Differentiating between Altruism and Self-Sacrifice

19 Pages·2005·0.06 MB·English

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Toward a Better Understanding of Transformational Leadership:
Differentiating between Altruism and Self-Sacrifice
NitiSinghandVenkat R.Krishnan
XavierLabourRelationsInstitute,Jamshedpur831001,India
Email:[email protected]
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Toward a Better Understanding of Transformational Leadership:
Differentiating between Altruism and Self-Sacrifice
ABSTRACT
Thispaperdistinguishesbetweenself-sacrificeandaltruism,andreportsacross-sectional
surveyofworkingmanagers(n=127).Thestudytestedhowthetwovariablesdifferentiallyaffect
transformationalleadership.Resultsyieldedevidencethataltruismisabetterpredictorof
transformationalleadershipthanself-sacrificeis.Thehypothesisthatself-sacrificewouldenhancethe
effectofaltruismontransformationalleadershipdidnotobtainsupport.Findingsalsoshowedthat
transformationalleadershipinturnleadstofollowers’enhancedperceptionofcollectiveidentityand
performance.Implicationsoftheresultsarediscussedandfuturedirectionsforresearchareproposed.
KeyWords:TransformationalLeadership,Altruism,Self-Sacrifice,CollectiveIdentity,Performance.
TheseminalbookbyBurns(1978)broughtaboutparadigmshiftintheareaofleadership
(Conger,1999).Inthisbook,Burnshadintroducedtheterm‘transformationalleadership’,andsaid
thatsuchleaderstooktheirfollowerstohigherlevelsofmotivationandmorality.Literaturehas
suggestedthattransformationalleadersarealtruisticbynature(Conger&Kanungo,1987;Kanungo&
Mendonca;1996;Shamir,House,&Arthur,1993).However,asdiscussedlater,leaderaltruismhas
notbeensubjectedtoempiricalinvestigations.Arelatedconceptthathasreceivedalotofattention in
therecentpastisself-sacrifice.Thefirstempiricalworkonself-sacrificialleadershipwasdoneby
ChoiandMai-Dalton(1999).Otherstudiesthatfollowedfoundempiricalevidencethatself-sacrifice
didindeedseemtoworkandsincethen,ithasbecomeanacceptedaspectofleadership.Nonetheless,
wefeltthatself-sacrifice,whichhasbeendefinedasmere‘givingup’bytheleader(withoutgetting
intothemotivebehindsuchacts),wouldnotbejudgedaspositivelybyfollowersasaltruismwould
be.Essentially,thisstudysoughttoshowthataltruisminfluencestransformationalleadershipmore
thanself-sacrificeperse.
Thispaperhelpsinseeingtheunderlyingprocessoftransformationalleadershipmoreclearly,
bybringingoutthesubtledifferencebetweentwooften-confusedconstructs.Inaddition,ithelpsus
understandtheimportanceoffocusingonamoreenduringpersonalitypictureoftransformational
leaders,ratherthanfocusingonmerebehaviors.Transformationalleadershavehighgoals andlofty
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visions(Bass,1985)andenhancefeelingsofcollectiveidentitywiththeunittowhichbothleaderand
followersbelong(Shamiretal.,1993).Theyexpectandgettheirfollowerstoperformbeyondset
standards.Therefore,wetestedtheimpact ofself-sacrificialbehaviorsandaltruismof
transformationalleadersontwoorganizationallyimportantoutcomes(collectiveidentityand
performance)withacross-sectionalsurveyofworkingexecutivesfromIndia.
THEORYANDHYPOTHESES
TransformationalLeadership
AccordingtoBurns(1978), transformationalleaders“engagewithothersinawaysuchthat,
bothleadersaswellasfollowersraiseoneanothertohigherlevelsofmotivationandmorality”(p.20).
Transformationalleadersarethosewhoappealto thehighermoralvaluesoffollowers.In
transformationalleadership,itisimportantthattheleadershouldaddressthetrueneedsofthe
followers,andleadfollowerstowardssatiationofthoseneeds.Pillai,Williams,LoweandJung(2003)
haveshownthatpersonalitycharacteristicssuchasproactivity,needforachievement,andemotional
empathyoftheleaderareimportantdeterminantsoftransformationalleadership.Transformational
leadersalsodisplaymanycompassionatebehaviorsandarehelpfulbynature(Ashkanasy&Tse,
2000).Transformationalleadersdealwithissuesfromahighermoralplane(Banerjee&Krishnan,
2000).Conger,KanungoandMenon(2000)foundthattransformationalleadershipledtoasenseof
collectiveidentity,resultedinenhancedsenseofreverence,developedtrustintheleader,and
enhancedsatisfactionwiththeleader.
