Identification of transformational leadership qualities: An examination of potential biases

A basic ingredient in transformational leadership development consists in identifying leadership qualities via distribution of the multifactor leadership questionnaire (MLQ) to followers of the target leaders. It is vital that the MLQ yields an accurate and unbiased assessment of leaders on the various leadership dimensions. This article focuses on two sources of bias which may occur in identifying leadership qualities. First, when followers assess the strengths and weaknesses of their leaders, they may have difficulty in differentiating between the various transformational and transactional leadership behaviours. It is found that this is only the case for the transformational leadership attributes because the four transformational leadership dimensions measured by the MLQ correlate highly and cluster into one factor. MLQ ratings on the three transactional leadership dimensions are found not to be interrelated and show evidence for three distinct factors: contingent reward, active management-by-exception and passive leadership. Second, social desirability does not seem to be a strong biasing factor, although the transformational leadership scale is somewhat more socially desirable. These findings emphasize that the measurement of so-called “new” leadership qualities remains a controversial issue in leadership development. Practical implications of these findings and avenues for future research are also discussed