Full Range Leadership Styles and Government IT Team Performance: The Critical Roles of Follower and Team Competence

Abstract

In this study, we explore how leadership affects team performance from a team and follower competence perspective. We base our study on the Full Range Leadership (FRL) model, which proposes three different leadership styles: passive/avoidant, transactional, and transformational. The FRL has been well-studied outside the public administration environment, but rarely considering the three leadership styles simultaneously, or with team level outcomes. We propose a sequential mediation model in which leadership styles relate to follower competencies, which in turn relate to team competence, and then team performance. Our research design is distinctive in that we study all three FRL styles simultaneously, examine team performance as opposed to individual performance, and utilize data from three levels of a municipal government IT department. We found that transformational leadership was directly and indirectly related to team performance in the expected positive directions. Transactional leadership was mostly ineffective, while passive/avoidant leadership had complicated relationships with team performance that were both positive (direct) and negative (indirect through competence). We conclude that the three FRL styles have varying degrees of effectiveness as direct and indirect predictors of team performance. We discuss the implications of our results for leadership of public administration organizations.

Keywords:

• employee competence
• full range leadership
• public sector leadership
• team competence
• team performance

Acknowledgments

The authors appreciate the valuable comments of Professor Yi-Te Chiu, Victoria University, on this study.

Additional information

Funding

The second author is grateful for support from the Ministry of Science and Technology, Republic of China [funding number: 105-2410-H-011-010-MY2].

Notes on contributors

Asdani Kindarto

Asdani Kindarto is an IT engineer in Semarang City Government and lecturer in Universitas Muhammadiyah Semarang. He holds a PhD in Information Management from National Taiwan University of Science and Technology. Asdani can be contacted at: Human Resources Department, Semarang City Government, 50231, Jawa Tengah, Indonesia.

Yu-Qian Zhu

Yu-Qian Zhu is Associate Professor in the Department of Information Management, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, where she earned her PhD. Prior to her academic career, she served as a R&D engineer and manager. Yu-Qian can be contacted at: Department of Information Management, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taipei, 106, Taiwan, R.O.C.

Donald G. Gardner

Donald G. Gardner (PhD, Purdue University) is Professor of Management at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs. Dr. Gardner has published over 75 research articles in the areas of leadership, employee attitudes and motivation. Professor Gardner can be reached at: College of Business, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, Colorado Springs, CO 80918, USA.