Motivation and Transactional, Charismatic, and Transformational Leadership: A Test of Antecedents

Abstract

Relationships between leaders' motivation and their use of charismatic, transactional, and / or transformational leadership were examined in this study. One hundred eighty-six leaders and 759 direct reports from a variety of organizations were sampled. Leaders were administered the Motivation Sources Inventory (MSI) while followers reported leaders' full range leadership behaviors using the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ-rater version). Leaders were also administered the self-rating version of the Multi-factor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ-rater version). The Motivation Sources Inventory subscales subsequently significantly correlated with leader self-reports of inspirational motivation, idealized influence (behavior) and individualized consideration (range, r = .10 to .29), as well as with raters' perceptions of inspirational motivation, idealized influence (behavior) and individualized consideration (range, r = .18 to .19). The Motivation Sources Inventory subscales significantly correlated with leaders' self-reports of charisma, transactional and laissez-faire leadership (range, r = .12 to .28), with rater-reports of the same variables (range, r = .16 to .29).