Is Leadership in the Eye of the Beholder?: A Study of Intended and Perceived Leadership Strategies and Organizational Performance

Human resource management literature argues that intended leadership practices can be perceived very differently by employees, and that perceived practices are more likely to be related to performance than intended practices, because perceived practices are more closely related to motivation and commitment. Using a sample of 1,621 teachers and 79 Danish high schools, this study paper finds that intended and perceived transformational and transactional leadership strategies are only weakly correlated, and that only perceived strategies (both transformational and transactional) are significantly related to objectively measured school performance. (Series: The Rockwool Foundation Research Unit - Study Paper - No. 76)