Theprocessbywhichfollowersareinfluencedbytransformationalleadershasbeenthefocus
ofmanystudies.Literaturesuggeststhatoneofthewaysofinfluencingusedbysuchleadersinvolves
thedisplayofself-sacrificialbehaviors(Choi&Mai-Dalton,1999;DeCremer&vanKnippenberg,
2002;DeCremer&vanKnippenberg,2004;Halverson,Holladay;Kazama&Quinones,2004;van
Knippenberg&vanKnippenberg,2005;Yorges,Weiss&Strickland,1999).Ithasbeenshownto
contributetomanyimportantoutcomessuchas(a)perceptionsofcharisma,(b)normsofreciprocity,
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(c)leadereffectiveness,(d)contributionstothepublicgood,(e)cooperationforthegroup,(f)
willingnesstoexertextraeffort,(e)groupbelongingness,and(f)attributionsmadeabouttheleader
behavior.
Self-SacrificingBehavior
Self-sacrificehasbeendefinedbyChoiandMai-Dalton(1998:399)asthe“thetotal/partial
abandonment,and/orpermanentpostponementofpersonalinterests,privileges,orwelfareinthe(1)
divisionoflabor,(2)distributionofrewards,and(3)exerciseofpower.”Similarly,Yorgesetal.
(1999:428)definedsacrificeas“givinguporlossofsomethingimportanttoanindividual.”Apointto
benotedhereisthatboththearticleshavefocusedonthe‘givinguppersonalbenefits’aspectofself-
sacrifice.DeCremerandvanKnippenberg(2004:141)ontheotherhandtookthisdefinitionina
broaderperspective toincludethebenefitthattheotherpartywouldgainiftheleaderself-sacrificed.
Moreprecisely,theydefinedself-sacrificeaswillingnessonpartoftheleader“toincurpersonalcosts
(orruntheriskofsuchcosts)toservethegoalsandmission ofthegroupororganization.”This
distinctioniscrucialtothedefinitionofself-sacrificebecauseitbringsin‘theotherpersonforwhom’
theleaderhassacrificed.Bydefinition,self-sacrificenarrowlyfocuseson‘givingup’bytheleader,
andhas nothingtodowiththebeneficiaryofsuchanact(Choi&Mai-Dalton,1998;Avolio&Locke,
2002;O’Shea,2004).AspointedoutbybothLocke(Avolio&Locke,2002)andChoiandMai-
Dalton(1998),whenthebeneficiarycomesintothepicture,thebehaviorshouldbeconstruedas
altruisticandnotself-sacrificial.
Thetheorybehindhowandwhyself-sacrificialbehaviorworksinthecontextof
transformationalleadershiphasbeendiscussedbyvanKnippenbergandHogg(2003).Theyexplained
theinfluencefromasocialidentityperspective.ChoiandMai-Dalton(1999)showedthatfollowers
sharedastrongimplicitleadershiptheoryaboutself-sacrificebeingapartoftransformational
leadership.Congeretal.(2000)foundthatdisplayofexemplaryactssuchas self-sacrificialbehaviors
werepositivelyrelatedtothefollowersenseofreverencefortheleader.Thisinturnledtotheleader
beingperceivedastransformational.
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Variousstudiesdoneoneffectsofself-sacrificeinthecontextoftransformationalleadership
haveshownthatitenhancesperceptionsofcharisma(Choi&Mai-Dalton,1999;DeCremer&van
Knippenberg,2004;Halverson,etal.2004;vanKnippenberg&vanKnippenberg,2005;Yorgesetal.,
1999).Basedonallthefindingsmentionedabove,we concludethatleaderswouldbeperceivedtobe
transformationaliftheydisplayedself-sacrificialbehavior.
Hypothesis1.Self-sacrificewouldbepositivelyrelatedtotransformationalleadership.
