Transformational leadership in leading young innovators – a subordinate’s perspective

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to investigate what kind of leadership young innovative people prefer and whether their level of innovativeness has an influence on those leadership preferences. It also asks specifically whether some leadership behaviours are preferred over others by young innovators, by comparing that group’s preferences to those of the majority of young people and an outlier group labelled laggards. Leadership preferences are studied in the context of transformational leadership covering transformational leadership, transactional leadership (including passive and active management by exception), rewarding, laissez-faire and authoritative leadership styles. Design/methodology/approach - In total, 297 Finnish university students completed a voluntary leadership behaviour questionnaire and an innovativeness scale. A non-parametric independent samples median test was run to determine if there were differences in the leadership preference score between the innovativeness level groups. Findings - Results indicate that the level of innovativeness influences leadership preferences. Receiving intellectual stimulation from their leader is more important to young innovators than it is to their peers but the former are also less comfortable with active management by exception. Originality/value - Young innovators leadership preferences have not been studied. Harnessing the full power of this important talent pool is central to the future competitiveness of organizations and nations. This study intends to prompt discussion and studies on how to lead young innovators given their preferences.