Social work perceptions of transformational and transactional leadership in health care

Despite the resurgence of leadership research, few investigations have examined the association between leadership behaviors and organizational performance in the social work field. The purpose of this study was to evaluate empirically a model that delineates two types of leadership processes, transformational and transactional leadership, within social work practice as measured by the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire. The model was tested with a sample of 187 clinical social workers employed in hospitals. Results indicated that all five transformational factors and one transactional factor were significantly correlated with leader outcomes of effectiveness, satisfaction, and extra effort. Implications for social work practice are provided.