Wisdom and narcissism as predictors of transformational leadership

2014 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
pp. 335-358 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claire E. Greaves ◽  
Hannes Zacher ◽  
Bernard McKenna ◽  
David Rooney

Purpose – Although leadership and organizational scholars have suggested that the virtue of wisdom may promote outstanding leadership behavior, this proposition has rarely been empirically tested. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationships between transformational leadership, narcissism, and five dimensions of wisdom as conceptualized by the well-established Berlin wisdom paradigm. General mental ability and emotional intelligence were considered relevant control variables. Design/methodology/approach – Interview, test, and questionnaire data were obtained from 77 employees of a high school and from two or three colleagues of each employee. Data were analyzed using hierarchical regression analyses. Findings – After controlling for general mental ability and emotional intelligence, narcissism and the wisdom dimension relativism of values and life priorities were negatively related to transformational leadership, and the wisdom dimension recognition and management of uncertainty was positively related to transformational leadership. The other three wisdom dimensions, rich factual knowledge about life, rich procedural knowledge about life, and lifespan contextualism, were not significantly related to transformational leadership. Research limitations/implications – Limitations to be addressed in future studies include the cross-sectional design and the relatively small and specialized sample. Practical implications – Tentative implications for leadership training and development are outlined. Originality/value – This multi-method and multi-source study represents the first empirical investigation that examines links between well-established wisdom and leadership constructs in the work context.

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 80-94 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kerri Anne Crowne

Purpose This study investigates the relationships among cultural intelligence (CQ), personality and transformational leadership in a student population. The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of CQ on transformational leadership to see if a relationship exists beyond personality. Design/methodology/approach Hypotheses are presented and tested on a sample of 465 undergraduate and graduate students who attended a large northeastern US university. Hierarchical regression was used to conduct the analysis, and multiple models were generated to test the relationships posited. Findings The data showed that CQ affected transformational leadership; however, when examining the subcomponents of CQ, only behavioral CQ had an impact on transformational leadership beyond personality. Research limitations/implications The surveys were self-reported and cross-sectional, so causality could not be determined. Furthermore, the sample, while diverse, was composed of students. However, scholars will find value in this research because it expands the understanding of CQ. Practical implications The findings of this research indicate that behavioral CQ impacts transformational-leadership skills. Thus, business educators should consider how to build skills associated with behavioral CQ in students because of the importance of global transformational-leadership skills in the workplace. Originality/value This research will impact the literature streams of CQ and transformational leadership because it is the first to examine the relationship between the two while controlling for personality.


2018 ◽  
Vol 39 (5) ◽  
pp. 608-619 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephanie Gilbert ◽  
E. Kevin Kelloway

Purpose A critical assumption of the organizational leadership literature is that leaders want to engage in effective leadership behaviors (Gilbert and Kelloway, 2014). However, leaders may vary in their motivation to be effective in a leadership role, leading to different levels of performance. Drawing on self-determination theory, the authors address the question of what motivates leaders to engage in transformational leadership behaviors (Gilbert et al., 2016). The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach The current study examined the effects of self-determined leader motivation for transformational leadership on aggregated follower leadership ratings using a sample of 37 leaders matched with 179 followers in two organizations. Findings Results show how leaders’ own motivation relates to followers’ perceptions of leader behavior, and specifically that, across contexts, some autonomous levels of leader motivation are positively related to follower perceptions of leaders’ active-constructive leadership and negatively related to follower perceptions of passive avoidant leadership. Research limitations/implications The research is limited by a small level-two sample size and cross-sectional design. The results suggest that some forms of leader motivation relate to follower ratings of leadership behavior. Originality/value This study is the first to examine how self-determined motivation for transformational leadership predicts follower perceptions of leadership behavior using a multilevel design.


