TRANSFORMATIONAL, TRANSACTIONAL LEADERSHIP, AND PERCEPTIONS OF ORGANIZATIONAL PERFORMANCE: THE MODERATING ROLE OF RELATIONAL AUTHENTICITY AS A LEADER

Abstract

This study examines whether relational authentic-ity as a leader, a relatively new concept in the non -profit literature, moderates the relationship between transformational, transactional leadership, and perceptions of organizational performance. Using an online survey experiment of executive directors at 403 nonprofit organizations, this study tests the hypothesis of the positive-negative asymmetry ef-fects, which states that negative impressions are more impactful than positive ones. The findings illustrate that, in the case of positive personal be-havior, a transformational leader (vs. transactional leader) acting favorably has a statistically significant positive influence on organizational performance. However, in the case of negative personal behavior, the treatment had null findings. This study suggests that nonprofit leaders should pay attention to achiev-ing relational authenticity as a leader to ensure the sustainability of transformational leadership effects.