Transformational Leadership, Achievement Motivation, and Perceived Stress in Basic Military Training: A Longitudinal Study of Swiss Armed Forces

Sandra Sefidan, Maria Pramstaller, Roberto La Marca, Thomas Wyss, Lilian Roos, Dena Sadeghi-Bahmani, Hubert Annen and Serge Brand
Additional contact information
Sandra Sefidan: Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, University of Zurich, 8050 Zurich, Switzerland
Maria Pramstaller: Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, University of Zurich, 8050 Zurich, Switzerland
Roberto La Marca: Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, University of Zurich, 8050 Zurich, Switzerland
Thomas Wyss: Swiss Federal Institute of Sport Magglingen SFISM, 2532 Magglingen, Switzerland
Lilian Roos: Swiss Federal Institute of Sport Magglingen SFISM, 2532 Magglingen, Switzerland
Dena Sadeghi-Bahmani: Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
Hubert Annen: Military Academy, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology ETH Zurich, 8903 Birmensdorf, Switzerland
Serge Brand: Center for Affective, Stress and Sleep Disorders (ZASS), Psychiatric University Hospital Basel, 4002 Basel, Switzerland

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 24, 1-18

Abstract: In Switzerland, military service is a civic obligation for all adult male citizens, and thus, leadership style can be particularly challenging. The present study investigated the impact of superiors’ leadership styles on recruits’ achievement motivation, organizational citizenship behavior (OCB), and perceived stress during their Basic Military Training (BMT). To this end, a total of 525 male recruits (mean age: 20.3 years) recruits were assessed both cross-sectionally and longitudinally. At the start of BMT (baseline), at week 7, and at week 11, participants completed a series of self-rating questionnaires covering demographic information, achievement motivation, organizational citizenship behavior (OCB), perceived stress, and their superiors’ leadership styles (transformational, transactional und laissez-faire). Longitudinally, scores for achievement motivation and OCB showed no significant difference between baseline and the 11th week. In a group comparison, the group experiencing higher transformational leadership (from week 7 to week 11) had the highest scores for achievement motivation and OCB, and the lowest scores for perceived stress, all at week 11. Exploratively, achievement motivation and OCB at baseline were associated with transformational leadership and transactional leadership at week 7 and week 11. Perceived stress at baseline correlated only with transformational leadership but not with transactional leadership, both at week 7 and week 11. Transformational leadership style fostered achievement motivation and OCB in Swiss military recruits and protected them from stress, both cross-sectionally and longitudinally.

Keywords: transformational leadership; transactional leadership; achievement motivation; organizational citizenship behavior; perceived stress (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:24:p:13949-:d:704673

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