2014 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
pp. 367-384 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa M. Russell

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to analyze the relationship between stress and burnout in high-risk occupations and how leadership moderates this relationship. Thus, the primary research question addressed within this study is: What is the relationship between stress and burnout in high-risk occupations as governed by transformational leadership behavior? Design/methodology/approach – An analysis of primary data obtained by survey from 379 police officers from nine southern and southwestern agencies was conducted. Hierarchical regression analysis, multiple moderated hierarchical regression analysis, bivariate correlation analyses and other statistical methods are used. Findings – Results indicate police stress exacerbates perceived burnout. Transformational leadership influences this relationship such that high levels of perceived transformational leadership attenuates the negative relationship between stress and burnout, but less so under highly stressful conditions. Findings have strong implications for leaders in high-risk occupations where bureaucracy, departmental policy, and life and death decision-making intersect. Research limitations/implications – This study can be used as a basis for further inquiry into the effects of transformational leadership on individuals' perceptions of performance, behavioral and psychological criterion variables in high-risk occupations. Practical implications – The assessment of relationships among stress and burnout in high-risk occupational settings potentially allows managers to better understand how to structure supervisor-subordinate relationships in order to minimize the effects of stress on perceived burnout and provides a more realistic view of how individuals in high-risk occupations are influenced by leader behaviors under stressful conditions. Originality/value – This study is thought to be the only one to evaluate the moderated relationships among stress, transformational leadership and burnout in high-risk occupations characterized by increasingly stressful circumstances. More specifically, the notion that individuals in high-risk occupations perceive burnout differently than those in less-risky occupations is not prevalent in the literature.


2016 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
pp. 450-466 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eva-Ellen Weiß ◽  
Stefan Süß

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between transformational leadership and effort-reward imbalance as well as the moderating role of overcommitment and subjective well-being. In particular, the study focuses on the transformational leadership component individualized consideration and its relationship with effort-reward imbalance. Design/methodology/approach – Using linear hierarchical regression analyses, the authors tested four hypotheses on a broad sample of 229 German employees. Findings – The results confirm the expected relationship between transformational leadership and effort-reward imbalance and that the strongest relationship exists with individualized consideration. However, there is no support for the hypothesized moderating effects. Research limitations/implications – First, the recruitment of the sample via fora and periodicals may bias the results. Second, the dependent and the independent variables were assessed with the same method, thus facilitating a common method bias. Third, the study underlies a cross-sectional design which does not allow drawing conclusions on causality. Practical implications – The findings provide implications for leaders by showing that the most effective leadership behaviours are those encompassed by the transformational leadership component individualized consideration when it comes to reducing negative health effects of adverse working conditions. Furthermore, the results suggest that overcommitment plays a major role for employees’ effort-reward imbalance and should thus be addressed by specific training measures. Originality/value – Researchers have devoted little attention to revealing how effort-reward imbalance can be avoided or reduced by leaders. The study attempts to fill this gap by exploring the relationship between effort-reward imbalance and transformational leadership.


2017 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 211-227 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amirul Hasan Ansari ◽  
Shehla Malik

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to test the direct effects of emotional intelligence and trust in co-workers on knowledge sharing. Further, it aims to examine the moderating effect of trust in co-workers on the emotional intelligence-knowledge sharing relationship. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected from 121 employees working with 13 different service sector organizations in the northern region of India. The data were tested for validity and reliability. Hierarchical regression analysis was performed to test the proposed hypotheses. Findings The results indicated that both emotional intelligence and trust in co-workers had significant direct effects on knowledge sharing of organizational members. However, trust in co-workers did not moderate emotional intelligence-knowledge sharing relationship. Research limitations/implications The limitations include the sample and cross-sectional design. Hence, future studies can be conducted using a longitudinal design covering other regions of India to increase the generalizability of findings. Practical implications The findings suggest that management should develop appropriate strategies for meliorating emotional intelligence level of employees because people with higher emotional intelligence are more likely to engage themselves in knowledge sharing. Additionally, organizations should adopt a culture that promotes trust among its members, thereby fostering knowledge sharing in organizations. Originality/value There is limited literature on the role of emotions in knowledge sharing. The study adds to the extant literature on emotional intelligence and knowledge sharing in the context of India. Besides, the study attempted to investigate the interaction effect of trust in co-workers on emotional intelligence-knowledge sharing relationship that has not been studied so far.


