JOURNAL OF LEADERSHIP STUDIES, Volume 13, Number 4, 2020 © 2020 University of Phoenix View this article online at wileyonlinelibrary.com • DOI:10.1002/jls.21673 1 Introduction For too long, leadership studies have been leader-cen- tered with little attention paid to the roles of followers in the leadership process. While the term leader has RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MIDDLE MANAGERS’ TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP AND EFFECTIVE FOLLOWERSHIP BEHAVIORS IN ORGANIZATIONS IBUKUN D. ALEGBELEYE AND ERIC K. KAUFMAN Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA In the current study, four hypotheses that predicted positive relationships between transformational lead- ership behaviors and effective followership behaviors were proposed. Data were collected from 100 mid- dle managers across the United States. Multiple regression results showed signifcant positive relationships between transformational leadership behaviors and effective followership behaviors, after controlling for age, sex, race, educational level, tenure with current organization, and tenure with current supervisor. However, the transformational leadership behavior of Idealized Influence was not signifcantly related to the effective followership behavior of Building Trust, after controlling for demographics. The fndings have important implications for leaders, followers, leadership educators, organizations, and researchers. been glamorized, the term follower has been associated with passiveness, subservience, and lack of imagina- tion (Agho, 2009). However, follower-centric leader- ship scholars have argued that while leader-follower Correspondence: Ibukun D. Alegbeleye, Virginia Tech, 202 Litton-Reaves Hall (Mail Code 0343), 175 W. Campus Drive, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA. E-mail: ibukun@vt.edu