Interdisciplinary Journal of Research in Business Vol. 1, Issue. 8, August 2011(pp.49-61) 49 Perceptions for Transformational leadership, Followers’ Psychological Capital and Intent to Leave in Pakistan: an insight from Medical and Engineering Sector Kamariah Ismail Management Department, Faculty of Management and Human Resource Management, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, E-mail: m-maria@utm.my, drkay147@yahoo.com Wafa Khurram Department of Management Sciences, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Lahore, Pakistan, E-mail: wafakhurram@yahoo.com Tajammal Hussain Mathematics Department, Assistant Professor, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology E-mail: tajammal@ciitlahore.edu.pk Syed Khurram Ali Jafri (Corresponding author) Ph.D. student, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Malaysia Email: khurramjafri1970@yahoo.com, kalijafri@ciitlahore.edu.pk ABSTRACT Through this study, an effort has been made to join in the scholarly endeavor to identify the reasons for brain drain generally and specifically in Pakistan. The mushroom growth of intents to leave among the employees has been recognized as one of the most important factors for brain drain, globally. Identifying the importance of leadership and followers’ psychological capital in reducing intents to leave, the prevailing perceptions for the role of transformational leadership and the psychological capital of the followers among the employees from Medical and Engineering sector of Pakistan, is studied. Data from 149 respondents was collected by Stratified random sampling and distributing questionnaire by mail survey method. Descriptive analysis showed that most of the employees having high levels of perceptions for transformational leader are stronger in terms of their psychological capacities of hope, optimism, resilience and efficacy than their counterparts. However, the intents to leave are found stronger in more educated and experienced employees with greater levels of psychological capital. It is attributed through findings that intents to leave among the employees of Pakistan may reduce by developing their psychological capital through motivational capacity of transformational leadership nevertheless, implication regarding role of transformational leaders are discussed. Key words: Brain drain, Transformational Leadership, Psychological Capital, Intent to Leave INTRODUCTION The prevailing threat of Brain drain has compelled the scholars to scrutinize the major factors behind it. The developing region of the world especially is in hot water for their already less human resources regarding high professionals and resources to train and retain them, furthermore the escalating brain drain of their professionals from different sectors is catalyzing and worsening the situation (Pang et al., 2002; Dudani & LaPorte, 2005) In Pakistan, the dilemma of brain drain has been geared up largely due to pervasiveness of social, economical and political upheavals (Sarfraz, 2008; Haider et al., 2003). To counteract this traumatic condition of human capital flight, role of leaders especially beholding true sense of integrity is vital. Literature signifies the importance of positive and motivational leaders and their capacity to generate positive psychological capacities among the employees in this regard (Lew, 2009; Weberg, 2010). While addressing the imperative issue to ponder for brain drain, the burgeoning attitude of intent to leave is manifested in literature as this intention is strongly related to employees‟ actual turnover (Griffeth et al., 2000; Khan et al., 2010; Alam & Mohammad, 2010). The impact of transformational leadership on the organizational outcomes is obvious from literature at large (Avey et al., 2010; Sharif et al., 2010). Yet, its significance in developing the psychological capacities of the followers and its role in reducing intents for quitting their jobs, specifically in context of Pakistan, is untapped. The research objectives of the present study are to explore the demographic characteristics of the employees working in the Educational, Engineering, IT and Health sectors of Pakistan, to determine the existing level of transformational leadership and psychological capital of the followers. The study also intends to elucidate the