The Role of Trust in the Relationship Between Transformational Leadership and Organizational Learning Practices
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2021-08-10
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en
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Direct interventions on empowerment and error management are very complex, which is why investigating related factors is of practical relevance. In the current study it was investigated whether trust in subordinates mediates the relationship between transformational leadership and the two organizational learning practices empowerment and error management from the perspective of organizational leaders. It was hypothesized that trust in subordinates mediates the positive relationship between transformational leadership and empowerment. Similarly, it was hypothesized that trust in subordinates mediates the positive relationship between transformational leadership and error management. An online study using questionnaires was conducted. The final sample consisted of 81 organizational leaders from the German insurance company Gothaer. Two PROCESS mediation analyses were used to test the hypotheses. No relationship between transformational leadership and empowerment was found. The positive relationship between transformational leadership and error management was found to be partially mediated by trust in subordinates. The theoretical literature on transformational leadership, trust in subordinates, empowerment and error management was expanded. Regarding the practical aim, the results indicate that increasing transformational leadership may yield increases in error management. Increasing trust may yield increases in empowerment and further increase error management.
The term “VUCA world” is increasingly used to describe today’s economy. It is an acronym for volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity. In essence it suggests that planning ahead is becoming a growing challenge for organizations nowadays (Bennett & Lemoine, 2014). A key factor for success in a fast-paced economy like this is flexibility (Millar, Groth & Mahon, 2018). Organizations with flexible workforces are able to quickly adapt to unfamiliar circumstances and handle challenges without much planning ahead. Through organizational learning, gathering knowledge that is of use for the organization, a flexible workforce can be developed (Theriou & Chatzoglou, 2009). Organizational learning creates experience and fosters innovativeness (Mishra & Bhaskar, 2010; Santos-Vijande, López-Sánchez & Trespalacios, 2012), both crucial when facing unfamiliar circumstances and challenges. In this study two organizational learning practices were evaluated, namely empowerment and error management. Since leaders take on special roles in both practices, they were the group of focus. Of specific interest was leaders’ transformational leadership. Transformational leadership is often studied in relation to learning, but like the organizational learning practices rarely assessed from the perspective of leaders.
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Faculteit der Sociale Wetenschappen