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How is commitment to change among start-up employees affected by transformational leadership? : The role of empowerment and perceived threat

Sautmann, Marius (2022) How is commitment to change among start-up employees affected by transformational leadership? : The role of empowerment and perceived threat.

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Abstract:The goal of the present study was to investigate the effect of transformational leadership on commitment to change in start-up companies. This was measured with the subscales affective, continuance, and normative commitment to change. Empowerment and perceived threat were investigated as moderating variables. A significant positive effect of transformational leadership on affective, normative, and continuance commitment to change was expected, yet results could not confirm this expectation. Furthermore, no interaction effects between transformational leadership and empowerment or perceived threat were found. A significant positive effect of transformational leadership on empowerment was observed. A reason for the unexpected results could be that in start-ups, there is a tendency that all members should develop leadership capacities, whereas in most other companies there are rather strict hierarchies, and not all members should develop leadership capacities (Prommer, Tiberius & Kraus, 2020). As leaders tend to develop change initiatives and try to spread them (Oreg & Berson, 2019), it might be that it is not the perceived transformational leadership that impacts their commitment to change, but their own perceived leadership capabilities that make start-up members committed to a change initiative. The results should be interpreted with caution due to the minimalistic sample size.
Item Type:Essay (Bachelor)
Faculty:BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences
Subject:77 psychology
Programme:Psychology BSc (56604)
Link to this item:https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/92021
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