Research limitations/implications – Although demands-abilities fit was positively related to
transformational leadership, these results should be interpreted with caution as it is not possible to
infer causality from cross-sectional research. Thus, longitudinal or experimental research is needed to
replicate these findings.
Practical implications – Whether promoting from within or hiring externally, organizations
should place more emphasis on demands-abilities fit when trying to predict who will engage in
transformational leadership behavior. In addition, leaders’ own supervisors and followers appear to be
in strong agreement on whether someone is an effective leader.
Originality/value – To the author’s knowledge, this is the first study to examine the relationship
between leader fit and transformational leadership.