Can Transformational Leadership Increase the Happiness Index in Organisations Through Empowerment?

The purpose of this paper is to understand how transformational leadership is related to psychological empowerment and how it affects happiness index in a follower's life. A total of 103 employees from various Indian information technology organisations rated their superior's transformational leadership behaviour and their own empowerment and happiness. For this study, two dimensions of empowerment were taken into consideration-meaning and competence. Five dimensions of transformational leadership were captured-idealised influence attributed, idealised influence behaviour, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, and individualised consideration. Findings suggest that idealised influence attributed and competence are the best predictors of happiness. Regression analyses also show that both competence and meaning partially mediate the relationship between each of the five dimensions of transformational leadership and follower's happiness. The paper makes recommendations to managers and organisations for improving their leadership styles, which in turn may strengthen positive attitudinal and behavioural changes among employees, thereby making them more productive.