The Impact of Transformational Leadership on Organizational Citizenship Behaviours: The Contingent Role of Public Service Motivation
| Date | 01 April 2016 |
| Published date | 01 April 2016 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8551.12108 |
British Journal of Management, Vol. 27, 390–405 (2016)
DOI: 10.1111/1467-8551.12108
The Impact of Transformational Leadership
on Organizational Citizenship Behaviours:
The Contingent Role of Public Service
Motivation
Paul Bottomley, Ahmed Mohammed Sayed Mostafa,1
Julian Seymour Gould-Williams and Filadelfo Le ´
on-C´
azares2
Cardi University, Business School, Colum Drive, Cardi, CF10 3EU, UK, 1University of Bristol, School of
Economics Finance and Management, 8 Woodland Road, Bristol BS8 1TN, UK, and 2University of
Guadalajara, School of Economics and Business Administration, Department of Quantitative Methods,
Perif´
erico Norte No. 799, Modulo M 1er Nivel, N´
ucleo Universitario Los Belenes, C.P. 45100, Zapopan, Jalisco,
M´
exico
Corresponding author email: gouldwilliams@cf.ac.uk
In this paper we examine whether the relationship between transformational leadership
and organizational citizenship behaviours (OCBs) is contingent on public service motiva-
tion (PSM). We propose that PSM may reduce the motivational influences of transfor-
mational leaders’ behaviours on followers’ OCBs in public sector organizations. Using a
sample of Mexican employees we tested this proposition with structural equation mod-
elling. Our results show that the motivational eects of transformationalleadership were
less for public sector followers higher in PSM than for those lowerin PSM. A follow-up
study in privatesector organizations did not reveal a similar interaction eect. These find-
ings appear consistent with previous research demonstrating that PSM is more aligned
to the goals and values of public rather than private sector organizations. Nevertheless,
the direct eects of PSM on OCBs remained in the private sector.
Introduction
Leadership remains a central challenge facing
many organizations today. One style that has at-
tracted particular attention from scholars is trans-
formational leadership,a key factor found to influ-
ence many beneficial employee outcomes in both
private (Herrmann and Felfe, 2014; Judge and Pic-
colo, 2004) and public organizations (Oberfield,
2014; Trottier, Van Wart and Wang, 2008; Wright
and Pandey, 2010). Scholars have begun to ex-
plore the circumstances and processes by which
these eects are ultimately realized (for a review,
see van Kippenberg and Sitkin, 2013). Neverthe-
less, the accumulated evidence primarily focuses
on how transformational leaders aect followers’
behaviours rather than why leadership is more or
less eective (Li et al., 2013). We contribute to
this debate by exploring the moderating influence
of public service motivation (defined below) on
leader−follower relationships.
Transformational leadership encourages follow-
ers to focus on a common goal or mission, gen-
erates intrinsic motivation and inspires them to
‘go the extra mile’ (Bass, 1985), such as engaging
in discretionary behaviours (Wright and Pandey,
2010). These extra role activities are referred to
as organizational citizenship behaviours (OCBs)
which extend beyond core task performance and
support the work environment (Chiaburu et al.,
2011) and are associated with improved orga-
nizational performance outcomes (Messersmith
© 2015 British Academy of Management. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd, 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4
2DQ, UK and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA, 02148, USA.
PSM and Leader-Follower Relations 391
et al., 2011; Podsko et al., 2000). But is the
relationship between transformational leadership
and extra role behaviours the same for every-
one, or does it depend on followers’ individual
characteristics?
