Transformational and transactional leadership and performance outcomes of Japanese and U.S. managers in Thailand

Abstract

This research was aimed to study the level of transformational and transactional leadership of the Japanese and U.S. management working inThailand and their leadership effectiveness as measured by the performance outcomes comprising job satisfaction, extra effort, and effectiveness. The multifactor leadership questionnaire (MLQ) was sent to 50 Japanese superiors, 50 U.S. superiors, and 500 Thai subordinate to measure the scores on transformational and transactional leadership and the performance outcomes as rated by the superiors and subordinates. The scores were analyzed in terms of descriptive statistics, and the hypotheses were tested by the Pearson’s correlation (r-value), p-value, t-test, and the multiple regressions at the 0.05 level of significance. It was found that transformational and transactional leadership of Japanese and U.S. superiors, as rated by superiors and Subordinates, were positively correlated with the performance outcomes. Overall, the Japanese superiors’ scores were significantly higher than those of their subordinates on transformational leadership but not on transactional leadership. The U.S. superiors’ scores were significantly higher than those of the Japanese superiors, and the scores of the subordinates of U.S. superiors were also significantly higher than those of the subordinates of Japanese superiors on both transformational and transactional leadership dimensions. Finally, the multiple regressions showed that most transformational and transactional leadership dimensions could explain the performance outcomes at approximately 47.7 % Keywords: Leadership, transformational, transactional, performance outcomes, and MLQ.