The influence of leadership style on subordinates' attachment to the leader.
The aim of this research is to explore the extent to which employees establish attachment bonds with their leaders and the effects these bonds have on organizational outcomes. A sample of 225 participants reported on their supervisor's leadership style (transformational, transactional, or passive-avoidant), their attachment bonds to this supervisor (anxious or avoidant), and four organizational variables (subordinate's satisfaction, identification with the organization, extra effort, and perceived leadership effectiveness). Results, analyzed using a Partial Least Squares (PLS) approach, indicated that (a) transformational leadership was negatively associated with employees' insecure (anxious or avoidant) attachment to their leader; (b) passive/avoidant leadership was positively associated with subordinates' insecure attachment to their leader; (c) transactional leadership was positively associated with employee's anxious attachment but not with their avoidant attachment; (d) avoidant, but not anxious, attachment to the leader was negatively associated with employee satisfaction, perceived leader effectiveness, employee's extra effort, and organizational identification.
Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (Spain).
Fernando
F
Molero
Juan A
JA
Moriano
Phillip R
PR
Shaver
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D004651:Employment / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D007857:Leadership; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009769:Object Attachment; D015279:Organizational Culture; D010549:Personal Satisfaction; D012933:Social Identification; D055815:Young Adult