Transformational leadership in Norway: Outcomes and personality correlates

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Abstract
Transformational leadership is postulated to take different shapes in various cultural contexts. The aim of this study was to investigate transformational leadership in Norway. Two research questions were addressed. First, the relationship between transformational leadership and subordinates' and superiors' ratings of satisfaction, effectiveness, and work motivation, and, second the relationship between transformational leadership and personality. A sample of 100 mid-level Norwegian managers employed in five different companies completed Cattell's Sixteen Personality Factors Questionnaire (16PF). Four scales from the 16PF were included in the subsequent analyses: warmth, reasoning, openness to change, and tension. For each manager, ratings of leadership behaviour and outcomes were obtained from one superior and two subordinates using the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ). Hierarchical multiple regression analyses showed that transformational leadership was strongly associated with the outcome measures in both subordinates' and superiors' ratings, when controlling for the impact of transactional and passive-avoidant leadership. Together the four personality scales explained a modest but significant portion of the variance in transformational leadership, when rated by subordinates, but not when rated by superiors, suggesting that the context in which leadership occurs might be more important determinants than the individual traits of the leader him- or herself.