Transformational Leadership and Psychological Well-Being: The Mediating Role of Meaningful Work Kara A. Arnold Memorial University Nick Turner and Julian Barling Queen’s University E. Kevin Kelloway and Margaret C. McKee St. Mary’s University Two studies investigated the relationship between transformational leadership, the meaning that individuals ascribe to their work, and their psychological well-being. In Study 1, the perceptions of meaningful work partially mediated the relationship between transformational leadership and positive affective well-being in a sample of Canadian health care workers (N  319). In Study 2, the meaning that a separate sample of service workers (N  146) ascribed to their work fully mediated the relationship between transformational leadership and psychological well-being, after controlling for humanistic work beliefs. Overall, these results support and add to the range of positive mental health effects associated with transformational leadership and are suggestive of interventions that organizations can make to improve well-being of workers. Keywords: meaningful work, psychological well-being, transformational leadership Although the nature of transformational leadership has been the focus of much research interest, com- paratively less is known about the processes through which transformational leadership exerts its effects (Sivanathan, Arnold, Turner, & Barling, 2004). For example, although recent evidence (e.g., van Dierendonck, Haynes, Borrill, & Stride, 2004) has suggested that high-quality leadership has the poten- tial to positively influence others’ psychological well-being, it is not clear why this is the case. The two studies reported here investigate the relationship between transformational leadership and psycholog- ical well-being as well as a psychological mechanism (experiencing work as meaningful) by which these effects might occur. Transformational leaders go beyond exchange relationships and motivate others to achieve more that they thought was possible (Bass, 1998, Bass & Riggio, 2006). Although various researchers use different numbers of dimensions in the conceptu- alization and measurement of transformational leadership, there is substantial overlap between them. One common conceptualization suggests that transformational leadership is composed of four dimensions: idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, and individu- alized consideration (Avolio, 1999; Bass, 1998). Idealized influence occurs when the leader does the “right thing” and thereby engenders the trust and respect of his or her followers. Inspirationally mo- tivating leaders hold high expectations and encour- age followers to achieve more than they thought possible. Intellectual stimulation involves encour- aging followers to challenge the status quo and to answer their own questions. Finally, an individu- ally considerate leader treats each employee as a person, spends time coaching employees, and dem- onstrates appreciation of their achievements. Kara A. Arnold, Faculty of Business Administration, Memorial University, St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labra- dor, Canada; Julian Barling and Nick Turner, Queen’s School of Business, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada; E. Kevin Kelloway and Margaret McKee, Sobey School of Business, St. Mary’s University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Nick Turner is now at the I. H. Asper School of Business, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. This article is based, in part, on Kara A. Arnold’s doctoral dissertation, which was completed under the supervision of Julian Barling. We thank Blake Ashforth, Bill Cooper, Dan Gallagher, and Carl Keane for helpful feedback and Mark Griffin for advice on the analyses. An earlier version of the second study in this article was presented at the sixth Work Stress and Health Conference, sponsored by the American Psychological Association and the National Institute of Oc- cupational Safety and Health, Miami, FL, March 2006. We wish to acknowledge the Queen’s School of Business and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada for financial support. Correspondence concerning this article should be ad- dressed to Kara A. Arnold, Faculty of Business Adminis- tration, Memorial University, St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador A1B 3X5, Canada. E-mail: arnoldk@mun.ca Journal of Occupational Health Psychology 2007, Vol. 12, No. 3, 193–203 Copyright 2007 by the American Psychological Association 1076-8998/07/$12.00 DOI: 10.1037/1076-8998.12.3.193 193