Reversing the Paradigm: Empirical Evidence of Followership in Shaping Transactional Leadership Style: The Mediating effect of Trust, Leader-Member Exchange (LMX)

Abstract

The purpose of the current study was to investigate the role of followership on the transactional leadership style by changing the paradigm by integrating the effect of trust and leader-member exchange. The proposed hypotheses were tested in AMOS-SEM and SPSS. Quantitative method was used. Data was collected from 348 female PETs respondents from E&SD, KP Pakistan. The results indicated that followership has a positive and significant role upon all three dimensions of transactional leadership (contingent rewards, management by exception active and passive, whereas, trust and LMX has a significant mediating role between followers and transactional leaders. The study is carried out in context of the emerging economies so, results may not be generalized to other countries. This study empirically tested Khan et al., (2019) and Shamir (2007) “reversing the lens” perspective and extended the body of knowledge on social exchange theory.