychological contract breach had indirect effects on emotional engagement and exhaustion through focus on opportunities and focus on limitations, respectively, and on career‐related behavior through focus on opportunities. Another mechanism, psychological contract violation, was only related to employees' organizational deviance. These findings highlight the important role of occupational future time perspective dimensions as employees' evaluations of future career‐related opportunities and limitations. These evaluations may change in response to psychological contract breach and, in turn, might impact on employee well‐being and career‐related behavior.     

A meta-analytic test of the differential pathways linking ethical leadership to normative conduct

We test how ethical leadership influences normatively (in)appropriate work behavior through distinct mediating pathways, including one's exchange relationship with the leader, ethical culture, and identification with the organization. Our study also controls for transformational leadership as a predictor and trust in leader as a nonhypothesized alternative mechanism. We test our hypotheses using meta-analytic structural equation modeling based on our meta-analysis of 301 independent samples (N = 103,354) and relevant meta-analytic correlations reported in previous research. Supporting our prediction, we found that leader–member exchange, which represents social exchange theory, was the most potent mechanism that accounts for the positive relationship between ethical leadership and task performance. In contrast, ethical culture, which assesses a social learning mechanism, is the strongest predictor of counterproductive behavior. In addition, all three hypothesized mediators each contribute to understanding the positive relationship between ethical leadership and organizational citizenship behavior, although the indirect effect via organizational identification was the weakest. The findings hold after controlling for job satisfaction as another mediator parallel to the theoretical ones. Our results contribute to a precise theory about ethical leadership by differentiating the processes through which it affects employee behavior.     

Positive affectivity neutralizes transformational leadership's influence on creative performance and organizational citizenship behaviors

This study uses an interactionist approach to examine the moderating effect of follower trait positive affectivity (trait PA) on the relation between transformational leadership and both follower creative performance and organizational citizenship behaviors (OCB). On the basis of responses from 212 employees and their direct supervisors from the research and development department of a company in Mainland China, results support the hypothesized moderation effect. Specifically, the positive influence of transformational leadership on creative performance was significantly reduced for followers who were higher on trait PA (ΔR² = .02, p < .05). The same pattern, in which followers' trait PA appeared to substitute for the influence of transformational leadership, generalized to the outcome of follower OCB as well (ΔR² = .04, p < .01). We discussed theoretical and practical implications of these findings. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Effects of leadership consideration and structure on employee perceptions of justice and counterproductive work behavior

In this paper, we examine the effects of leadership consideration and structure on two important organizational behavior outcomes: employee perceptions of organizational justice and counterproductive work behavior (CWB). We examine these effects across two studies using multisource data (employees and supervisors in Study 1; employees and coworkers in Study 2). Results reveal that consideration and structure have distinct effects across distributive, procedural, informational, and interpersonal dimensions of justice. Moreover, results suggest that consideration and structure have multiplicative effects on employee CWB. We find the highest levels of CWB among employees of supervisors who exhibit high structure and low consideration. Interestingly, results also suggest that the effects of structure on CWB may be curvilinear (u‐shaped) such that moderate levels of structure are associated with the lowest levels of CWB. We discuss implications for future consideration and structure research as well as managerial practice. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Are the costs worth the benefits? Shared perception and the aggregation of organizational climate ratings

A definitional component of organizational climate is the focus on employees' shared perceptions of the focal climate domain. To operationalize the notion of sharedness, researchers typically aggregate employees' domain‐specific climate perceptions to a higher level and justify this aggregation using quantitative indices of agreement. In the current paper, I argue that although accounting for sharedness among employees can provide some valuable insight, our overreliance on sharedness obscures some of the very organizational phenomena of interest. I discuss this issue by focusing on four costs of making unfounded assumptions regarding sharedness: (a) Aggregation assumes individual differences are a function of random error; (b) aggregation assumes that social situations are uniform across employees; (c) aggregation assumes that the unit of analysis is clear‐cut; and (d) aggregation assumes the group mean is meaningful. I argue that researchers carefully need to weigh the costs of violating these assumptions against the expected benefits of aggregating employees' climate perceptions, recognizing that sometimes employees' perceptions (i.e., psychological climate) might provide greater insight into phenomena of interest. Although I discuss these costs within the context of organizational climate research, these arguments apply to other research areas where individual perceptions are aggregated (e.g., research on leadership and teams).     

