Author(s): Emmet (John) Fritch
Leadership traits often are explored in terms of various company outcomes. Transformational leadership styles were investigated to determine associations of leadership style and supply chain management performance. Individual consideration is one of the five transformational leadership styles included in transformational leadership theory. A survey of supply chain professionals revealed supply chain performance improves when leaders in charge of supply chains exhibit individual consideration. The Multi-Leadership-Questionnaire (MLQ 5X) research instrument was combined with a validated supply performance questionnaire and administered to acquire information from supply chain professionals. The independent variables were supply chain leadership styles, and the dependent variable was supply chain performance, measured by aggregating several performance variables. The research results provided a “profile” of character traits correlated to improved performance. CEOs and hiring managers can utilize the data presented in the study to align supply chain leader candidates to appropriate positions based on leadership style and desired performance results. Stepwise regression resulted in one significant model. Leaders scoring high on Bass’s MLQ 5X sub-category in individual consideration obtained 17% better performance.