Transformational leadership and well-being: The mediating role of trust in leadership, meaningfulness and job satisfaction

Abstract: The aim of this research study is to explore the mechanisms involved in the relationship between transformational leadership style and employee well-being in the workplace. Previous evidence has shown that transformational leadership is linked with employee well-being. However, it is not clear whether transformational leadership have an indirect effect on employees work environment, and that this subsequently meditates that relationship. A theory driven model was tested by applying a parallel multiple mediation anlysis. This was conducted on a cross-sectional data sample of 82 employees working in a public psychiatric hospital in Sweden. The results indicated that transformational leadership and employee well-being is correlated, and that job satisfaction indirectly mediated this relationship. However, contrary to previous studies, the results did not indicated that transformational leadership had an indirect effect on employees’ wellbeing, though, its effect on trust in leadership and employees’ sense of meaning in work. Theoretical and practical contributions as well as limitations of the research study are discussed.