Transformational leadership and employee voice behavior: A Pygmalion mechanism

We theorized and examined a Pygmalion perspective beyond those proposed in past studies in the relationship between transformational leadership and employee voice behavior. Specifically, we proposed that transformational leadership influences employee voice through leaders' voice expectation and employees' voice role perception (i.e., Pygmalion mechanism). We also theorized that personal identification with transformational leaders influences the extent to which employees internalize leaders' external voice expectation as their own voice role perception. In a time‐lagged field study, we found that leaders' voice expectation and employees' voice role perception (i.e., the Pygmalion process) mediate the relationship between transformational leadership and voice behavior. In addition, we found transformational leadership strengthens employees' personal identification with the leader, which in turn, as a moderator, amplifies the proposed Pygmalion process. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Empowering leadership: A meta‐analytic examination of incremental contribution,mediation, and moderation

The concept of empowering leadership (EL) has seen increasing scholarly interest in recent years. This study reports a meta‐analysis investigating the effects of EL on employee work behavior. On the basis of data from 105 samples, we found evidence for the positive effects of EL on performance, organizational citizenship behavior, and creativity at both the individual and team levels. We further examined these relationships by exploring potential boundary conditions and the incremental contribution of EL over transformational leadership and leader–member exchange. Furthermore, at the individual level, both trust in leader and psychological empowerment mediated the relationships of EL with task performance, organizational citizenship behavior, and creativity. We also found evidence that leader–member exchange was a significant mediator between EL and task performance. At the team level, empowerment mediated the effects of EL on team performance, whereas knowledge sharing showed no significant indirect effect. Our results have important theoretical and practical implications and suggest some areas that require further research.     

Reactions to psychological contract breach: a dual perspective

This study examined reactions to psychological contract breach from two separate perspectives, that is, employee's reactions to perceptions of employer breach and supervisor's reactions to perceptions of employee breach of the psychological contract. In addition to the main effects, we also hypothesized that the benevolence (or kindness) of the supervisor and the traditional values (or respect for authority) of the employee would attenuate the negative effects of psychological contract breach. We tested these hypotheses with a sample of 273 supervisor‐subordinate dyads from the People's Republic of China. The results showed that employer breach correlated negatively with employee outcomes of organizational commitment (OC), organizational citizenship behavior (OCB), and work performance, but this negative relationship was weaker for employees with traditional values. The results also demonstrated that employee breach correlated negatively with responses from the supervisor, in terms of the mentoring provided to the employee and the leader‐member exchange (LMX) quality. However, more benevolent supervisors reacted less negatively in terms of the mentoring than did the less benevolent supervisors. Implications for future research are offered. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

How transformational leadership influences follower helping behavior: The role of trust and prosocial motivation

We proposed and tested a moderated mediation model that jointly examines affect‐based and cognition‐based trust as the mediators and prosocial motivation as the moderator in relationships between transformational leadership and followers’ helping behavior towards coworkers. Data were collected from 348 sales and servicing employees and their supervisors in four private retail companies and five private manufacturing companies located in Southeast China. The results showed that both affect‐based trust and cognition‐based trust mediated the relationship between transformational leadership and followers’ helping behavior towards coworkers. Furthermore, moderated mediation analyses showed that affect‐based trust mediated the relationship between transformational leadership and followers’ helping behavior towards coworkers only among employees with high prosocial motivation, whereas cognition‐based trust mediated this relationship among only those with low prosocial motivation. Implications for the theory and practice of leadership are then discussed. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.