Transformational Leadership: Effects on Relations-Oriented Behaviour of Followers and Job Performance

To what extent does the transformational leadership behaviour of the leader affect followers’ relations-oriented behaviour, and hence their job performance? This study discovers some unexpected contradicting findings on the transformational leadership theory by examining the verbal behaviour of leaders and followers from various teams. Minutely coded verbal behavioural data from 113 leaders and 1486 followers were acquired by videotaping various team meetings of different teams within a big Dutch public-sector organization. Leaders were surveyed about their followers’ job performance, while followers were asked to rate their trust in their leader. To test the hypotheses, Model 7 of Hayes PROCESS and correlation analysis were used to examine the direct and mediated effects of transformational leadership on job performance and relations-oriented follower behaviour. We discover that the duration of leaders’ transformational leadership behaviour has a negative, significant effect on followers’ individual job performance. Followers with a higher frequency of positive relations-oriented behaviour during the videotaped meetings score significantly higher on their job performance.