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Transformational Leadership and Organizational Citizenship Behavior: A Meta-Analytic Test of Underlying Mechanisms

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Nohe, Christoph, Hertel, Guido·2017·Frontiers in Psychology
DOI 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01364PMC PMC5554340
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Abstract

Based on social exchange theory, we examined and contrasted attitudinal mediators (affective organizational commitment, job satisfaction) and relational mediators (trust in leader, leader-member exchange; LMX) of the positive relationship between transformational leadership and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). Hypotheses were tested using meta-analytic path models with correlations from published meta-analyses (761 samples with 227,419 individuals overall). When testing single-mediator models, results supported our expectations that each of the mediators explained the relationship between transformational leadership and OCB. When testing a multi-mediator model, LMX was the strongest mediator. When testing a model with a latent attitudinal mechanism and a latent relational mechanism, the relational mechanism was the stronger mediator of the relationship between transformational leadership and OCB. Our findings help to better understand the underlying mechanisms of the relationship between transformational leadership and OCB.

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  • Previous meta-analyses comparing the mediating role of LMX and trust have generally found stronger indirect effects between specific styles of leadership and follower outcomes via LMX compared to trust.

    “previous meta-analyses comparing the mediating role of LMX and trust have generally found stronger indirect effects between specific styles of leadership and follower outcomes via LMX compared to trust.”

    From A meta-analysis of the role of trust in the leadership- performance relationship (2021) · cites this paper as Nohe and Hertel (2017)

    The Results (Attitudinal vs. relational mechanisms; page not available) report a larger indirect effect via LMX (0.15) than via trust in the leader (0.03). But this paper examines transformational leadership and organizational citizenship behavior; it does not establish that previous meta-analyses generally found the same pattern across leadership styles and follower outcomes. (LLM, conf=0.84)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • Nohe and Hertel (2017) found that LMX was the strongest mediator between transformational leadership and OCB.

    “In their meta-analysis, Nohe and Hertel (2017) found that LMX was the strongest mediator between transformational leadership and OCB.”

    From A meta-analysis of the role of trust in the leadership- performance relationship (2021) · cites this paper as Nohe and Hertel (2017)

  • The overall pattern of our results highlights trust as the primary mediating mechanism in contrast to both Nohe and Hertel (2017) and Lee and colleagues (2020).

    “However, the overall pattern of our results highlight trust as the primary mediating mechanism in contrast to both Nohe and Hertel (2017) and Lee and colleagues (2020).”

    From A meta-analysis of the role of trust in the leadership- performance relationship (2021) · cites this paper as Nohe and Hertel (2017)

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Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Nohe, C., & Hertel, G.
Affiliations
University of Münster (DE)
Corresponding author
Nohe, Christoph
ORCID
Venue
Frontiers in Psychology
Publisher
Frontiers Media SA
Published
2017-08-10
Volume
8
Pages
1364-1364
ISSN
1664-1078 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01364
PMC
PMC5554340
OpenAlex
W2744013578
Cited by
144
References
8
Citations by year
2026: 14 · 2025: 13 · 2024: 23 · 2023: 25 · 2022: 26 · 2021: 21 · 2020: 15 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 3
FWCI
10.85
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
cc-by
Locations
  • Frontiers in Psychology (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
  • URN:NBN Resolver for Germany & Switzerland (German National Library) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
Funders
Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management › Job Satisfaction and Organizational Behavior
  • Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management › Employee Performance and Leadership
  • Social Sciences › Human Factors and Ergonomics › Employee Performance and Management
Keywords
transformational leadership, organizational citizenship behavior, social exchange theory, leader-member exchange, affective commitment, job satisfaction, trust in leadership

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