CEO transformational leadership and top management team performance: study from GCC

Abstract

Purpose Various research studies have been carried out to study Chief Executive Officers’ (CEOs’) transformational leadership in driving organizational performance and success. Evidence shows that few studies were carried out on CEO transformational leadership and top management team (TMT) performance in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region. Thus, this study aims to provide a unique contribution and the first of its kind to examine the CEO leadership–TMT performance link across GCC countries. Design/methodology/approach In this study, the researchers approached 500 employees and 30 CEOs working in 30 different organizations operating in the GCC countries. The firms were selected conveniently from different industries located in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain. The researchers used the PASW (SPSS) program to analyze the data. Findings The findings show that psychological empowerment has no significant role in moderating the transformational leadership – TMT performance relationship. Internal support for innovation plays a significant role in mediating the relationship between transformational leadership and TMT performance. Research limitations/implications The present study has not examined the behavioral aspects of CEO followers. Future research may study behavioral characteristics of the entire TMT. Originality/value This study contributes to body of research that identifies CEO transactional leadership as perceived by the followers was found to be more important in predicting TMT performance than transformational leadership in the context of organizations located in GCC countries. Managerial implications and future research areas are further discussed.