Perceived transformational leadership –

what to expect for work motivation

Perceived transformational leadership as an explanation of work motivation

In contexts where leadership is perceived to be transformational, it is likely that this will
impact on the work motivation of employees. Because transformational leaders seek to
engage employees with the values and objectives of the organization, this may result in the
enhancement of intrinsic motivation. Morkevic
iūte_ and Endriulaitiene_ (2020) conducted a
questionnaire study of female Lithuanian employees to investigate these relationships. Their
results indicate that perceived transformational leadership impacts positively both on
intrinsic and on extrinsic motivation and suggest ways in which this is likely to occur
exploring how these motivational benefits of transformational leadership are achieved

Research and theoretical background

Extrinsic motivation is the drive to act in a particular way to attain some external
consequence. Intrinsic motivation is the drive to act in a particular way because of interest
or inherent pleasure or satisfaction in an activity.
Self-Determination Theory (SDT), a salient theory of motivation, allows the exploration of the
internalized and externalized behaviors to identify the factors which are of importance to
different types of motivation.
Previous research has indicated that self-report studies of motivation are best conducted
with female subjects as they show awareness of subtleties, which in their opinion, make
them motivated. In contrast, the responses of male subjects are less informative regarding
the bases of their motivation in the workplace. As previous research has suggested that
motivation appears to be rooted deeply in personal aspects such as values and beliefs, it is
important to capture as much of this as possible in self-report studies. For example, women
have perceived management’s interest in employee working conditions and well-being as
more important than men did. Women also appear to seek to avoid performance-related
success. In addition, it is noted that female employees predominate in certain sectors and
roles, which indicates that female research participants’ responses may be especially
valuable in understanding motivation in these roles and sectors.

Methodology and results

168 Lithuanian females participated in this study. They had been recruited through contact
with the employers asking them to forward the researchers’ link to female staff, resulting in
this being a convenience sample. Responses were confidential and anonymous. using a
self-report methodology. A scale of extrinsic/intrinsic work motivation and an inventory of
transformational leadership were used, both of which had been back-forward translated into
Lithuanian. Five subscales referring to intrinsic motivation were included and four regulatory
types of extrinsic motivation were included.

j
DOI 10.1108/DLO-06-2021-0104 VOL. 36 NO. 5 2022, pp. 29-31, © Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN 1477-7282 DEVELOPMENT AND LEARNING IN ORGANIZATIONS: AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL j PAGE 29
 The age, organizational position, tenure length and occupational sector of the participants
were also recorded. The first step in the data analysis was to determine any differences in
core variables between the different socio-demographic groups in the sample.
Regression analysis was used to determine the strongest predictor of work motivation.
The following hypotheses were advanced for evaluation:
H1. The perceived individualized support, fostering the acceptance of group goals,
articulating a vision, intellectual stimulation and providing an appropriate role model
[as constituent dimensions of transformational leadership] are positively correlated to
intrinsic motivation.
H2. The perceived high-performance expectations [as a constituent dimension of
transformational leadership] are positively correlated to extrinsic motivation.
The data indicated that the employee’s position was not statistically significantly
related to differences in transformational leadership and work motivation. Private
sector employees gave higher scores to external regulation than did public sector
workers as did those with shorter lengths of tenure. Older employees gave higher
scores to the dimension of “providing an appropriate role model”than did younger
employees.
Two dimensions of transformational leadership [intellectual stimulation and articulating a
vision] were significantly positively related to intrinsic motivation and all types of extrinsic
motivation. The dimension of providing an appropriate role model was significantly
positively related to the integrated regulation and intrinsic motivation of the employees.
Fostering the acceptance of the goals of the group was also positively and significantly
related to both the identified regulation and intrinsic motivation. Significant positive
relationships between high-performance expectations established by transformational
leadership and introjected, identified and integrated regulations.
Other relationships were found not to be statistically significant. Surprisingly,
individualized support was not statistically significantly correlated with intrinsic-extrinsic
work motivation.

Practical implications
To achieve the motivational outcomes which management would wish for from female
employees, managers need to be aware of how their management strategies relate to
transformational leadership. A basic practical implication therefore of this study is that
managers need to learn about and understand the concept of transformational leadership
and how they can become such leaders. Leaders who are better-informed can focus on
behavior that is going to be more effective.
The main processes by which transformational leadership promotes intrinsic motivation in
female employees are those of being attentive to individuals, to their relationship with work
and their working conditions, specifically their psycho-social working conditions. This will
result in female employees being committed to work and self-motivated without any
stimulation or specific direction from senior management.

Keywords: Comment
Work motivation,
This review is based on “Explaining work motivation through perceived transformational
Females’,
Perceived transformational leadership: what to expect in a sample of female employees?” by Morkevic
iūte,
_ M., and
leadership style _ A., published in Gender in Management: An International Journal.
Endriulaitiene,

PAGE 30 j DEVELOPMENT AND LEARNING IN ORGANIZATIONS: AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL j VOL. 36 NO. 5 2022
Reference
Morkevic
iūte,
_ M. and Endriulaitiene,_ A. (2020), “Explaining workplace motivation through perceived
transformational leadership: what to expect in a sample of female employees?”, Gender in Management:
An International Journal, Vol. 35 No. 6, pp. 585-599, doi: 10.1108/GM-01-2020-0004.

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