Transformational and transactional leadership in both physical (i.e., face-to-face) and virtual settings were examined in a laboratory experiment. Leadership style (transformational or transactional) and group setting (face-to-face, immersive virtual environment, or intercom) were manipulated experimentally for three-person ad hoc work groups. Results indicated that, compared to transactional leadership, transformational leadership was associated with decreases in quantitative performance but increases in qualitative performance, leadership satisfaction, and group cohesiveness. Contrary to expectations, neither self- nor collective efficacy mediated the performance effects of leadership style; trust, however, appeared to play an important mediational role. Group performance and cohesiveness were similar across group settings; however, group members were most satisfied with their leader when interacting face-to-face. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Avolio, B. J.,& Bass, B. M. (1988). Transformational leadership, charisma, and beyond. In J. G. Hunt & B. R. Baliga (Eds.), Emerging leadership vistas(pp. 29-49). Lexington, MA: Lexington Books/D. C. Heath.
2.
Avolio, B. J., Waldman, D. A., & Einstein, W. O. (1988). Transformational leadership in a management game simulation: Impacting the bottom line. Group & Organization Studies, 13, 59-80.
3.
Bandura, A. (1997). Self-efficacy: The exercise of control. New York: Freeman.
4.
Bandura, A. (2000). Exercise of human agencythrough collective efficacy. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 9, 75-78.
5.
Barling, J., Weber, T.,& Kelloway,E. K. (1996). Effects of transformational leadership training on attitudinal and financial outcomes: A field experiment. Journal of Applied Psychology, 81, 827-832.
6.
Baron, R. M., & Kenny, D. A. (1986). The moderator-mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: Conceptual, strategic and statistical considerations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51, 1173-1182.
7.
Bass, B. M. (1985). Leadership: Good, better, best. Organizational Dynamics, 13, 26-40.
8.
Bass, B. M. (1990). Bass& Stogdill’s handbook of leadership: Theory, research, and managerial applications(3rd ed.). New York: Free Press.
9.
Bass, B. M.,& Avolio, B. J. (1993). Transformational leadership: A response to critiques. In M. M. Chemers & R. Ayman (Eds.), Leadership theory and research: Perspectives and directions(pp. 49-80). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
10.
Bass, B. M., & Avolio, B. J. (Eds.). (1994). Improving organizational effectiveness through transformational leadership. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
11.
Bass, B. M., & Avolio, B. J. (1995). The Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire. Palo Alto, CA: Mind Garden.
12.
Bass, B. M., & Avolio, B. J. (1997). Full-range of leadership development: Manual for the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire. Palo Alto, CA: Mind Garden.
13.
Bass, B. M., Avolio, B. J.,& Atwater, L. (1996). The transformational and transactional leadership of men and women. International Review of Applied Psychology, 45, 5-34.
14.
Bennis, W. G., & Nanus, B. (1985). Leaders: The strategies for taking charge. New York: Harper & Row.
15.
Bhatia, S. K., & Valecha, G. K. (1981). A review of the research findings on absenteeism. Indian Journal of Industrial Relations, 17, 279-285.
16.
Blascovich, J., Loomis, J., Beall, A., Swinth, K., Hoyt, C.,& Bailenson, J. (2002). Immersive virtual environment technologyas a methodological tool for social psychology. Psychological Inquiry, 13, 103-125.
17.
Bowers, K. S., Regehr, G., Balthazard, C. G.,& Parker, K. (1990). Intuition in the context of discovery. Cognitive Psychology, 22, 72-110.
18.
Burns, J. M. (1978). Leadership. New York: Plenum.
19.
Chatman, J. A. (1991). Matching people and organizations: Selection and socialization in public accounting firms. Administrative Science Quarterly, 36, 459-484.
20.
Chemers, M. M. (1993). An integrative theoryof leadership. In M. M. Chemers & R. Ayman (Eds.), Leadership theory and research: Perspectives and directions(pp.293-319). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
21.
Conger, J. A. (1999). Charismatic and transformational leadership in organizations: An insider’s perspective on these developing streams of research. Leadership Quarterly, 10, 145-179.
22.
Dansereau, F., Graen, G., & Haga, W. J. (1975). A vertical dyad linkage approach to leadership within formal organizations: A longitudinal investigation of the role making process. Organizational Behavior & Human Decision Processes, 13, 46-78.
23.
DeStephen, R. S.,& Hirokawa, R. Y. (1988). Small group consensus: Stabilityof group support of the decision, task process, and group relationships. Small Group Behavior, 19, 227-239.
24.
