The impact of a leader’s demographic and professional characteristics on employee motivation: Do they really matter?

Building on Upper Echelons Theory and prior research on strategic leadership, the purpose of this paper is to examine the possible effect on employee motivation of two sets of characteristics related to leaders: demographic (gender and age); and professional development (tenure, prior career experience in the organization and training).

The empirical analysis is based on data from a survey of Spanish educational organizations (secondary schools). The hypotheses are tested using hierarchical multiple regression analysis estimations.

The results reveal that the characteristics linked to a leader’s professional development have a significant impact on employee (teacher) motivation. Specifically, a long tenure in office has a negative effect, while prior career experience in an organization and continuous training have a positive impact. However, none of the leader’s demographic characteristics considered in the study has a significant impact on teacher motivation.

Several lines of managerial and educational policy action are suggested for improving employee (teacher) motivation, especially in the specific case of the schools considered here.

This study is one of the first attempts to explore what impact certain leaders’ characteristics have on employee motivation.