Transactional and transformational leadership in nursing: Structural validity and substantive relationships

Confirmatory factor analysis in a large sample of nurses (N = 1059) working in Belgium was conducted to examine the dimensionality and nomological validity of Bass's (1985) transactional and transformational leadership model. Three transactional factors (Passive and Active management-by-exception, and Contingent reward) and three transformational factors (Charisma, Intellectual stimulation, and Individualized consideration) from the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (Form 5X-rater) were examined. Results showed that the six-factor solution displayed the best absolute fit indices. However, because of high interscale correlations and lack of differential relationships with criterion variables, transformational facets and Contingent reward could reasonably be combined to form a single factor, Active leadership. Complementary analyses conducted to detect potential higher-order factors in the MLQ model revealed that Active leadership is best viewed as a second-order factor subsuming transformational and Contingent reward leadership.