From Transactional and Transformational Leadership to Authentic Leadership

Abstract This chapter connects transformational leadership, transactional leadership, authentic leadership, and one form of nonleadership, namely laissez-faire leadership. It describes how the authentic leadership approach developed out of the transformational leadership approach. Transactional leadership is based on exchange; in business, this is often financial rewards for productivity, whereas transformational leadership is a process of inspiring people to attain shared goals through recognizing individuals' needs, stimulating creative thinking, and aligning values between individuals and groups. Transactional and transformational leadership constitute the active components of what has been called the full-range leadership theory. Data verify that “transformational leadership can indeed be learned.” The influence of authentic leadership on rated performance was fully mediated through leaders' influence on followers' positivity. It is concluded that developing more genuine and authentic leadership will serve to improve more positive and intentional forms of leadership in this world.