Situation Awareness and Transformational Leadership in Senior Military Leaders: An Exploratory Study

Abstract

This study explored the relationship between leadership style and operational readiness in a sample of senior Norwegian military officers (N = 43), who participated in a 1-week joint staff exercise. Leadership style was measured by the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ-45), and indicators of operational readiness included situation awareness and interpersonal influence. Transformational leadership emerged as a predictor of situation awareness (R2 = .33) and interpersonal influence (R2 = .25), with intellectual stimulation as the only significant predictor among the facet subscales. Some possible theoretical and methodological implications for future research are also pointed out.