This study examines how followers perceive the leader's intention to engage in transformational leadership behaviors and how this perception affects leadership effectiveness. Drawing on social network perspective, we predicted followers' perception of...
This study examines how followers perceive the leader's intention to engage in transformational leadership behaviors and how this perception affects leadership effectiveness. Drawing on social network perspective, we predicted followers' perception of the leaders' self-serving orientation would be shaped by the characteristics of social networks: group leaders' network centrality within their group; intragroup network density; and intragroup network centralization. Additionally, we predicted the positive effect of transformational leadership behavior on commitment to leader would be moderated by followers' perception of the leaders' self-serving orientation. Data from a sample of 555 followers and leaders of 96 work groups at four industrial design companies in South Korea were analyzed using survey and social network measures. Results indicate that followers within dense networks perceive their leaders to be less self-serving by identifying with the leader and by projecting their expectation, whereas followers within centralized networks perceive their leaders to be more self-serving by attributing the undesirable group atmosphere to their leader. Furthermore, we found that the more followers perceive their leaders to be self-serving, the weaker the positive association between transformational leadership behavior and commitment to leader. We discuss theoretical and practical implications of the potential role of network-based leadership.