Is similarity in leadership related to organizational outcomes? The case of transformational leadership

Detlev Liepmann, and an anonymous reviewer. In this study, 213 supervisors from two public administration offices rated their own leadership behavior as well as their leaders’ behavior on the MLQ. The relationship between own self-rated transformational leadership and perceived transformational leadership of the direct superior was examined. Furthermore, the relationship between perceived similarity between subordinate and supervisor in transformational leadership and leadership specific outcomes (extra effort, efficiency, and satisfaction with the leader), as well as organizational outcomes (commitment, overall satisfaction, organizational citizenship behavior, achievement orientation, stress, and irritability) was analyzed. Separating the participants into four groups with regard to their type of similarity/dissimilarity (similar low transformational leadership / similar high transformational leadership / dissimilar high transformational leadership of leader / dissimilar low transformational leadership of leader) led to differential correlations with the outcomes. Whereas a pattern close to the expected pattern was found for leader specific outcomes, very different patterns emerged for organizational outcomes including commitment, overall satisfaction, organizational citizenship behavior, stress, and absenteeism. Research into leadership and similarity has generally concentrated on the effects of demographic similarity (Liden, Wayne, an