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Transformational leadership has a great impact on employees’ psychological attachment to their organizations. This study examines how and under what condition transformational leadership translates into employees’ affective organizational commitment. Using a moderated mediation model, this research finds that the relationship between transformational leadership and affective commitment is transmitted through perceived work impact. More importantly, our findings suggest that the indirect effect of transformational leadership on affective commitment through perceived work impact is moderated by the level of centralization of an organization. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.

Leaders are essential actors in public performance improvement and organizational change. However, a key question has not been adequately addressed in prior literature on the topic: how do leadership processes make a difference? Using data on New York City public schools, this article explores the organizational mechanisms by which a specific form of principal ' s leadership-transformational leadership-influences objective organizational outcomes as measured by standardized test scores. The empirical results indicate that a principal ' s transformational leadership style affects student test scores through the mediating effects of purposeful performance information use and stakeholder engagement.

Performance management is widely assumed to be an effective strategy for improving outcomes in the public sector. However, few attempts have been made to empirically test this assumption. Using data on New York City public schools, we examine the relationship between performance management practices by school leaders and educational outcomes, as measured by standardized test scores. The empirical results show that schools that do a better job at performance management indeed have better outcomes in terms of both the level and gain in standardized test scores, even when controlling for student, staffing, and school characteristics. Thus, our findings provide some rare empirical support for the key assumption behind the performance management movement in public administration.

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