Transformational leadership and follower risk-taking: Examining the effects of psychological safety and power distance orientation

• Main Author: KANG, Josephine Poh Tin
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2019
• Subjects: Transformational Leadership; Risk-taking; Power Distance; Psychological Safety; Business Administration, Management, and Operations; Leadership Studies
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/etd_coll/246; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1246&context=etd_coll
• Institution: Singapore Management University

Risk-taking is a necessary part of business, yet little is known about how leaders might impact follower risk-taking. A theoretical model is developed in which transformational leaders are hypothesized to indirectly affect follower risk-taking through follower psychological safety. Additionally, this partially mediated effect is theorised to be moderated by follower power distance orientation. Data were collected over two time periods from followers (N = 331) to test the hypothesized model. Results provided limited support for the hypothesized model. Specifically, results indicated that transformational leadership positively affected psychological safety, but psychological safety did not predict follower risk-taking. Power distance orientation did not moderate either stage of the hypothesized partially mediated model although power distance orientation did directly and negatively predict follower risk-taking. Contrary to expectations, transformational leadership was negatively related to follower risk-taking.