2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 600-619
Author(s):  
Gloria Nakie Apore ◽  
Emmanuel Selase Asamoah

Purpose In spite of the observation that nurse managers’ style of authority in sub-Saharan Africa is one of antagonistic vibe and lordship, there is not much information on the kind of leadership provided in the hospitals by nurse managers. Following the notion that transformational leadership is a solution to many leadership problems and often creates valuable positive change in followers, this study aims to examine the level of transformational leadership behavior of nurse leaders; determining the effects of the sub-constructs of emotional intelligence (EI) on the transformational leadership behavior of leaders; and determining whether there is a difference in the exhibition of transformational leadership behavior due to the gender of leaders. Design/methodology/approach The study uses five of the major public hospitals in the Greater Accra Region (the capital) of Ghana. Evidence of such links would be considerable for Ghanaian healthcare providers in their quest to find potential nurse leaders to train, so as not to dwell highly on the seniority criterion in the selection of leaders. Using a quantitative approach, the Wong Law EI Scale (2002) and leadership items adapted from Rafferty and Griffin (2004) were used to collect the data. A descriptive statistics (mean) revealed that nurse leaders from the selected hospitals exhibited a high level (M= 3.90, SD = 0.14) of transformational leadership behavior. Findings A multiple regression analysis revealed that three of the sub-constructs of EI significantly affected transformational leadership with the “self-emotion appraisal” construct having the strongest effect on transformational leadership behavior (β = 0.508, p = 0.000). However, the others’ emotion appraisal sub-construct did not significantly affect transformational leadership. Furthermore, the results from the independent sample t-test revealed no significant difference in the exhibition of transformational leadership due to gender. Practical implications Based on the findings, when leaders are trained to be emotionally intelligent and their skills are fostered, they are more likely to exhibit transformational leadership behaviors, which will further result in organizational effectiveness and follower satisfaction. Hospitals must focus on the control of one’s emotions at work, and subsequently, understanding others’ emotions. In developing transformational leaders, there is the need to identify some tools that will increase EI level, more specifically, traits related to the understanding of others’ emotion. The findings from this study indicate that one of the factors to check when selecting nurse leaders should be their EI and not necessarily a matter of seniority in many cases in emerging economies. Originality/value The originality of this study is in the fact that it focuses on an emerging economy, which is under researched. In Ghana, the criteria for promotion of nurse leaders’ is based strictly on seniority and age and not on factors such as the leaders EI. The profession of nursing is such that leaders need to understand that certain soft skills such as EI are considered necessary to transform the hospitals and staff they lead. This study, therefore, sheds light on these key areas from the perspective of an emerging economy, which are usually not in the domain of literature in the area of healthcare leadership.


2017 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 105-125 ◽  
Author(s):  
Faruk Şahin ◽  
Sait Gürbüz ◽  
Harun Şeşen

Purpose Although McGregor’s Theory X and Y holds significant attention in literature, research on the managerial assumptions and leadership is very scarce. The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of a leader’s Theory X and Y managerial assumptions on follower perceptions of transformational leadership behaviors and the moderating role of the leader’s gender in this relationship. Design/methodology/approach A total of 108 leaders provided ratings of their Theory X and Y managerial assumptions; 398 followers then rated their leaders’ transformational leadership behavior. To test the hypotheses, moderated hierarchical regression analysis was conducted. Findings The results indicated that a leader’s Theory Y managerial assumptions are positively related to the followers’ ratings of transformational leadership behavior while a leader’s Theory X managerial assumptions are negatively related to the ratings of transformational leadership behavior. Furthermore, the relationship between Theory Y managerial assumptions and ratings of transformational leadership behavior are stronger for female leaders than male leaders. Originality/value This study provides important insights for leadership literature by depicting how cognitive mental schemas (i.e. Theory X and Y assumptions) and gender influence their transformational leadership behaviors.


2014 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
pp. 305-315 ◽  
Author(s):  
Panagiotis Gkorezis ◽  
Eugenia Petridou ◽  
Panteleimon Xanthiakos

Purpose – Leader-member exchange (LMX) has been proposed as a core mechanism which accounts for the impact of various antecedents on employee outcomes. As such, the purpose of this paper is to examine the mediating effect of LMX regarding the relationship between leader positive humor and employees’ perceptions of organizational cynicism. Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected from 114 public employees. In order to examine the authors’ hypotheses hierarchical regression analysis was conducted. Findings – As hypothesized, results demonstrated that LMX mediates the relationship between leader positive humor and organizational cynicism. Research limitations/implications – Data were drawn from public employees and, therefore, this may constrain the generalizability of the results. Also, the cross-sectional analysis of the data cannot directly assess causality. Originality/value – This is the first empirical study to examine the mediating effect of LMX in the relationship between leader humor and employees’ perceptions of organizational cynicism.


