Leadership researchers (e.g., Avolio, 1999) contrasted transformational leaders to transactional
leaders, who appeal to subordinates’ self-interest by establishing exchange relationships
with them. Transactional leadership involves managing in the conventional sense of
clarifying subordinates’ responsibilities, rewarding them for meeting objectives, and correcting
them for failing to meet objectives. In addition, researchers distinguished a laissez-faire
style that is marked by an overall failure to take responsibility for managing. These
distinctions between aspects of leadership style are commonly assessed by the Multifactor
A.H. Eagly, L.L. Carli / The Leadership Quarterly 14 (2003) 807–834 815
Leadership Questionnaire, known as the MLQ (see Table 1 and Antonakis, Avolio, &
Sivasubramaniam, 2003)