Transformational leadership and employability among support staff workers with long tenure.
Maike Blumenthal, Beatrice I J M Van der Heijden, Rikkie L Dautzenberg and 1 others
PMID 38277331WHAT IT FOUND
Transformational leadership showed no significant link to most employability skills in long-tenured support staff.
It was associated only with better work-life balance. This suggests such leadership does not actively boost external job readiness for employees with secure, permanent roles.
Key findings
01Transformational leadership was not significantly associated with occupational expertise, anticipation and optimization, personal flexibility, or corporate sense.
02Significant positive associations were found between four dimensions of transformational leadership (vision, role model, group goals, individual support) and the employability dimension of 'balance'.
03The study relied on self-reported data from a single university's support staff, limiting generalizability to other sectors and preventing causal conclusions.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they found
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What it does not show
The study used a cross-sectional design, so it cannot determine whether leadership causes changes in employability or vice versa. All data were self-reported by employees, which risks response bias and common method variance. The sample was limited to support staff at a single Dutch university, which may not represent other industries or job types. The response rate was low (approximately 19% of those invited), raising concerns about selection bias. Thirty-two percent of participants had less than five years of tenure, which contradicts the stated focus on 'long-tenure' workers.
Declared interests
None reported.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume transformational leadership improves overall employability or career mobility for this group. The null findings for four out of five employability dimensions suggest that while leadership may help with work-life balance, it does not necessarily enhance the specific skills and competencies needed to secure or maintain employment in a changing labor market.