134
U. Awan et al.
As a result, much of the manufacturing sector has emphasized inter-firm relationship
along with an intensified focus on coordination and cooperation to demonstrate more
performance outcomes (Gimenez et al. 2012).
Ivery (2010) stresses that a leader’s behaviour has got a significant impact on
achieving performance outcomes. The reason is that leaders are expected to motivate others to work together and, most importantly, they manage the transition in the
organisation. So far, most previous studies on transformational leadership focused
on establishing conducive supply chain environment, transformational leadership
and its positive influences innovation and performance (Aragón-Correa et al. 2007),
supply chain ( SC) leadership for environmental sustainability (Clifford Defee et al.
2009), transformational leaders and their understanding of supply chain relationships
(Clifford Defee et al. 2010), improving the supply chain performance (Birasnav et al.
2015), but they did not explore the transactional leadership interaction in the supply
chain relationship context. Transformational leadership affects organization-focused
idea generation by employees because both can inspire followers to pursue collective
values and make commitments (Deichmann and Stam 2015). Transactional leaders
are defined as “the exchange relationship between superior and subordinate, and its
purpose is to meet the expectations and gratify the interests of each party” (Bass
and Avolio 1994). To maintain the effectiveness of inter-firm relationship management, supply chain leader behaviour is considered a key source of achieving desired
outcomes (Gosling et al. 2017). Thus, the effectiveness of inter-firm governance
mechanism seems to be a challenge and relatively little research has been devoted
to the identification of the factor that explains influences on different types of governance mechanism in supply chain relationship (Awan et al. 2018a). To date, there
is limited evidence on how transactional leadership style effectively translated into
aligning inter-firm relationship.
Recently, (Birasnav et al. 2015) have explained the importance of the leadership
style of operations managers for effective performance management. Kurucz et al.
(2017) found that leadership positively relates to sustainability. Jang et al. (2017)
also noted that leadership style is positively related to the performance. Leadership
is viewed as being capable to facilitate coordination and expand activities to provide a
valued relationship and facilitate complex inter-firm relationships. There is evidence
in the literature that manufacturing industries have a prominent role in perpetuating
unsustainable patterns of environmental degradation. To change the situation, they
need to apply sustainability principles to address global environmental challenges
(Bamgbade et al. 2017). Recent studies have traditionally focused on the impact of
leadership style on corporate social responsibility (CSR) (Du et al. 2013), no previous
research has examined how different leadership styles influence the effectiveness of
inter-firm relationship for corporate sustainability.
Hence, while the inter-firm relationship comprises an important part for the
management of sustainability issues, most research studies on leadership have stayed
away from taking into account the transactional leadership style. This study addresses
these gaps by investigating how transactional leadership can significantly moderate
the relationship between inter-firm governance mechanism and the firm’s social
U. Awan et al.
As a result, much of the manufacturing sector has emphasized inter-firm relationship
along with an intensified focus on coordination and cooperation to demonstrate more
performance outcomes (Gimenez et al. 2012).
Ivery (2010) stresses that a leader’s behaviour has got a significant impact on
achieving performance outcomes. The reason is that leaders are expected to motivate others to work together and, most importantly, they manage the transition in the
organisation. So far, most previous studies on transformational leadership focused
on establishing conducive supply chain environment, transformational leadership
and its positive influences innovation and performance (Aragón-Correa et al. 2007),
supply chain ( SC) leadership for environmental sustainability (Clifford Defee et al.
2009), transformational leaders and their understanding of supply chain relationships
(Clifford Defee et al. 2010), improving the supply chain performance (Birasnav et al.
2015), but they did not explore the transactional leadership interaction in the supply
chain relationship context. Transformational leadership affects organization-focused
idea generation by employees because both can inspire followers to pursue collective
values and make commitments (Deichmann and Stam 2015). Transactional leaders
are defined as “the exchange relationship between superior and subordinate, and its
purpose is to meet the expectations and gratify the interests of each party” (Bass
and Avolio 1994). To maintain the effectiveness of inter-firm relationship management, supply chain leader behaviour is considered a key source of achieving desired
outcomes (Gosling et al. 2017). Thus, the effectiveness of inter-firm governance
mechanism seems to be a challenge and relatively little research has been devoted
to the identification of the factor that explains influences on different types of governance mechanism in supply chain relationship (Awan et al. 2018a). To date, there
is limited evidence on how transactional leadership style effectively translated into
aligning inter-firm relationship.
Recently, (Birasnav et al. 2015) have explained the importance of the leadership
style of operations managers for effective performance management. Kurucz et al.
(2017) found that leadership positively relates to sustainability. Jang et al. (2017)
also noted that leadership style is positively related to the performance. Leadership
is viewed as being capable to facilitate coordination and expand activities to provide a
valued relationship and facilitate complex inter-firm relationships. There is evidence
in the literature that manufacturing industries have a prominent role in perpetuating
unsustainable patterns of environmental degradation. To change the situation, they
need to apply sustainability principles to address global environmental challenges
(Bamgbade et al. 2017). Recent studies have traditionally focused on the impact of
leadership style on corporate social responsibility (CSR) (Du et al. 2013), no previous
research has examined how different leadership styles influence the effectiveness of
inter-firm relationship for corporate sustainability.
Hence, while the inter-firm relationship comprises an important part for the
management of sustainability issues, most research studies on leadership have stayed
away from taking into account the transactional leadership style. This study addresses
these gaps by investigating how transactional leadership can significantly moderate
the relationship between inter-firm governance mechanism and the firm’s social