Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 13, 2026

The Social Dimension of Stress: Experimental Manipulations of Social Support and Social Identity in the Trier Social Stress Test
Published on: November 19, 2015
Transforming service employees and climate: a multilevel, multisource examination of transformational leadership in
1Human Resource Management Department, School of Management and Labor Relations, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, NJ, USA. huiliao@smlr.rutgers.edu
Abstract:
This longitudinal field study integrates the theories of transformational leadership (TFL) and relationship marketing to examine how TFL influences employee service performance and customer relationship outcomes by transforming both (at the micro level) the service employees' attitudes and (at the macro level) the work unit's service climate. Results revealed that, at the individual level, managers' TFL was positively related to employee service performance, which, in turn, positively predicted customers' expressed intention to maintain a long-term service relationship with the service employee and manager-reported number of the employee's long-term customers measured 9 months later. In addition, the relationship between TFL and employee service performance was partially mediated by employee self-efficacy. Furthermore, store-level TFL was positively associated with store-level service climate, and service climate further enhanced the relationship between individual-level TFL and employee service performance.
Related Concept Videos
Relationship Growth
Impression Management Techniques IV: Altercasting
Strategies of Self-Presentation I: Strategic Self-Presentation
Relationship Formation
Halo Effect
Trait Centrality