Self-Efficacy and Resilience: Mediating Mechanisms in the Relationship Between the Transformational Leadership Dimensions and Well-Being

The objective of this article is to test the roles of self-efficacy and resilience as consecutive mediators in the relationship between the four dimensions of transformational leadership and well-being (operationalized as psychosomatic complaints and psychological distress). The sample consists of 225 social services employees in Spain. Data were gathered at two time points with a time-lag of 6 months. We used path analysis to test the hypothesized model and Monte Carlo confidence intervals to check the significance of the indirect effects. Our results showed that only two of the four transformational leadership dimensions have a direct impact on self-efficacy: inspirational motivation and individualized consideration, although contrary to our hypothesis, the latter had a negative effect on self-efficacy. As for the indirect effects, self-efficacy did not mediate between the leadership dimensions and well-being, whereas resilience mediated between self-efficacy and well-being. Self-efficacy and resilience consecutively mediated between the leadership dimensions and well-being. Our findings contribute to understanding the underlying mechanisms connecting different dimensions of transformational leadership and well-being, and they highlight the importance of developing employees’ personal resources.