| Leaders behavior is one of the keys to organizations success, because it strongly influences subordinates motivation and performance. Two strategies have proven to be especially efficient in affecting subordinates motivation: (a) transformational leadership behavior (TFLB), that is, setting visionary goals and providing subordinates with the freedom to plan goal-striving according to their needs and (b) transactional leadership behavior (TALB), that is, following clear rules for exchange and monitoring subordinates errors closely. Research on the preconditions of these two types of behavior in leaders is scarce, especially concerning the effects of leaders motivation. The current proposal presents a self-regulation model of leadership behavior, which aims at predicting TFLB and TALB based on contemporary motivational theories. The core concept of the introduced model is self-regulatory focus (Higgins, 1997). Regulatory focus theory distinguishes between a focus on ideals and potentials gains driven by eagerness needs (promotion focus), which is expected to elicit TFLB, and a focus on obligations and potential losses driven by security needs (prevention focus), which is predicted to elicit TALB behavior. The first proposed project concentrates on the impact of regulatory focus on leadership behavior and its underlying processes. The second project addresses the effects of high task demands (which can be perceived as threatening or challenging) on leadership behavior and their interplay with regulatory focus. Finally, the third project addresses the problem that successful leaders have to show both TFLB and TALB in close succession. To predict the ability to live up with this requirement, a new concept is introduced, namely regulatory flexibility, which is the ability to switch between different regulatory modes. The outcomes of these three projects will allow deriving criteria for the selection of leaders and the design of leaders environment that provide an optimal basis for motivating, successful leadership behavior. |
