Which Leader Makes Us Stay and How? the Mediating Role of Multidimensional Work Motivation

Abstract

Supervisors' leadership styles are among the most important variables that influence employees' work motivation. However, in Turkey, only a limited number of studies examined the effects of leadership styles on employee motivations and on distal work-related outcomes via their influences on these motivations. The present study aimed to examine the links of paternalistic and transformational leadership with employees' work motivations by using a valid and reliable work motivation measure and to test the mediating roles of motivations in the relationships between leadership styles and employees' turnover intentions. In Study 1, data were collected from 456 employees and the Multidimensional Work Motivation Scale (MWMS; Gagne et al., 2014), which was developed within the framework of Self-Determination Theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985), was adapted to Turkish. In Study 2, data were collected from 388 employees and the proposed model was tested using structural equation modeling. Study 1 revealed that the factor structure and the predictive validity results of the adapted MWMS were consistent with those of its versions in other languages. Study 2 showed that both leadership styles were associated with motivation dimensions in the proposed directions; however, motivations partially mediated only the link between transformational leadership and turnover intentions.