By emphasizing collective rather than individ-
ual goals, transformational leadership theory en-
courages followers to ‘transcend their own self-
interests for the sakeof the team, organization and
larger polity’ (Shamir et al., 1993, p.579). In so do-
ing, it brings centre-stage the wellbeing of others
(Bass, 1985). Among public sector organizations,
concern for the wellbeing of citizens, community
and society figures prominently and is probably re-
flected in leader behaviours (Kjeldsen and Jacob-
sen, 2013; Wright and Pandey, 2010). Interestingly,
these same ‘audiences’ are uppermost and salient
among employees high in public service motiva-
tion (PSM) which is defined as ‘an individual’spro-
social motivation to do good for others and soci-
ety through the delivery of public services’ (Perry
and Hondeghem, 2008, p. 3). Perhaps unsurpris-
ingly, studies of public sector employees in Korea,
the USA and the UK have also found that PSM is
positively associated with OCBs (Gould-Williams,
Mostafa and Bottomley, 2015; Kim, 2006; Taylor,
2013).
So, questions arise as to the influence of trans-
formational leadership on followers’ behaviours
when followers already endorse similar goals and
values to those leaders endeavour to promote.
Specifically, will PSM enhance or diminish the ef-
fects of transformational leadership on citizenship
behaviours? Given that employees high in PSM
probablyhave a genuine interest in work and iden-
tify with the organization, they are less likelyto re-
quire added encouragement from leaders to take
action. Piccolo and Colquitt (2006) argue that, as
OCBs are rarely formally rewarded, employees are
also likely to undertake discretionary behaviours
to satisfy self-generated, intrinsic motives. Indeed,
PSM may be considered a formof intrinsic motiva-
tion (Kjeldsen and Jacobsen, 2013; Steen, 2008). In
contrast, employees low in PSM, perhaps lacking
a genuine interest in their work, concern for citi-
zen wellbeing or intrinsic motivation to ‘indepen-
dently’ undertake such discretionary behaviours
(OCBs), are likely to be inspired by the added en-
couragement from leaders.
We test this proposition with Mexican data
collected from public sector employees, distin-
guishing between citizenship behaviours directed
at the organization (OCBO) and at individual co-
workers (OCBI), as prior studies suggest each has
unique antecedents (Chiaburuet al., 2011; Le Pine,
Erez and Johnson, 2002). In so doing, we adopt
an interactionist approach testing whether PSM
reduces the influence of leadership on follower
behaviours, consistent with the logic of substitutes-
for-leadership theory (Avolio, Walumbwa and
Weber, 2009; Kerr and Jermier, 1978). While
this theory has received mixed support, public
sector plaudits of transformational leadership
(e.g. Paarlberg and Lavigna, 2010; Trottier, Van
Wart and Wang, 2008) may have exaggerated its
capacity if followers’ desire to serve the public
forms a substitute for leadership in relation to
OCBs. Moreover, Li et al. (2013, p. 236) contend
that ‘identifying contingencies allows a more
nuanced view . . . of follower task and contextual
performance’, thereby increasing not only the
precision of transformational leadership theory
but our understanding of OCB engagement.
A follow-up study was undertaken two years
later in 2012, based on a sample of Mexican private
sector workers. Here, we explore what happens to
the interaction eect when PSM is less consistent
with organizational goals and not the primary fo-
cus of leader behaviours, as might typify many pri-
vate sector organizations. Will PSM act as a sub-
stitute for leadership when the focus of pro-social
motivation is the customer/client rather than the
community/public? Or is PSM an inherently ben-
eficial quality that organizations should seek from
employees making it portableacross firms and sec-
tors?
We proceed as follows. First, we describe
the behaviours and benefits of transformational
leadership. Thereafter, on the basis of substitutes-
for-leadership theory, we explain why the rela-
tionship between leadership and OCBs is mod-
erated by PSM in the public sector. Next, we
describe our primary data set comprising Mexi-
can public sector employees and present the struc-
tural equation modelling (SEM) results. We also
conduct a follow-up study with Mexican private
sector employees whose goals are more customer-
focused than community-focused to establish an
‘absence of moderation’ by PSM. Finally, we dis-
cuss the managerial and theoretical implications
of our findings, along with limitations of this
research.
© 2015 British Academy of Management.
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