Eagly, A. H. (1987). Sex differences in social behavior: A social-role interpretation. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
25.
Eagly, A. H., & Johannesen-Schmidt, M. C. (2001). The leadership styles of women and men. Journal of Social Issues, 57, 781-797.
26.
Eagly, A. H., & Karau, S. J. (2002). Role congruity theory of prejudice toward female leaders. Psychological Review, 109, 573-598.
27.
Griffith, J. (1988). Measurement of group cohesion in U.S. Armyunits. Basic & Applied Social Psychology, 9, 149-171.
28.
Gully,S. M., Devine, D. J.,& Whitney,D. J. (1995). Ameta-analysis of cohesion and performance: Effects of levels of analysis and task interdependence. Small Group Research, 26, 497-520.
29.
Hackman, J. R. (1992). Group influences on individuals in organizations. In M. D. Dunnette, & L. M. Hough (Eds.), Handbook of industrial and organizational psychology(2nd ed., Vol. 3, pp. 199-267). Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists.
30.
Hollingshead, A. B. (1996). Information suppression and status persistence in group decision making: The effects of communication media. Human Communication Research, 23, 193-219.
31.
House, R. J. (1977). A 1976 theoryof charismatic leadership. In J. G. Hunt & L. L. Larson (Eds.), Leadership: The cutting edge(pp. 189-204). Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press.
32.
Howell, J. M.,& Avolio, B. J. (1993). Transformational leadership, transactional leadership, locus of control, and support for innovation: Keypredictors of consolidatedbusinessunit performance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 78, 891-902.
33.
Howell, J. M.,& Higgins, C. A. (1990). Champions of technological innovation. Administrative Science Quarterly, 35, 317-341.
34.
Hoyt, C., Blascovich, J.,& Swinth, K. (2003). Social inhibition in immersive virtual environments. Presence, 12, 183-195.
35.
Hunt, J. (1999). Transformational/charismatic leadership’s transformation of the field: An historical essay. Leadership Quarterly, 10, 129-144.
36.
Ilgen, D. (1986). Laboratoryresearch: A question of when, not if. In Locke (Ed.), Generalizing fromlaboratory to field settings(pp. 257-267). Lexington, MA: Lexington Books.
37.
Jehn, K. A., Chadwick, C.,& Thatcher, S. M. B. (1997). To agree or not to agree: The effects of value congruence, individual demographic dissimilarity, and conflict on workgroup outcomes. International Journal of Conflict, 8, 287-305.
38.
Joinson, A. (1998). Causes and implications of disinhibited behavior on the internet. In S. Kiesler (Ed.), Culture of the internet(pp. 43-59). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
39.
Jung, D. I. (2001). Transformational and transactional leadership and their effects on creativity in groups. Creativity Research Journal, 13, 185-195.
40.
Jung, D. I., & Avolio, B. J. (1998). Examination of transformational leadership and group process among Caucasian and Asian Americans: Are theydif ferent? In T. A. Scandura & M. G. Serapio (Eds.), Research in international business and international relations: Leadership and innovation in emerging markets(pp. 29-66). Stamford, CT: JAI.
41.
Jung, D. I., & Avolio, B. J. (2000). Opening the black box: An experimental investigation of the mediating effects of trust and value congruence on transformational and transactional leadership. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 21, 949-964.
42.
Kenny, D. A., & LaVoie, L. (1984). The social relations model. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.) Advances in experimental social psychology(Vol. 18). New York: Academic Press.
Kirkpatrick, S. A., & Locke, E. A. (1996). Direct and indirect effects of three core charismatic leadership components on performance and attitudes. Journal of Applied Psychology, 81, 36-51.
45.
Kouzes, J. M., & Posner, B. Z. (1987). The leadership challenge: How to get extraordinary things done in organizations. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
46.
Locke, E. A. (1986). Generalizing from laboratoryto field: Ecological validity or abstraction of essential elements. In E. A. Locke (Ed.), Generalizing from laboratory to field settings(pp 3-9). Lexington, MA: Lexington Books.
47.
Lowe, K. B., Kroeck, K. G., & Sivasubramaniam, N. (1996). Effectiveness correlates of transformational and transactional leadership: Ameta-analytic review of the MLQliterature. Leadership Quarterly, 7, 385-425.
48.
McGraw, K. O.,& Wong, S. P. (1996). Forming inferences about some intraclass correlation coefficients. Psychological Methods, 1, 30-46.
49.
Mednick, S. (1962). The associative basis of the creative process. Psychological Review, 69, 220-232.
50.
