Transformational leadership and follower proactivity in a volunteer workforce

• Author: Juliana B. Porto,Thainá T. do Nascimento,Catherine T. Kwantes
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/nml.21308
• Published date: 01 June 2018
• Date: 01 June 2018

RESEARCH NOTE

Transformational leadership and follower

proactivity in a volunteer workforce

Thainá T. do Nascimento

1

| Juliana B. Porto

1

| Catherine T. Kwantes

2

1

Department of Social and Organizational

Psychology, University of Brasilia, Brazil

2

Department of Psychology, University of

Windsor, Ontario, Canada

Correspondence

Juliana B. Porto, Department of Social and

Organizational Psychology, University of Brasilia,

Brasilia, Brazil.

Email: jbporto@unb.br

This study explored how transformational leaders can

enhance volunteers’proactive behavior in an all-volunteer

nonprofit organization. Based on Parker, Bindl, and

Strauss’s model of motivation, it was hypothesized that

role breadth self-efficacy, work values (self-direction/

stimulation and universalism/benevolence), and positive

affect would mediate the transformational leadership—

proactive behavior relationship. Data came from 141 vol-

unteers in Brazilian chapters of an international not-for-

profit organization. The model was tested using structural

equation modeling, with mediation hypotheses tested by

estimating the indirect effects using bias-corrected inter-

vals. Comparative fit index (.97) and standardized root

mean square residual (.05) fit statistics indicate the model

is plausible. These findings contribute to the understand-

ing of the role that leaders play in increasing followers’

proactive behavior in volunteer organizations.

KEYWORDS

proactive behavior, proactive motivation, taking charge,

transformational leadership, volunteer work

1|INTRODUCTION

In the past decades, managers have realized that employees are not merely passive and reactive to

the work context (Crant, 2000), and that this active role can contribute not only to personal achieve-

ments but also to better organizational results (Bateman & Crant, 1999). Thus, it is important for

researchers to study employees’proactive behaviors and understood as a set of self-initiated actions,

which are oriented toward action and change, and future-focused (Tornau & Frese, 2013). Volunteer

workforces tend to be characterized by helpfulness (Clary & Snyder, 1999), suggesting that proac-

tivity may be more prevalent, and of greater importance, in these workforces and also making it a

relevant construct for evaluating volunteer contributions.

Received: 27 December 2016 Revised: 29 January 2018 Accepted: 31 January 2018

DOI: 10.1002/nml.21308

Nonprofit Management and Leadership. 2018;28:565–576.wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/nml © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. 565