Page Title

Is Similarity in Leadership Related to Organizational Outcomes?  The Case of Transformational Leadership

March 28, 2005 

"Research into leadership and similarity has generally concentrated on the effects of demographic similarity (Liden, Wayne, and Stilwell, 1993, Tsui & O'Reilly, 1989; Vecchio & Bullis, 2001), and value similarity (Ashkansasy & O'Connor, 1997), and on relationship quality (such as Leader-Member Exchange; Dansereau, Graen, & Haga, 1975).  However, little is known about similarity in the leadership behavior of leader and supervisor, and how this affects the outcomes of leadership. 

Originally regarded as antagonists by Burns (1978), transformational and transactional leadership behaviors have recently been regarded as complementing one another to a certain degree (e.g., Bass & Avolio, 1993).  Whereas transactional leadership is regarded as successful in itself, (additional) transformational behavior can lead to extraordinary performance on the part of followers.

In leadership research, similarity between leader and subordinate has been shown to influence the relationship between leader and follower.  Supervisors who perceive themselves as similar to their leaders develop a better relationship (e.g., in the sense of Leader-Member Exchange (LMX), as Bauer & Green, 1996, showed) with them than supervisors who do not perceive such similarity.  Direct support for the assumption that similarity of leadership behavior is associated with perceived supervisor success can be found in Weiss' study (1977).  In the context of organizational learning, Weiss used similarity in initiating structure and consideration behaviors among supervisors and their leaders. 

H1:  Perceived similarity between superiors and their leaders with respect to transformational leadership is: 1) positively related to positive outcomes, and b) negatively related to negative outcomes.  H2:  In addition to perceived leadership, perceived similarity between superiors and their leaders explains unique variance in outcome variables.  H3:  The correlations between transformational leadership and outcomes can be ranked as follows:  SHTL - SLTL / DHTL - DLTL. 

The sample consisted of 213 administrative officers with leading functions.  They belonged to two public organizations: 54 participants came from a finance administration (25.4%) and 159 worked in a city council administration office (74.6%).  These employees were in so-called 'sandwich positions,' that is, the employees were subordinates and supervisors at the same time.  Ninety-two of the participants were female (43.6%) and 119 male (56.4%).  All participants worked full-time. Prior to the distribution of the questionnaires, the management informed all participants about the study.  The questionnaires were distributed by internal mail and collected by the work council.  The aim of the study was explained on the first page of the questionnaire.  The participants were assured confidentiality.  The participants were asked to provide self-ratings and ratings of their leaders concerning transformational leadership, as well as ratings of outcome variables.

Transformational leadership was assessed using the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ; Bass & Avolio, 1995; adapted for use in Germany by Felfe & Goihl, 2002).   Leadership specific outcomes were assessed using the outcomes scales of the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ).  Organizational outcomes were assessed using different instruments.  For the measurement of commitment, a subscale for affective organizational commitment with 5 items was selected from an instrument that was used to assess multiple facets of Commitment (Felfe, Six & Schmook, 2002).  Overall satisfaction was measured using a single item employing a Kunin scale (Kunin, 1998).  Organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) was assessed using a combination of the conscientiousness, and altruism by means of an instrument developed by Six, Felfe, Schmook, and Knorz (2001).  Achievement orientation was measured using a short scale (Felfe, Resetka & Liepmann, 1994).  Negative work experience was measured using a short version on an instrument developed by Felfe, Resetka and Liepmann (1994, original instrument by Mohr, 1986).

The relationship between the self-rating of leadership and the rating of perceived leadership ranged from r = .16 (for intellectual stimulation and idealized influence attributed) to r = .38 (for inspirational motivation).  No differences were found between male and female participants on self-rated and perceived transformational leadership.  No significant correlations emerged for perceived transformational leadership and age or tenure.  The correlations between self-rated transformational leadership and age were all significant (ranging from r = .17 for age and inspirational motivation to r = .23 for age and idealized influence attributed).  Some correlations between self-rated transformational leadership and tenure were significant (ranging from 4 = .15 for tenure and intellectual stimulation to r = .25 for age and inspirational motivation).  Furthermore, for discrepancies between self-rated and perceived transformational leadership, no systematic effects occurred for sex, age, and tenure. 

We expected a positive relationship between similarity with respect to transformational leadership and leadership outcomes, such as efficiency, extra effort, and satisfaction.  The results supported our hypothesis.  Commitment and overall satisfaction did not correlate significantly with similarity.  As a similar (and also unexpected) result was found for achievement orientation, we may see a pattern here:  whereas similarity seems to satisfy people, dissimilarity stimulates them to work harder for the organization and their careers.  This could mean that the dissimilar subordinates are trying to the leader-member dyad.  We expected to stress and irritability to be negatively correlated to similarity.  This was supported.  In order to overcome the problem of difference scores (see Cronbach & Furby, 1970), we divided our participants into four groups according to the level of similarity they had with their leaders.  With respect to leader specific outcomes, the order of correlations was almost as expected.  Consequently, similarity seems to support the leader's influence.  The relationships between transformational leadership and irritability, as well as stress and achievement orientation, only partly confirmed our assumption.  We found higher correlations for similarity than for dissimilarity, but not the expected rankings within these groups.

All data reported here came from one source, although different objects of evaluation were considered.  This is clearly a limitation within the study.  Another limitation of the study is the sample size.  Although some of the correlations were in the hypothesized direction, they were not significant due to sample size.  One methodological limitation is the partial use of difference scores.  Despite these limitations, we believe that this study adds to the understanding of transformational leadership and its relationship to outcomes, as well as to the knowledge of the effects of similarity in the context of leadership (Felfe & Shins, 2004, p. 92-102)."

Reference:  Felfe, J. & Schyns, B. (2004).  Is similarity in leadership related to organizational outcomes? The case of transformational leadership. The Journal of Leadership and Organizational Studies, 2004, vol. 10, no.4.

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Created: 2007-08-28, Updated: 2009-02-17