The associations between university students' transformational leadership characteristics and dysfunctional limitedness perceptions

The aim of this study was to explore associations between transformational leadership and limitedness schemas of university students. Data were collected from 66 male (34.2%) and 127 females (65.8%), a total of 193 university students. The minimum age was 17 and the maximum age was 23. The mean age of the sample was 19.62 years with a standard deviation of 1.21. The results reveal that females have higher scores than males with regard to transformational leadership characteristics. Comparison of the differences between male and female subjects in terms of limitedness orientation showed that males reported higher scores than females on limitedness schemas. In addition, limitedness about relations and limitedness about the world were significantly associated with transactional leadership and a laissez-faire philosophy, but connections of dysfunctional limitedness schemas with transformational leadership were not significant. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.