Abstract
In the present paper, we raise the question whether CEO transformational leadership invariably makes a difference for team performance and change effectiveness. Since in general, CEOs are surrounded by a team of highly influential top managers, we argue that the effectiveness of CEO transformational leadership is contingent on the feedback seeking behavior of their top management team (TMT). Data from 38 TMTs and their CEOs demonstrated that transformational leadership was positively related to both TMT performance and effectiveness of organizational change, but only when the TMT engaged in low levels of feedback seeking behavior. As predicted, there was no relationship between CEO transformational leadership and performance and change effectiveness for teams exhibiting high levels of feedback seeking behavior. These findings suggest that for high-feedback seeking TMTs, organizational results can be achieved without a transformational CEO. (C) 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 582-592 |
| Number of pages | 11 |
| Journal | The Leadership Quarterly |
| Volume | 23 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Jun-2012 |
Keywords
- CEO transformational leadership
- Feedback seeking behavior
- Top management team
- Team performance
- Change effectiveness
- TOP MANAGEMENT TEAMS
- SINGLE-ITEM MEASURES
- SELF-MANAGING TEAMS
- FIRM PERFORMANCE
- TRANSACTIONAL LEADERSHIP
- CHARISMATIC LEADERSHIP
- UPPER ECHELONS
- ENVIRONMENTAL UNCERTAINTY
- EMPOWERING LEADERSHIP
- SUBSTITUTES