The Wiley-Blackwell Handbook of the Psychology of Leadership, Change and Organizational Development

9

Transformational Leadership and Psychological Well-being: Effects on Followers and Leaders

Kara A. Arnold and Catherine E. Connelly

9.1 Introduction

Leaders hold a central role in the success of any organization. They are responsible not only for an organization’s strategy and how it is operationalized and implemented but also for the well-being of their followers. In this chapter we therefore describe research focused specifically on the relationship between transformational leadership behaviors and employee psychological well-being. We present a critical analysis of this body of work, focusing on the strengths and limitations of the existing literature, and making suggestions for future research. We also summarize the literature that examines how transformational leadership behaviors affect leaders’ psychological well-being. Currently, the transformational-leadership literature focuses on the impact that transformational leadership in supervisors has on their followers: their performance, their job-related attitudes and their well-being (for a summary see Bass & Riggio, 2006). Much less empirical work has focused on the effects of enacting transformational leadership on leaders themselves, despite its potential importance.

9.1.1 Why transformational leadership?

The relationship between supervisor and employee is an important influence on employee well-being (e.g. Cooper & Payne, 1991; Landeweerd & Boumans, 1994; Skakon et al., 2010; Tepper, 2000). A summary of research related to ...