Does transformational leadership and reputation management relate to employee mission valence: A two-wave study of mission valence in public agencies

Mission valence holds a vital motivational potential vis-& agrave;-vis employees which subsequently can improve organizational performance. But which types public leadership hold the potential to cultivate mission valence as an attraction among their employees to the organizational vision? Both transformational leadership and reputation management involve visioning behavior performed by public managers but differ in terms of the former primarily targeting external audiences, for the purpose of fostering positive perceptions among those audiences of the organization's contribution to society, and the latter targeting employees to transcend their own self-interest and achieve organizational goals. Based upon panel data using repeated measures of 193 employees in three Danish regulatory agencies, the article shows that both transformational leadership and reputation management is positively related to employee's mission valence. By so doing the article adds to public leadership literature suggesting reputation management as an alternative route by which public managers can foster employee's mission valence.