Altruism
Altruism,whichessentiallymeans,“puttingothers’objectivesbeforepersonalones,”hasbeen
discussedquiteextensivelyindisciplinesasdiverseaspsychology,sociobiology,politicalscience,
economics,andmanagement(Batson,vanLange,Ahmed&Lishner,2003).KanungoandMendonca
(1996)definedaltruisticbehaviorsasanywork-relevantbehaviorthatbenefitsothersregardlessofthe
advantagessuchbehaviorcouldhaveforthebenefactor.AccordingtoSmith,OrganandNear(1983),
altruismisdefinedasapro-socialacttowardsotherorganizational members,suchashelpingwith
heavyworkloads,orientingnewpeople,andhelpingthosewhohavebeenabsent.Almostall
definitionsofaltruismstressupontheeffectthebenefactorwishestohave,i.e.,somekindofbenefit
forthebeneficiary.
ChoiandMai-Dalton(1998)saidthatwhilealtruismfocusesonbehaviorsthathavethe
motiveofhelpingothers,arefullofmoralintentionsandaredevoidofself-interest(Smithetal.,
1983),self-sacrificialbehaviorsfocuson“justthelosstothebenefactor.”Although,ChoiandMai-
Daltongavesuchacleardemarcationbetweenself-sacrificeandaltruismintheirconceptualpaper,the
subsequentoperationalizationofself-sacrificedidnotreallykeepthe“benefittotheother”outofthe
behavioralmanifestationsdescribedaspartofself-sacrifice.Forinstance,Halversonetal.(2004:275)
insertedalineinthevignettetheyusedfortheexperimenttostudyself-sacrifice,“Duetothiscrisis,
Bill,thepresident,initiatedthefollowingactions.”Wefeel thatthiswouldhavebroughtthe“other-
orientedness”aspectofaltruismintothepicture,andtherespondentssubsequentlyfeltthatthe
presidentwas“givingup”becausehehadconcernforthem.Whileintroducingtheconceptofself-
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sacrifice,Yorgeset al.(1999:431)haddefineditasmeregivingup.Nevertheless,whenthey
operationalizedself-sacrificeinthevignetteusedintheirstudy,theydefinedself-sacrificeas
“enduringhardshipandpersonallosswhilepursuingthevision.”Theexamplesquotedaboveshows
thatself-sacrificewasnotmanipulatedinitspureforminmanyofthestudies.
Anexplanationastowhythesetwotypesofbehaviorswouldhavedifferentialeffectson
followershasbeenprovidedinstudiesthatinvestigatedthemotivesbehind“helpingbehaviors.”As
pointedoutbyAmes,FlynnandWeber(2004),“it’sthethoughtthatcounts”inestablishingfuture
relationshipsbetweenthebenefactorandtherecipient.Throughaseriesofexperiments,theauthors
showedthat“arecipient’s evaluationofahelper’sintentionsandtherecipient’sownattitudesabout
futureinteractionswiththehelperdependontherecipient’sperceptionsofhowthehelperdecidedto
assist:basedonaffect,onrole,oroncost-benefitcalculation”(p.461).Theyproposedthatthecause
behindwhytheactisbeingdone,informedtherecipientabouttheunderlyingattitudesofthe
recipient,whichinturnclarifiedtheirrelationship.Otherstudiesshowedthatfollowers’actively
engagedinpsychologicalprocessestoinvestigatethe‘intention’behindleaderbehavior(Dasborough
&Ashkanasy,2002;Dasborough& Ashkanasy2005)
Inlightofthispsychologicalprocess,wecanperhapsderivereasonsastowhyaltruismisa
betterpredictoroftransformationalleadership.Iftheleaderisaltruistic,heorshewilltendtodisplay
behaviorsthatariseoutofconcernfortherecipient.Itcanbeexpectedthatthefollowersperceivethe
underlyingattitudeandthustheybecomemoreinclinedtowardimprovingthefutureinteractionand
reciprocatetowardsthehelper(leader).Ontheotherhand,self-sacrificingdoesnotbringthemotiveor
affectaspectintothepicture,whichmightappearasmeresymbolicactions. Withoutthemoral
intentionof‘concernfortheother’,merelygivingupofself-benefitswillnotmaketheperson
transformational.
Nevertheless,itispossiblethatanindividualwhohasaltruisticintentionswilltendtodisplay
behaviorsthatmightbeself-sacrificial.vanKnippenbergandHogg(2003)arguedthatwhen
relationshipsarecharacterizedbyconcernfortheotherindividualandthisisexhibitedovertly(self-
sacrifice),greatergrouporientationandthereforepositiveoutputsareachieved.Inotherwords,itis
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likelythatwhentheleaderisaltruisticandexpresseshisaltruisticintentionsthroughself-sacrificial
behaviors,theimpactontransformationalleadershipwouldbehigher.Essentially,wearguethatthe
effectofself-sacrificeontransformationalleadershipwoulddisappearthemomentwecontrolfor
altruism,butwhenbotharepresentinthesameperson,itwouldhaveacomplimentaryeffect.
