Transformational leadership and employee well-being : a longitudinal two-study investigation

Abstract

The present study examined the relationship between transformational leadership (using the Global Transformational Leadership Scale) and employee well-being (using the General Health Questionnaire - 12, and the Job-related Affective Well-being Scale) in 3 three-wave longitudinal analyses. In study 1, participants were 187 male (32%) and female (67%) employees of a small community college, between 20 and 65 years of age. Data were collected over five waves using experience sampling methodology and analyzed in two analyses using random coefficient modelling. I analyzed effects over 1 week, with measures taken on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and over 2 weeks, with measures taken on three consecutive Fridays. Results show a strong cross-sectional relationship between leadership and well-being, and a strong autoregressive relationship between intercepts (i.e., initial values) and slopes (i.e., rates of change) of both leadership and well-being; however, there was no longitudinal effect between changes in leadership and changes in well-being. In Study 2, data were collected in three waves over 8 months, with 4 months between sampling. Participants were a stratified random sample of 1387 working adult men (50%) and women (50%) from across the province of Nova Scotia, Canada, ranging in age from 21 to 77 years. Analysis was conducted using a structural equation modelling approach to latent growth curve modelling. Results provide strong evidence for cross-sectional (β = -.42, P < .001) and longitudinal effects (β = -.51, P < .001) between transformational leadership and employee well-being.