Transactional and Transformational Leadership Impacts On Organizational Learning

Zusammenfassung

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This study empirically relates two important areas of management research: the full-range theory of leadership and the organizational learning process. Specifically, this contribution addresses three issues: (1) the impact of transformational leadership and (2) of transactional leadership on the organizational learning process and (3) whether the influence of transformational leadership is stronger than of a transactional type of leadership. The results show that transformational leadership has a strong impact on all four constructs of organizational learning. A direct impact is evident only regarding information acquisition and behavioural and cognitive changes.

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Auszug

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Transactional and Transformational Leadership Impacts On Organizational Learning

1. Introduction

Organizational learning is one of the most important sources of sustainable competitive advantage that companies have (de Geus 1988), as well as an important driver of corporate performance (Stata 1989). Given the turbulent environments that organizations work within, continuous learning is a key driver of their ability to remain adaptive and flexible - that is, to survive and effectively compete (Burke et al. 2006). Studies have shown that organizational learning affects competitive advantage (Jashapara 2003), financial and nonfinancial performance (Bontis et al. 2002; Skerlavaj/Dimovski 2004; Dimovski/Skerlavaj 2005; Jimenez- Jimenez/Cegarra-Navarro 2006), tangible and intangible collaborative benefits in strategic alliances (Simonin 1997), the unit cost of production (Darr et al. 1995), and innovation (Llorens et al. 2005).

Given the significance of organizational learning for corporate performance, understanding ways in which managers can influence the learning process in organizations is becoming increasingly important. Lei et al. (1999), Llorens et al. (2005), Senge (1990), and Swieringa/Wierdsma (1992) emphasize the importance of leadership for organizational learning. Maani/Benton (1999), Slater/Narver (1995), and Snell (2001) describe capability with regard to transformational leadership as one of the most important means of developing learning organizations, while recent theoretical developments emphasize the importance of a contingent approach toward leadership and organizational learning (Vera/Crossan 2004).

Other than the above mentioned, the literature rarely addresses the relationship between leadership and organizational learning, particularly in the context of a transitional economy outside North America. Only a few empirical studies exist to date and even in these, the impact of leadership on organizational learning was no...

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