Therefore,wehypothesizedthat:
Hypothesis2. Altruismwouldbepositivelyrelatedtotransformationalleadership.
Hypothesis3. Self-sacrificewould enhancetheeffectofaltruismontransformational
leadership.
CollectiveIdentity
Oneofthemostorganizationallyimportantoutcomesoftransformationalleadershipisthatit
givesrisetofeelingsofcollectiveidentityamongtheunitmembers.KidwellandBennett(2001)
showedthataltruisticbehaviorsbyemployeesenhancefeelingsofgroupcohesivenessandcollective
identityamongtheunitmembers.Schnake(1999)suggestedthaton-the-jobaltruismmightresultin
reciprocalrelationsattheworkplace. Congeretal.(2000)showedtherolemodelingeffectof
transformationalleadersonfollowers.ArecentarticlebyDeCremerandvanKnippenberg(2004)
showedthatself-sacrificeledtoenhancedperceptionofcollectiveidentityamongthefollowers.Inthe
nextsection,wediscusshowtransformationalleadershipaffectsthecollectiveidentityoffollowers.
Transformationalleadershavebeenshowntohavetheabilitytotransformtheself-interestsof
thefollowersintocollectiveinterests.Theydosobyenhancingthesalienceofcollectiveidentityin
theself-conceptoffollowers(Shamiretal.,1993).Followersoftransformationalleadersworktowards
advancingtheoverallmissionofthegroupratherthantheirownpersonalinterests(Congeretal.,
2000).Displayofself-sacrificialbehaviorsandaltruismbytransformationalleadersraisesfeelingof
reciprocityamongthefollowers(Choi&Mai-Dalton,1999).Thiscreatesachainwhereinanormof
puttinggroupgoalsabovepersonalbenefitsisestablished.Studieshaveshownthatfollowersfavor
thoseleaderswhoshowtheabilitytopromotecollectiveinterestsassociatedwithasharedgroup
identity(vanKnippenberg&Hogg,2003).Membersofsuchgroupsarepreparedtostandupforthese
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leadersanddotheworknecessaryfortheirvisiontoberealized.Inthisstudy,wearguethatdisplayof
self-sacrificeaswellasaltruismwouldenhancefeelingofbelongingnessamongthefollowerswiththe
organizationalunit.However,thisrelationshipwouldbetransmittedthroughthetransformational
abilitiesoftheleaders.Inlightoftheabovearguments,wehypothesized:
Hypothesis4: Transformationalleadershipwouldmediatetherelationshipbetweenleader
altruismandcollectiveidentity.
Hypothesis5: Transformationalleadershipwouldmediatetherelationshipbetweenleader
self-sacrificeandcollectiveidentity.
Performance
Ithasbeenhypothesizedthattransformationalleadershipbringsabouthigherlevelsof
performancebythefollowers(Bass,1985;Congeret al.,2000).Thefollowers’expectationsof
successfulunitperformanceplayacrucialroleinensuringsuccessfulimplementationofunitgoals
(Yukl,2001).Thegoalsandvisionssetbytransformationalleadersareoftenloftyandchallengingand
encouragefollowerstoperformbeyondtheexpectedboundaries(Kanungo&Mendonca,1996).This
leadstoacollectivebeliefintheachievementpotentialofthegroupasawhole.Fromthis,wecan
concludethatfeelingsofgroupperformancewouldbehighundertransformationalleaders.In
addition,sinceleadersemphasizethewholegroup’scontributioninachievingthegoal,itresultsin
enhancingthecollectiveidentification.Theseleadersshowtheirgroup-mindednessbymakingmore
referencestothecollectivehistory,thecollectiveinterest,andthegroup’smission,andbyexpressing
beliefinthegroup’sabilitytoachievethetarget(Shamiretal.,1993;Shamiretal.,1998).Thus,we
believethatcollectiveidentificationwouldmediatetherelationshipbetweentransformational
leadershipandgroupperformance.SimilarfindingswerereportedbyDeCremerandvanKnippenberg
(2004).
