Occupational therapy practitioners' perceptions of rehabilitation managers' leadership styles and the outcomes of leadership.

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to serve as a pilot study to investigate the association between occupational therapy practitioners' perceptions of rehabilitation managers' leadership styles and the outcomes of leadership. Data for this study were collected using the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire Form 5X and a self-designed demographic questionnaire. The study working sample included 73 occupational therapy practitioners. Major findings from the study indicate that overall, transformational, and transactional leadership styles are associated with leadership outcomes. Transformational leadership had a significant (p < 0.01) positive association with the leadership outcomes, whereas transactional leadership had a significant (p < 0.01) negative association with the leadership outcomes. The contingent reward leadership attribute (although belonging to the transactional leadership construct) was found to be positively associated with leadership outcomes, similar to the transformational leadership constructs. The results of this research suggest that transformational leadership styles have a positive association with leadership outcomes, whereas transactional leadership styles have a negative association, excluding the positive transactional contingent reward attribute. A larger, random sample is recommended as a follow-up study.