TY - JOUR
T1 - How Transformational Leadership Supports Intrinsic Motivation and Public Service Motivation
T2 - The Mediating Role of Basic Need Satisfaction
AU - Jensen, Ulrich
AU - Bro, Louise Ladegaard
N1 - Funding Information:
This study was supported by the Danish Council for Independent Research Grant 1327-00015B.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2017, The Author(s) 2017.
PY - 2018/8/1
Y1 - 2018/8/1
N2 - Motivating public service employees to greater effort is a key issue for managers and scholars. Transformational leadership concerns behaviors to develop, share, and sustain a vision for the organization and has been suggested as an important lever in this respect. However, we know little about the processes by which transformational leadership may stimulate work motivation. Integrating transformational leadership, public service motivation (PSM), and self-determination theory, this article sheds light on the psychological mechanisms underlying the motivational effects of transformational leadership. According to structural equation modeling, the relationships between transformational leadership and two types of autonomous work motivation—intrinsic motivation and PSM—are mediated by the satisfaction of the basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Our findings support the claim that the motivational effects of transformational leadership are mediated by need satisfaction, but also that satisfaction of individual needs is not equally important for intrinsic motivation and PSM, respectively.
AB - Motivating public service employees to greater effort is a key issue for managers and scholars. Transformational leadership concerns behaviors to develop, share, and sustain a vision for the organization and has been suggested as an important lever in this respect. However, we know little about the processes by which transformational leadership may stimulate work motivation. Integrating transformational leadership, public service motivation (PSM), and self-determination theory, this article sheds light on the psychological mechanisms underlying the motivational effects of transformational leadership. According to structural equation modeling, the relationships between transformational leadership and two types of autonomous work motivation—intrinsic motivation and PSM—are mediated by the satisfaction of the basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Our findings support the claim that the motivational effects of transformational leadership are mediated by need satisfaction, but also that satisfaction of individual needs is not equally important for intrinsic motivation and PSM, respectively.
KW - basic need satisfaction
KW - intrinsic motivation
KW - public service motivation
KW - transformational leadership
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U2 - 10.1177/0275074017699470
DO - 10.1177/0275074017699470
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85049909237
SN - 0275-0740
VL - 48
SP - 535
EP - 549
JO - American Review of Public Administration
JF - American Review of Public Administration
IS - 6
ER -