Inaddition,wefeltthatthedisplayofself-sacrificialbehaviorsandaltruismbytheleader
wouldalsoaffecttheperformanceofthefollowers.However,thesetwovariableswouldinfluence
groupperformanceonlythroughthetransformationalqualitiesoftheleader.Leadershiphappenswhen
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anypersonisinfluencedbyanothertoworkinthedirectionofthegroup’svision.Thus,thoughthe
displayofself-sacrificialbehaviorsandaltruismmightinfluencefollowers’perceptionsofgroup’s
performance,suchbeliefswouldbetransmittedonlythroughthetransformationalqualitiesofthe
leader.Wethereforehypothesized:
Hypothesis6.Collectiveidentitywouldmediatetherelationshipbetweentransformational
leadershipandfollowers’perceptionofgroupperformance.
Hypothesis7. Transformationalleadershipwouldmediatetherelationshipbetweenaltruism
andfollowers’perceptionofgroupperformance.
Hypothesis8. Transformationalleadershipwouldmediatetherelationshipbetweenself-
sacrificeandfollowers’perceptionofgroupperformance.
METHOD
Thisstudyusedcross-sectionalsurveymethodologyandresponseswerecollectedfrom127
workingmanagersfromalloverIndia.Fromaculturalperspective,Indiaisacountrywithadiverse
culturalprofile,andfallsinthemid-rangewithrespecttoindividualismvs.collectivism(Hofstede,
2003).Thus,asampletakenfromthispoolwouldbemorerepresentativeformakingthetheoretical
distinctionbetweenthetwovariables.
Thesamplewasdrawnfromdifferentorganizationallevels,with13%fromhigherlevel,42%
frommiddlelevel,andtheremainingfromlowerlevelintheorganizationalhierarchy.Ofthe
managerswhoresponded,59%weremales,andthesampleagerangedfrom22to55yearswiththe
medianbeing29years.Therespondentswereequallyrepresentedfromallsectionsofindustry,with
26%belongingtoITindustry,28%belongingtomanufacturingindustry,22%belongingtoservice
industryandremainingbelongingtoprocessandcoreindustries.Alltheitemshadafive-pointrating
scale.
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Measures
MultifactorLeadershipQuestionnaire(MLQ)Form5xofBassandAvolio(1995)wasusedto
measure transformationalleadership.Respondentswereaskedtoratetheirimmediatesupervisoron
theMLQ.Thequestionnairehas20itemstomeasurethefivefactorsoftransformationalleadership.A
newscalewasdevelopedtomeasure self-sacrifice.Theitemswerecomposedonthebasisofthe
conceptualizationbyChoiandMai-Dalton(1998;1999),andatotaloftenitemswerewrittenwiththe
helpofbehavioraldescriptionsgivenbythem.Self-sacrificewascalculatedbytakingameanofallthe
tenitems. Altruism wasmeasuredusingthefive-itemscaledevelopedbyPodsakoff,MacKenzie,
MoormanandFetter(1990).Threemoreitemswereaddedtothescalebasedontheconceptual
definitiongivenbyChoiandMai-Dalton(1998).Thenewitemsthatwereaddedincreasedthe
CronbachAlphaofthescalefrom0.77to0.85.Sincewehadaddednewitemstoanearlierscale,we
didanexploratoryfactoranalysiswithvarimaxrotationwithalleightitems.Oneclearfactoremerged,
showingthatthenewitemsthatwereaddedcapturedthesameconstruct.Altruismwascalculatedby
takingameanofalltheeightitems. Collectiveidentitywasmeasuredusingthefive-itemscale
developedbyCongeretal.(2000).Oneitemthatwasbringingdownthereliabilitywasdeletedfrom
thescale.Meanofthefouritemswasincludedinthecalculation.Performance wasmeasuredusing
thefour-itemscaledevelopedbyBass(1985)tomeasureuniteffectiveness.Fiveitemsfromthescale
developedbyCongeretal.(2000)wasalsoused.Asecondscalewasincludedasithaddimensions
thatspokeabouttheperceptionofhigherlevelsofcollectiveperformance,whichwasoverandabove
meetingtheday-to-daytaskeffectiveness.Sincewehadaddeditemstoanexistingscale,wedidan
exploratoryfactoranalysiswithallthe9itemsofperformance,fromwhichasinglefactoremerged.
TheCronbach’salphaobtainedforthescalewas0.89,whichwashigherthanthatobtained
individuallyforthetwoscales.Allthenineitemswereincludedforcalculatingperformance.
RESULTS
Themeans,standarddeviations,Cronbachalphas,andcorrelationsbetweenallvariablesinthe
studyarepresentedinTable1.Allthevariableshadsignificantcorrelationswitheachother.