Transformational and charismatic leadership: Assessing the convergent, divergent and criterion validity of the MLQ and the CKS
Section snippets
Similarities
Both the MLQ and CKS belong to what has been labeled “neo-charismatic” leadership theories (Antonakis & House, 2002). Fundamental to the theories of Bass (1985) and Conger & Kanungo (1998) is the representation and articulation of a vision by the leader (Sashkin, 2004). As a long-term attempt to change followers' attitudes, self-concepts (House & Shamir, 1993) and motives, this vision is rooted in commonly-held ethics and values (Bass & Steidlmeier, 1999). The ethical foundation of the vision
Leadership styles and performance: The augmentation effect
Several meta-analyses provided evidence for the criterion-related validity of transformational and charismatic leadership (DeGroot et al., 2000, Dumdum et al., 2002, Fuller et al., 1996, Judge and Piccolo, 2004). These two constructs consistently showed a positive impact on both subjective (Lowe, Kroeck, & Sivasubramaniam, 1996) and objective (Barling et al., 1996, Geyer and Steyrer, 1998) performance criteria. In addition, transactional leadership was positively related to outcome criteria,
Overview of the present study
In combination, we intended to provide insights into both the interrelationship as well as the effects of partially rivaling leadership constructs (Avolio and Yammarino, 2002, Yukl, 1999). More specifically, the present study had three objectives. First, using data from an empirical investigation, we investigated the nomological network of charismatic, transformational, and transactional leadership. We proposed that transformational and charismatic leadership share some attributes, are highly
Participants
Participants were employees in a large public transport company in Germany. From a total of N = 298 employees, 220 responded (response rate = 73.8%). These employees assessed the leadership style of their respective direct leader (i.e. supervisor) who led one of the companys' 45 branches. At least two employees reported to their respective leader. The branches are hierarchically nested so that leaders of four hierarchical levels were rated. Seven employees (3.4%) reported to top executives, 37
Subjective measures
The present study included three subjective performance measures. Respondents were asked to rate their Extra Effort (EEF), the Effectiveness of leaders' behavior (EFF), and their Satisfaction (SAT) with the respective leader. These scales ranged from (1) very low to (5) very high and are part of the MLQ-5X (Bass & Avolio, 2000).
Objective measures
The participating transport company had a clearly defined system of evaluating the financial performance of the 45 branches. Prior to each year, the top management
Procedure
The questionnaires were administered to participants during work time; full anonymity was assured. All N = 220 participants filled out both the MLQ (which included the subjective performance criteria) and the CKS. The survey took place during the last 3 months of the same year for which the objective performance measures were collected.
Convergent and divergent analysis
Using correlational analysis, we explored the relationships between transformational (TF), transactional (TA — both measured with the MLQ) and charismatic leadership (as measured by the CKS, CKS-CH). TA is seen as divergent, TF and CKS-CH as convergent leadership styles. Table 3 shows the intercorrelations of constructs (individual level, N = 220).
Leadership style and performance
Table 3 reveals that all of the leadership styles were significantly associated with indicators of subjective performance. Thus, hypotheses 2a, 2b, and 2c were supported by the data. It should be noted that focal leaders' hierarchical level was significantly correlated with transformational and charismatic leadership style as well as the three subjective performance indicators. Thus, higher-level leaders exhibit more of these leadership behaviors which are, in turn, associated with subjective
Augmentation analyses
The results reported above show that transformational and charismatic leadership are highly convergent. However, as already mentioned, the two questionnaires (MLQ and CKS) both measure facets of leadership behavior that are not part of the respective other instrument. Therefore, on the one hand, it was examined if the facets of transformational and charismatic leadership augment transactional leadership and, on the other hand, if they augment each other, i.e. if they explain genuine variance in
Discussion
Although they are often compared and used interchangeably, charismatic (CKS) and transformational (MLQ) leadership have a differential focus on the leadership phenomenon and its outcomes on top of the many components they share. This study provides evidence for convergent validity between transformational (MLQ) and charismatic (CKS) leadership. From the results reported in Table 3, we estimate the shared variance between these constructs to be 78%. While this supports the idea that charismatic
Acknowledgement
The assistance of L.H. Laukamp with data collection is gratefully acknowledged. The authors would like to thank D. Liepmann, the senior editor, and three anonymous reviewers for constructive criticism on earlier drafts of this paper.
Notes
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Research Edition Translation performed by Dr. Jens Rowold on September 25th, 2003. Translated and reproduced by special permission of the Publisher, MIND GARDEN, Inc., Redwood City, CA 94061 www.mindgarden.com from Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire.
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