The Correlation between Leadership Style and Leader Power

Abstract : Data were collected from a military sample of 181 adults to estimate the relationships of Transformational and Transactional leadership style and leader power. Leadership style was measured by the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) and leader power by the Rahim Leader Power Inventory (RLPI). Confirmatory factor analyses (CFAs) performed separately for the MLQ and RLPI identified single-factor solutions. Using these measurement models the relationship between the single factors was estimated with a correlation of .57 between the factors representing Leadership Style and Leader Power. The CFA results are contrary to developer's theories of both scales, but are consistent with studies reporting more parsimonious factor analytic solutions. Results from the current study may be the consequence of the well-defined hierarchical structure of the military organization in which the sample was collected. Additional studies are needed in organizations with differing structures ranging from hierarchical to completely flat to determine if organizational structure is related to the factors and factor structure of these two measures.