Motivating Peak Performance: Leadership Behaviors That Stimulate Employee Motivation And Performance

Abstract

The impact of leader behaviors on motivation levels of employees was examined in this study. Two hundred twenty-three vice presidents and chief officers from 104 member colleges and universities in the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities were sampled. Leaders were administered the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ-rater version) and multiple regressions models were utilized to create a four-factor leadership model that identified the significant predictive leadership variables that correlate with motivation for extra effort among workers. This new model was slightly more predictive of variance in motivation toward extra effort (adjusted R2 = 0.64) than the individual models of transformational leadership, and much more predictive than the transactional leadership or laissez-faire leadership models. The four-factor leadership model simplifies the leadership process by reducing the number of significant leadership behaviors from a possibility of nine factors to four significant leadership variables for consideration by leaders who desire to effectively increase motivation toward extra effort among their staff.