A study of transformational and transactional leadership and the effect on project manager turnover intentions

Purpose. The purpose of this study was to expand the theoretical knowledge of the relationship of transformational and transactional leadership behaviors regarding certified project manager turnover intentions.;This study investigated the relationship of transformational and transactional leadership behaviors on certified project manager turnover intentions. Bass and Avolio's (1995) Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) and Jackofsky and Slocum's (1987) measures of turnover intentions constituted the questionnaire. The research included project management professionals belonging to the Orange County Chapter of the Project Management Institute.;Findings. The study identified statistically significant relationships in 6 of the 7 transformational and transactional dimensions and project manager turnover intentions. The only variable that was not significant was the management by exception---active variable.;All 4 transformational leadership dimensions had a statistically significant inverse relationship to project manager turnover intentions. In addition, the transactional leadership dimension of contingent reward also had a statistically significant inverse relationship. The transactional leadership dimension of management by exception---passive had a statistically significant positive relationship to project manager turnover intentions.;In addition, there was a significant predicting relationship identified for project manager turnover intentions, based on a subset of the Bass and Avolio's (1990) transformational leadership model (contingent reward, idealized influence, and individualized consideration). This study found that turnover intentions can be estimated by the following regression model: turnover intentions = 4.103 - 0.484 * contingent reward + 0.305 * idealized influence - 0.383 * individualized consideration.;Summary. Generally, the study's findings support the inference that organizations can reduce project manager turnover by pursuing aggressive and proactive activities that focus on transformational leadership behaviors. The study's results indicate that subordinates prefer supervisors whose leadership styles are perceived as transformational. With one exception, employees indicated that effective contingent reward behaviors also showed a positive relationship to lower turnover intentions.;These findings indicate that project manager turnover intentions can be reduced by project leadership selecting managers who utilize transformational leadership behaviors and by implementing training and development programs that would be focused on improving these same behaviors for all project leadership.