Study of Transformation-Creating Leadership's Effect on Occupational Attitude with Mediation of Psychological Empowerment

Purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of transformation-creating leadership style on the occupational attitude regarding to the role of psychological empowerment mediation. The present research is applied one in terms of goal, and correlational descriptive one in terms of the method. In this study, first theoretical model and hypotheses between variables were developed. Then by the help of structural equations model, the research hypothesis studied.
Statistical universe of the research is the students of Amin Police University. For this purpose, a sample of 165 students based on the Morgan table and using the simple random sampling method, obtained. In order to gather information on the transformation-creating leadership ,Bass and Olive (2000), psychological empowerment ,Spritzer (1995), job satisfaction of employees, index of job descriptor (JDI), and organizational commitment, Allan and Meyer(1990) questionnaires are used . In addition to content's validity, construct`s validity also is used and to evaluate reliability, Cronbach`s Alfa is used. Cronbach`s Alfa for each of the variables in transformation-creating leadership(0/79), psychological empowerment (0/80)and occupational attitude of employees (organizational commitment (0/85)and job satisfaction(0/84)) which indicate the optimum level of reliability of the questionnaires. The results of this research show that transformation-creating leadership has an impact on employees` occupational attitudes. Also, the mediating role of psychological empowerment in the relationship of transformation-creating leadership with employees` occupation attitudes is confirmed.
Employees are regarded as the capital of each organization, and achieving to organizational goals depends on the proper management of these valuable resources. Employees have a lot of differences in their individual and social behaviors, and what is often more important for managers of organizations is how to regulate the behavior with employees through knowledge of different variables affecting their attitude towards the job and organization. Occupational and organizational attitude is a kind of person's perception of his organization and job ,that is caused by factors such as the nature of the job and organization, surrounding human resources, the organizational and environmental factors and personal factors (Azimi et al., 2012). The attitudes and behaviors of employees, which are the most important elements that constitute the organization, affect their capabilities and motivations. Non-participation of employees in providing appropriate educational services ,is only part of the challenges faced by the studied community and its stakeholders; in other words, , the studied community must accurately identify the characteristics and needs of the staff ,and provide needed requirements for competing in this environment in an organizational system so that create its own competitiveness.
According to the importance of the role of cognitive and behavioral processes in employee`s empowerment, as well as the lack of a research that put the study of psychological empowerment and its components from the angle of their role with job satisfaction, organizational commitment and transformational leadership on its agenda.
Case study: Statistical universe of this research were students of Amin Police University. For this purpose, a sample of 165 people, based on Morgan's table, using simple random sampling method, was obtained.
This research is applied one in terms of goal, and has a descriptive correlation method. To collect information about the transformation-creating leadership, the Bass & Olive qquestionnaire (2004) with 20 items and four indicators of ideal characteristics, ideal behaviors, inspirational motivation, mental stimulation and personal observation; about psychological empowerment ,from the Spritzer questionnaire (1995) with 24 items and four elements of significance, competence, self-determination and effect, about job satisfaction of the employees from occupational description index (JDI) with five components of payment, promotion opportunities, supervisor, policies and procedures, membership of the working group, working conditions and job benefits, and finally organizational commitment with 24 questions and three components of emotional commitment, continuous commitment and normative commitment, all based on the Likert`s five- option spectrum were used. To acquire more confidence from level of questionnaires` reliability, the questionnaires were implemented on a sample of 30 people and Cronbach's Alpha for each of the variables (transformational leadership, psychological empowerment, and job attitude (organizational commitment and job satisfaction) were 0.79, 0.88, 0.85 and 0.84) respectfully, which indicate the optimal level of reliability of the questionnaires.
Also in this study, structural equation modeling method has been used to test the model and research hypothesis.
Discussion and In the framework of the proposed model of this research, four hypotheses have been extracted: 1-Transformation-creating leadership has an impact on student's psychological empowerment.
The effect of transformation-creating leadership on psychological empowerment is (0.7), then it can be concluded that variable of transformation-creating leadership influences psychological empowerment.
2-Psychological empowerment has an impact on student's attitudes toward work.The effect of psychological empowerment on the job attitude is (0.36). Therefore, it can be concluded that variable of psychological empowerment affects the attitude of the job.
3-Transformation-creating leadership has an impact on the student's attitude of work.The effect of transformation-creating leadership on job attitude is (0.23), so it can be concluded that variable of transformation-creating leadership has an impact on job attitudes.
4-Psychological empowerment is effective as an intermediating variable in the relationship between transformation-creating leadership and job attitude.
In addition to the direct effect, transformation-creating leadership indirectly and through psychological empowerment, affects the attitude of the work, which has a greater effect (0.25) than direct effect (0.23). Therefore, it can be concluded that the variable of psychological empowerment has a minor mediation effect on relationship between style of transformation-creating leadership and occupational attitude, which is also supported by the fourth hypothesis of the research.
Findings of the research showed that transformation-creating leadership has a positive and significant effect on employee's occupational attitude. The results are in line with the studies by Avolio et al. (2004), Hechenau et al. (2006) and Konorti (2008). Findings of the research showed that transformation-creating leadership has a positive and significant effect on the psychological empowerment of employees. Findings of the research are based on studies conducted by (Levin, 2010; MacKenzie et al., 2001).
Analysis of the data showed that psychological empowerment has a positive and significant effect on employee's attitude of work, thus, it is consistent with the findings of researchers such as Thomas and Timon, Spritz and colleagues, Leiden et al. Findings of the research showed that psychological empowerment is considered as a mediator variable and minor. Also these findings were consistent with studies by Li and Tian (2006).
According to the findings of this research, this research can be a guide for university`s administrators in order to have a positive attitude toward student's education through a closer look and applying transformation-creating leadership and providing a suitable platform for empowerment of students. Accordingly, in order to strengthen the positive attitude of students, the following are suggested:• For managers and supervisors of different sections, training workshops will be held to improve transformation-creating leadership.
• Students need to be aware of the environment in which they are studying, so that students feel well connected with the organization. Senior executives should try to investigate issues through group meetings and, through modeling, sharing information with students, can increase mutual trust and students feel that they are important to the organization, and thus the extent of their involvement in Study increases.