Self-esteem and transformational leadership
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether transformational leadership behavior is a function of the leader’s own self-respect and his/her evaluation of being capable, significant, and worthy (self-esteem). It is also tested whether transformational leadership is related to innovation success.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected from 411 entrepreneurs and managing directors of small- and medium-sized Austrian companies. The proposed hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling (PLS).
Findings
A strong and significant relationship between self-esteem and transformational leadership was found. Furthermore, data analyses revealed that transformational leadership has a positive impact on innovation success.
Originality/value
This study reveals the important but heretofore neglected role of self-esteem, defined as a manager’s overall self-evaluation of his/her competences, as an important predictor of transformational leadership.
Keywords
Citation
Matzler, K., Bauer, F.A. and Mooradian, T.A. (2015), "Self-esteem and transformational leadership", Journal of Managerial Psychology, Vol. 30 No. 7, pp. 815-831. https://doi.org/10.1108/JMP-01-2013-0030
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2015, Emerald Group Publishing Limited