Uncovering the underlying relationship between transformational leaders and followers’ task performance

The purpose of the present study was to unravel the mechanisms underlying the relationship between transformational leadership, follower work engagement, and follower job performance and to investigate a possible boundary condition of transformational leadership. We used structural equation modeling to test our model among 162 dyads consisting of one employee and their leader, who both filled out an online questionnaire. Followers reported more job resources and need fulfillment when their leader showed more transformational leadership behavior, and this contributed to followers’ engagement and job performance. Consistent with our hypothesis, transformational leaders mainly fulfilled followers’ needs when followers were high in need for leadership