Opening the black box: an experimental investigation of the mediating effects of trust and value congruence on transformational and transactional leadership

This experimental study examined the causal effects of transformational and transactional leadership and the mediating role of trust and value congrue nce on follower performance. A total of 194 student participants worked on a brainstorming task under transformational and transactional leadership co nditions. Leadership styles were manipulated using two confederates, and fo llowers' performance was evaluated via three measures-quantity, quality, an d satisfaction. Results, based on path analyses using LISREL, indicated tha t transformational leadership had both direct and indirect effects on perfo rmance mediated through followers' trust in the leader and value congruence . However, transactional leadership had only indirect effects on followers' performance mediated through followers' trust and value congruence. Implic ations of these results for future research on leadership are provided. Cop yright (C) 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.