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Global Encyclopedia of Public Administration, Public Policy, and Governance pp 1–4Cite as

Transformational Leadership

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Synonyms

Charismatic-inspirational leadership

Definition

Leadership that inspires and motivates followers to achieve outcomes beyond expectations and helps followers grow and develop by responding to their individual needs.

Introduction

The introduction of transformational leadership generally is credited to James MacGregor Burns (1978) who used the term to distinguish between those who led through the exchange of performance for rewards (i.e., transactional leaders) and those who led by inspiring followers to aim for and achieve ambitious goals (i.e., transformational leaders). This development in leadership thinking signaled the beginning of a shift to what has become known as new-genre perspectives that focus on more interpersonal, inspirational, and visionary leadership. Burns (1978) argued that transformational leaders develop followers as individuals and as future leaders by empowering them and responding to their needs. As a result, transformational leadership results in high...

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References

  • Barling J (2013) The science of leadership: lessons from research for organizational leaders. Oxford University Press

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  • Burns JM (1978) Leadership. Harper and Row, New York

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  • Bono JE, Judge TA (2004) Personality and transformational and transactional leadership: a meta-analysis. J Appl Psychol 89(5):901–910

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  • Van Knippenberg D, Sitkin SB (2013) A critical assessment of charismatic – transformational leadership research: back to the drawing board? Acad Manag Ann 7(1):1–60

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. D’Amore-McKim School of Business, Northeastern University, 112 Hayden Hall, 360 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA, 02115-5000, USA

    B. Parker Ellen III

Authors
  1. B. Parker Ellen III
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to B. Parker Ellen III .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, Florida, USA

    Ali Farazmand

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© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

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Ellen, B.P. (2016). Transformational Leadership. In: Farazmand, A. (eds) Global Encyclopedia of Public Administration, Public Policy, and Governance. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31816-5_1343-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31816-5_1343-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-31816-5

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Economics and FinanceReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences

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