The influence and emergence of transformational leadership : empirical studies in China

Abstract

Researchers have shown a strong and continuing interest m studying transformational leadership. My thesis makes contributions to the transformational leadership research with two studies. Specifically, based on hope theory, Study 1 examines the process by which effects of transformational leadership are ultimately realized. Study 2 investigates the antecedents of transformational leadership from the follower-centered perspective on leadership theories. The majority of previous studies have posited that transformational leadership influences followers by arousing their "will" (agency) to pursue the higher level goals. However, I argue that as transformational leadership involves significant challenges for followers, having only "will" is not sufficient for followers to realize the transformational effects, followers must have the "way" (pathways) to uphold their "will". In Study 1, I posit that transformational leadership not only arouses follower's "will" but also helps follower develop the "way" to achieve the higher level goals. I integrate hope theory into transfonnationalleadership research, and propose that transformational leadership enhances follower's job performance and affective commitment by fostering follower's hope, which is a cognitive set based on a reciprocally derived sense of "will" (agency) and "way" (pathways). To understand how follower's characteristics affect this mediating process, I further examine the moderating effect of follower's growth need strength, individual power distance, and the joint moderating effect of the both on the relationship between transformational leadership and hope. I tested the hypotheses of Study 1 with data from a sample of 265 subordinate-supervisor dyads from China. Data analysis results support the mediating role of hope. Furthermore, I found that transformational leadership has stronger effect on hope when growth need strength is higher, and this effect is the strongest when both growth need strength and individual power distance are simultaneously higher. Researchers have investigated antecedent of transformational leadership with trait-approach and situation-approach. However, the results are inconsistent and often disappointing. These studies have two limitations. Firstly, although researchers have suggested that both followers and leaders contribute to the emergence of leadership, few studies have explained or examined followers' roles in influencing leader's motivations and the emergence of transformational leadership. Secondly, although recent research has suggested viewing transfonnational leadership as a dual-level construct, these studies continue to treat transformational leadership as an overarching construct and have failed to distinguish the different mechanisms underlying the emergence of transformational leadership at group and individual levels. In Study 2, I develop a dual-level theoretical framework to explain the processes by which followers influence the emergence of transformational leadership based on the follower-centered perspective on leadership theories. Specifically, I use leadership self-efficacy theory to propose that follower group cohesiveness contributes to the emergence of group-focused transformational leadership through promoting leader's leadership self-efficacy. Further, I use trust theory to suggest that individual follower's proactive behavior and affective commitment to leader promote the emergence of individual-focused transformational leadership via building leader's cognitive/affective trust in the individual follower. I also examme the cross-level effect of leader leadership self-efficacy on individual-focused transformational leadership. I tested the hypotheses of Study 2 with data from a sample of 37 groups with 221 subordinate-supervisor dyads from China. I collected the data with a 3-month time-lag design. Data analysis results support the mediating role of leadership self-efficacy at group-level analysis and cognitive/affective trust in follower at individual level-analysis. Furthermore, I found that group-level leadership self-efficacy has positive effect on individual-level individual-focused transformational leadership. Finally, I discuss the theoretical and practical implications derived from my thesis. I suggest that organizations should place effort on developing employees' hope, and take followers' characteristics, e.g., growth need strength and power distance, into account simultaneously. My findings also suggest that organizations should be aware of the active roles of followers in promoting the emergence of group-focused transformational and individual-focused transformational leadership through building leader's leadership self-efficacy and cognitive/affective trust in follower.