ویژگی های توسعه ای دنباله رو به عنوان پیش بینی رهبری تحول گرا: مطالعه طولی

The leadership literature has focused on the effects of leaders whereas much less attention has been given to the followers' role in shaping their leader's style. Therefore, this longitudinal field study tested follower developmental characteristics as predictors of transformational leadership. The sample included 54 military units and their leaders, in which there were 90 direct followers and 724 indirect followers. Results at the group level of analysis indicated that followers' initial developmental level, as expressed by the initial level of their self-actualization needs, internalization of the organization's moral values, collectivistic orientation, critical-independent approach, active engagement in the task, and self-efficacy, positively predicted transformational leadership among indirect followers, whereas these relationships were negative among direct followers. The different role of followers' initial developmental level as a predictor of transformational leadership among close versus distant followers is discussed.

“Without his armies, after all, Napoleon was just a man with grandiose ambitions.” (Kelley, 1992) There is a widespread bias to perceive leaders as causal agents who shape events, rather than as being shaped by them. Yukl (1998) stated, “most research and theory on leadership has favored a definition of leadership that emphasizes the primary importance of unilateral influence by a single, ‘heroic’ leader” (p. 504). The majority of the leadership literature, while ostensibly focused on the effects of leaders, has neglected the important role of followers in defining and shaping the latitudes of leaders' actions (Hollander, 1993). Consequently, much less is known about the follower side of the leadership equation (Ehrhart & Klein, 2001). Several researchers emphasized, however, that leadership is a relationship that is jointly produced by leaders and followers. For example, Shamir and Howell (2000) asserted that leadership and followership might both play an active role in forming their mutual relationships, in spite of their imbalanced power, and ultimately in shaping organizational outcomes. This field study offers a conceptual framework of followers' developmental characteristics that are assumed to predict transformational leadership and tests it empirically within a longitudinal framework.