Leaders’ Style, Self-Sacrifice, and Team Identification

Abstract

Leadership is a group feature that directly impacts on team identification. Effective leaders are especially capable of fostering group cohesiveness and promoting efficacy in goal attainment. We assessed the relationship between transactional and transformational leadership style, team identification, and leader self-sacrifice. Participants were 186 call center employees who were headed by a leader who operated with either a transactional or a transformational leadership style. The employees reported their level of team identification and leader self-sacrifice. Results show how, in either the transactional or transformational leadership condition, levels of leadership and self-sacrifice were related to team identification, as well as the interaction effect between transactional leadership level and leader self-sacrifice. Our findings demonstrate how different leadership styles play a diverse role in this relationship.