Meyerson, D., Weick, K.,& Kramer, R. (1996). Swift trust and temporary groups. In R. Kramer & T. Tyler (Eds.), Trust in Organizations: Frontiers of Theory and Research. London: Sage.
51.
Mullen, B.,& Cooper, C. (1994). The relation between group cohesiveness and performance: An integration. Psychological Bulletin, 15, 210-227.
52.
Podsakoff, P. M., MacKenzie, S. B., Moorman, R. H.,& Fetter, R. (1990). Transformational leader behaviors and their effects on followers’trust in leader, satisfaction, and organizational citizenship behaviors. Leadership Quarterly, 1, 107-142.
53.
Posner, B. Z. (1990). Person-organization values congruence: No support for individual differences as a moderating influence. Human Relations, 45, 351-361.
54.
Riggs, M. L., Warka, J., Babasa, B.,& Betancourt, R. (1994). Development and validation of self-efficacyand outcome expectancyscales for job-related applications. Educational& Psychological Measurement, 54, 793-802.
55.
Rosenfeld, L. B.,& Gilbert, J. R. (1989). The measurement of cohesion and its relationship to dimensions of self-disclosure in classroom settings. Small Group Behavior, 20, 291-301.
56.
Shamir, B. (1995). Social distance and charisma: Theoretical notes and an exploratorystudy. Leadership Quarterly, 6, 19-47.
57.
Shamir, B., House, R. J., & Arthur, M. B. (1993). The motivational effects of charismatic leadership: A self-concept based theory. Organization Science, 4, 577-594.
58.
Shea, G. P., & Guzzo, R. A. (1987). Group effectiveness: What reallymatters. Sloan Management Review, 3, 25-31.
59.
Shea, C. M.,& Howell, J. M. (1999). Charismatic leadership and task feedback: Alaboratory studyof their effects on self-efficacy and task performance. Leadership Quarterly, 10, 375-396.
60.
Simons, T. L.,& Peterson, R. S. (2000). Task conflict and relationship conflict in top management teams: The pivotal role of intragroup trust. Journal of Applied Psychology, 85, 102-111.
61.
Sosik, J. J. (1997). Effects of transformational leadership and anonymity on idea generation in computer-mediated groups. Group & Organization Management, 22, 460-487.
62.
Sosik, J. J., Avolio, B. J.,& Kahai, S. S. (1997). Effects of leadership style and anonymity on group potencyand effectiveness in a group decision support system environment. Journal of Applied Psychology, 82, 89-103.
63.
Sosik, J. J., Avolio, B. J., Kahai, S. S.,& Jung, D. I. (1998). Computer-supportedwork group potencyand effectiveness: The role of transformational leadership, anonymity, and task interdependence. Computers in Human Behavior, 14, 491-511.
64.
Sparks, J. R., & Schenk, J. A. (2001). Explaining the effects of transformational leadership: An investigation of the effects of higher-order motives in multilevel marketing organizations. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 22, 849-869.
65.
Tyler, T. R.,& Degoey, P. (1996). Trust in organizational authorities: The influence of motive attributions on willingness to accept decisions. In R. M. Kramer & T. R. Tyler (Eds.), Trust in organizations: Frontiers of theory and research(pp.331–350). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
66.
Wofford, J. C. (1999). Laboratoryresearch on charismatic leadership: Fruitful or futile? Leadership Quarterly, 10, 523-529.
67.
Yammarino, F. J., & Bass, B. M. (1990). Long-term forecasting of transformational leadership and its effects among naval officers: Some preliminaryf indings. In K. E. Clark & M. B. Clark (Eds.), Measures of leadership(pp. 151-169). West Orange, NJ: Leadership Library of America.
68.
Yukl, G. (1989). Managerial leadership: A review of theoryand research. Journal of Management, 15, 251-289.
69.
Yukl, G. (1994). Leadership in organizations (3rd Ed.). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
70.
Yukl, G. (1999). Leadership competencies required for the new armyand approaches for developing them. In J. G. Hunt & G. E. Dodge (Eds.), Out-of-the-box leadership: Transforming the twenty-first-century army and other top-performing organizations(pp. 255-276). Stamford, CT: JAI.
71.
Zaccaro, S. J., Blair, V., Peterson, C., & Zazanis, M. (1995). Collective efficacy. In J. E. Maddux (Ed.), Self-efficacy, adaptation, and adjustment theory, research and application. New York: Plenum.
72.
Zeffane, R. M. (1994). Correlates of job satisfaction and their implications forwork redesign: A focus on the Australian telecommunications industry. Public Personnel Management, 23, 61-76.
