Inherent Motivation and the Leadership Style Preferences of Millennials

Sammanfattning: Existing research on leadership and motivation tends to focus primarily on how leadership style influences employee motivation with very little consideration for how follower characteristics may influence the preference of the leader. In an attempt to contribute to this research gap, this thesis examined whether motivation, as represented by extrinsic and intrinsic sources, influences an individual’s preference towards a transactional vs. transformational leadership style. This thesis provides further novelty by examining this concept on the largely understudied and newest generation to enter the labour market, the millennials. To investigate the main research question, 220 Swedish students participated in a questionnaire that was designed to assess their motivation and leadership style preference. As age, gender and personality were considered as potential predictors in this relationship they were also included in the questionnaire as control variables. A multiple regression analysis revealed intrinsic motivation to be a significant predictor of transformational leadership preference, and extrinsic motivation as a significant predictor of transactional leadership preference. These findings provide merit in both the academic and organisational sectors, not only contributing empirical evidence to this widely neglected research field, but also in the practical utility these results can provide for creating more informed leadership training decisions in a bid to recruit, retain and motivate the millennial generation as they enter the workforce.