2015 ◽  
Vol 53 (5) ◽  
pp. 894-910 ◽  
Author(s):  
Swati Mittal ◽  
Rajib Lochan Dhar

Purpose – Among the different styles of leadership, transformational leadership has gained most attention from organisational researchers and academics. Although transformational leadership and its work-associated outcomes have been examined in previous literature, only a small number of studies highlighted the role of transformational leadership style in fostering employee creativity, mediated through their creative self-efficacy (CSE) in the context of Indian organisations. The purpose of this paper is to observe the effect of transformational leadership on employee creativity in small and medium sized IT companies, where CSE is proposed as a mediator and knowledge sharing as a moderator through which a transformational leader tends to influence the creativity of the employees. Design/methodology/approach – Data were gathered from 348 manager-employee dyads of small and medium size IT companies operating in India. They replied to questions about their leader’s transformational leadership style, employee CSE, knowledge sharing and creativity. Findings – Findings of the present study, derived from a hierarchical regression analysis, using the data of 348 manager-employee dyads from Indian IT SMEs professionals, revealed that CSE mediates the relation between transformational leadership and employee creativity. In addition, knowledge sharing acts as a moderator for CSE and employee creativity. Research limitations/implications – A sample size is one probable limitation of the study. Another limitation of the study is that factors used for the survey were self-reported by the respondents. Self-reporting may not always produce reliable and accurate response. Practical implications – Based on the results, this study presents strong theoretical and managerial implications that can be used by IT organisations to evaluate the consequence of transformational leadership on employee creativity. Through transformational leadership style, leader can develop CSE and employee creativity to do things in a better way and develop knowledge sharing in employees for high performance. Therefore, the IT industry need to understand that creativity is one of the approaches to attaining and sustaining competitive advantage. In addition, it is important for them to find out more about the relation between transformational leadership, CSE and employee creativity. Originality/value – The study adds to the existing literature by illuminating the process through which transformational leadership has a significant effect on fostering CSE and employee creativity.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rehema Namono ◽  
Ambrose Kemboi ◽  
Joel Chepkwony

PurposeDespite the current dynamism in the education sector that was manifested in new approaches to work that require innovative workforce, little empirical studies have been conducted on how to influence innovativeness in higher education institutions. Moreover, though studies have established a link between hope and innovative work behaviour, no study has established how hope and its two components of agency and pathways influence innovative work behaviour. The purpose of this study is to establish the influence of hope and its two components of agency and pathways on innovative work behaviour.Design/methodology/approachA quantitative cross-sectional research design was adopted in this study. The study employed hierarchical regression to test the hypothesised relationship between hope and its components of agency and pathways on innovative work behaviour using a sample drawn from public universities in Uganda in the two categories of academic and administrative staff.FindingsThe findings reveal that pathways and agency influence innovative work behaviour. The Findings also revealed that hope significantly influences innovative work behaviour over and above its individual components of agency and pathways.Research limitations/implicationsThe study was cross-sectional in nature and the findings may not portray a true picture of the relationship between the study variables over time as behaviour is ever changing. Further studies could carry out a longitudinal study to establish the effect established in this study at different time intervals. The results provide a more complex understanding of how hope and its two components of agency and pathways enhance innovative work behaviour.Practical implicationsThe findings of the study provide insightful direction to managers in public universities in Uganda to consider different avenues of increasing employee hope so as to enhance innovative work behaviour. This can be done through targeted interventions like involving employees in goal setting and setting alternative means to achieve goals.Originality/valueThe value of this study is both empirical and theoretical. Empirically, this study is the first to establish the influence of hope and its two components of agency and pathways on innovative work behaviour in Uganda’s university setting. Theoretically, the study extends veracity of the conservation of resources theory (COR) by clarifying those employees who possess the psychological characteristics of hope exhibit innovative work behaviour. The study also extends on the theory of hope by revealing that agency and pathways influence innovative work behaviour.


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