Managerial leadership behaviors: A longitudinal investigation of the role of job demands and resources, and implications for managers' own well-being

Although ample research has documented the implications, and organizational drivers, of leadership behaviors, very little research has considered these associations, and their consequences, from the perspective of managers. The present four-wave longitudinal study addresses this limitation by focusing, using the Job Demands-Resources model, on the work-related drivers (job control, recognition, and workload) of transformational, transactional and laissez-faire leadership behaviors, and the associations between these behaviors and manifestations of managers' psychological well-being at work (job satisfaction, burnout, and turnover intentions). Analyzing data from 691 high-level managers (i.e. school principals) using novel random intercept cross-lagged panel model analyses, our results revealed that higher levels of job control and recognition, and lower levels of workload, predicted higher levels of transformational and transactional leadership behaviors. In contrast, laissez-faire leadership behaviors were only negatively predicted by recognition. Transformational leadership was associated with the most desirable outcome levels (higher levels of job satisfaction, lower levels of turnover intentions and burnout), followed by transactional and laissez-faire leadership. Most of these associations were limited to the between-person-level, reflecting stable mechanisms of influence, rather than at the within-person level, suggesting the presence of homeostatic mechanism helping high levels managers to maintain a stable level of functioning over time.