Linking Transformational Leadership to Self-Efficacy, Extra-Role Behaviors, and Turnover Intentions in Public Agencies: The Mediating Role of Goal Clarity

Abstract

Although transformational leadership and goal clarity have been linked separately to self-efficacy, extra-role behaviors, and turnover intentions, research has not fully considered how transformational leadership and goal clarity work together to influence these attitudes and behaviors. This article builds upon previous management and leadership theories by developing a causal model to explore exactly how transformational leadership and goal clarity collaborate to influence self-efficacy, extra-role behaviors, and turnover intentions. Moreover, the model was tested on public sector employees in the United States. The findings showed that goal clarity completely mediated the relationship between transformational leadership and both self-efficacy and extra-role behaviors. Goal clarity was also found to partially mediate the relationship between transformational leadership and turnover intentions. In addition, self-efficacy had a positive impact on extra-role behaviors and turnover intentions. The managerial and theoretical implications of these findings are discussed in the article.

Linking transformational leadership and value congruence among Chinese police force: The mediating role of goal clarity and the moderating role of public service motivation

“…By using strong communication tools such as articulating a compelling vision, walking the talk by being a role model, challenging followers to see the job in‐depth, transformational leaders make it possible for followers to see the values inherent within public jobs and thus provide opportunity to align their values with the organisation. Our results echo the recent emphasis in public administration over goal clarity (Caillier, , ). The fact that goal clarity only partially mediates the relationship requires further investigation to explore other possible mechanisms.…”

“…Whether PSM is state like or trait like deserves more empirical examinations, and future studies should investigate the impact of transformational leadership on PSM and further develop the complicated framework linking transformational leadership to value congruence within public administration. Finally, we measured transformational leadership as a unitary concept using the traditional four‐dimension approach, which is a common practice in public administration (Avolio, Bass, & Jung, ; Caillier, ; Wright et al., ). However, given the fact that some recent studies in public administration are using single dimension such as visioning to measure transformational leadership (Jensen & Bro, ; Jensen et al., ), future studies should see whether our results hold using other measurement of transformational leadership.…”

“…The underlying effect mechanism of transformational leadership is underspecified in public administration (Moynihan, Pandey, et al., ). One important exception is the establishment of goal clarity as a mediator (Bronkhorst et al., ; Caillier, ; Moynihan, Pandey, et al., ; Wright et al., ). Public organisations are often characterised by multiple, conflicting, and vague goals (Pandey & Rainey, ; Rainey et al., ).…”

Only When We Agree!How Value Congruence Moderates the Impact of Goal‐Oriented Leadership on Public Service Motivation

“…Transformational leadership, in particular, has established itself as a core topic in public management research (Orazi, Turrini, and Valotti 2015; Van Wart ; Vogel and Masal ). Following recent contributions in the field of public administration (e.g., Caillier ) and the conceptual discussion of transformational leadership by Jensen et al (), we see transformational leadership as a unitary construct. Transformational leadership was introduced as a multidimensional construct consisting of four dimensions (idealized influence, intellectual stimulation, individualized consideration, and inspirational motivation; see Bass 1985); it has also been applied in public management studies (e.g., Oberfield ; Trottier, Van Wart, and Wang ).…”

Transformational Leadership and the Use of Normative Public Values: Can Employees Be Inspired to Serve Larger Public Purposes?

“…For example, two recent studies focus on the effect of transformational leadership on employee use of performance information (Moynihan et al ; Kroll and Vogel ). Other studies examine the influence of transformational leadership on follower satisfaction, organizational goal clarity, and performance (Oberfield 2012; Vigoda‐Gadot and Beeri ; Bellé ; Caillier ; Jacobsen and Andersen ).…”