Does Transformational Leadership Lead To Psychological Safety Among Hungarian Employees?

Abstract

Transformational leaders are characterized by close personal relationships with employees. This way leaders motivate their employees to pursue their individual goals and work for the goals of the organization simultaneously. Transformational leaders use their power to support others (Khurosani, 2018). Previous studies claimed that transformational leadership facilitate cooperation and mutual support among employees (Burns, 1978). We also know from previous studies that perceived social support is correlated with the experience of psychological security (Mallinckrodt, Wei, 2005). A total of 300 respondents from different Hungarian organizations participated in the study. We used an anonymous online questionnaire, measuring demographic questions, and a scale measuring psychological safety of the employees, Team Learning and Psychological Safety Survey (Edmondson,1999). As part of the research, we created a new Hungarian questionnaire, which is able to measure different leadership style patterns, such as transformational leadership style. Participants were asked to evaluate their immediate superior’s leadership style on these scales. Statistical analyses show that transformational leadership style correlates positively with the psychological safety among employees. Analyses regarding the reliability and validity of the new leadership questionnaire show promising results and suggest that in the future this tool can be used also is research and in the organization development context. This paper highlights the relationship between transformational leadership style and psychological safety among employees. Results suggest that transformational leadership style can cause greater psychological safety among employees, which can lead to greater workplace performance