The consequence of the leadership style of a financial planner's most influential supervisor on the planner's perception of conflict, as influenced by the consanguinity of a potential client

This study addressed how the leadership style of a financial planner's leader influences a financial planner's perception of conflict and the willingness to serve when a planner considers providing service to a family member. Dependent variables measured were a subject planner's perception of conflict and willingness to serve. Independent variables measured were the consanguinity of a hypothetical potential client, and transformational, transactional, and laissez faire leadership styles of the planner's supervisor. Intervening variables were the financial credential(s) held, highest level of education completed, years in practice, years supervised by the most influential planning supervisor, and age of the financial planner. A questionnaire collected the demographic and professional questions, as well as providing a hypothetical scenario from which perception of conflict and willingness to serve were recorded. The Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire 5x-Short Rater Form (MLQ) was used to measure the leadership style of the subject's most influential planning supervisor. Results indicate that consanguinity of a hypothetical client is positively related to perception of conflict and negatively related to willingness to serve. Transformational leadership was negatively related to both perception of conflict and willingness to serve. Transactional and laissez faire leadership were not significantly related to either dependent variable.