Transformational Leadership in Extreme Contexts: Associations with Posttraumatic Growth and Self-Efficacy Among Combat Veterans

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/0095327X211030610
• Published date: 01 October 2022
• Date: 01 October 2022
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/0095327X211030610

Armed Forces & Society

2022, Vol. 48(4) 849 –871

© The Author(s) 2021

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DOI: 10.1177/0095327X211030610

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Article

Transformational Leadership

in Extreme Contexts:

Associations with

Posttraumatic Growth and

Self-Eff‌icacy Among Combat

Veterans

Michael A. LaRocca

1

and Kevin S. Groves

2

Abstract

Decades of research have established transformational leadership as an encompassing

leadership approach with broad applications across organizational contexts. Despite

dozens of meta-analyses and many empirical studies demonstrating the direct per-

formance effects of transformational leadership, ways in which transformational

leaders shape follower personal development and well-being remain largely u nex-

plored, particularly in extreme contexts such as military combat. Based on a sample of

130 combat veterans of multiple conf‌licts, we examined the impact of transformational

leadership in combat on follower posttraumatic growth and follower self-eff‌icacy after

deployment, including the moderating effects of the duration and intensity of combat.

Moderated regression modeling and analyses demonstrated that transformational

leadership was associated with follower posttraumatic growth among lengthier combat

deployments, as well as with follower self-eff‌icacy independent of combat duration and

intensity. Our f‌indings suggest that transformational leaders frame extreme contexts as

opportunities for growth, and further implications for research and practice are

discussed.

1

Department of Psychology, Virginia Military Institute, Carroll Hall, Lexington, VA, USA

2

Pepperdine University Graziadio School of Business and Management, Los Angeles, CA, USA

Corresponding Author:

Michael A. LaRocca, Department of Psychology, Virginia Military Institute, Carroll Hall, Lexington, VA 24450,

USA.

Email: laroccama@vmi.edu

850 Armed Forces & Society 48(4)

Keywords

transformational leadership, posttraumatic growth, self-eff‌icacy, veterans

Introduction

Military service members experience signif‌icant stressors such as combat, separation

from family, frequent changes of duty station, and readjusting to civilian life, all of

which may impact mental health (e.g., National Center for PTSD, 2018;Tanielian &

Jaycox, 2008). For veterans with symptoms of PTSD, depression, and other psy-

chological distress, the importance of evidence-based mental health treatments cannot

be overstated. In addition to these treatments, however, Tedeschi and McNally (2011)

propose that military leaders may inspire healthy responses to stressors to lay the

groundwork for follower personal growth and resilience. Transformational leadership

is consistent with this supportive leadership behavior, which may foster follower self-

eff‌icacy, meaningfulness, and well-being across contexts (e.g., LaRocca et al., 2018;

Perko et al., 2014).

Transformational leadership remains one of the most comprehensively examined

leadership theories in the published literature (Day & Antonakis, 2012;Dinh et al.,

2014). In parallel with an increasingly uncertain and volatile environment across

industries and professions, leadership scholars have devoted considerable attention to

studying the inf‌luence processes through which leaders transform their followers to

drive greater performance outcomes across levels of analysis (individuals, groups,

organizations, and communities). Introduced by James McGregor Burns over 40 years

ago (Burns et al., 1978), and further developed by Bass and colleagues (Avolio & Bass,

1995;Bass, 1985;Bass & Riggio, 2006), transformational leaders seek to change the

status quo by articulating a vision of the future that appeals to followers’values and

sense of collective cohesion. A fundamental element of the transformational leadership

inf‌luence process is the manner in which leaders transform followers, including

changing the composition of followers’motives (Burns et al., 1978;Siangchokyoo

et al., 2020) and a wide range of attitudinal and behavioral outcomes such as en-

gagement, job performance, organizational commitment, and turnover (Judge &

Piccolo, 2004;Wang & Howell, 2012;Wang et al., 2011). According to transfor-

mational leadership theory (Bass & Riggio, 2006), leaders inf‌luence their followers and

thereby drive a range of attitudinal and behavioral outcomes through four primary

leader dimensions: (1) idealized inf‌luence (role modeling attributes and behaviors); (2)

inspirational motivation (articulating inspiring visions or future states of the organi-

zation); (3) individualized consideration (understanding and coaching followers ac-

cording to their individual needs); and (4) intellectual stimulation (encouraging

divergent views and stimulating followers to challenge existing assumptions).

While the direct effects of transformational leadership on followers and organi-

zations are supported by hundreds of empirical studies and dozens of meta-analyses,

there remain several core limitations that warrant further examination. This study seeks

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