| This study addressed the lack of empirical research with regard to the assumption made in the literature about the relative impact of transactional and transformational leadership on the leadership of organizational change. In particular, the implicit assumption in the literature is that transformational leaders are agents of organizational change, yet there is no empirical evidence that this is the case. In addition, there is a lack of critical thinking with regard to how transactional leadership might also be important to organizational change. Finally, little, if any, empirical work has examined the collective impact of transformational, transactional, and change-oriented leadership on leader effectiveness.;This study examined the relationship between transformational and transactional leadership, and change-oriented leadership, in addition to the collective impact of these three leadership constructs on perceptions of leader effectiveness. Furthermore, the study provided an exploration of the underlying dimensions of transactional, transformational, and change-oriented leadership and the relationships among them.;Data were collected from 347 upper-level executives who had attended a five-day leadership development program run several times a year by an executive education division of a business school at a large, northeastern, urban university. Direct report data from a set of multirater feedback surveys were used to create two transactional (Clarity and Reward) and three transformational (Idealized Influence, Intellectual Stimulation, and Individualized Attention) subscales in addition to three change-oriented subscales (Envisioning, Action Planning, and Sensitivity). Direct reports and supervisors of these upper level executives provided ratings of their effectiveness.;Results indicated some surprising findings with regard to the importance of transactional leadership in predicting change-oriented leadership that challenge some of the assumptions made in the literature, and stand in contrast with previous empirical findings. Specifically, when both transactional and transformational behaviors were taken into account, while both transactional and transformational leadership were significantly related to change-oriented leadership, it was transactional leadership that explained more of the variance in change-oriented leadership compared to transformational leadership. In addition, although transactional, transformational, and change-oriented leadership, examined collectively, had a significant impact on leadership effectiveness, no single construct stood out as more important than the others, indicating considerable overlap among the three leadership constructs. Implications of these findings for theory, practice, and future research are discussed. |
