WORKING WITHIN CONSTRAINTS: CAN TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERS ALTER THE EXPERIENCE OF RED TAPE?

Can leadership, an understudied variable in red tape research, create conditions that mitigate how followers experience red tape? To answer this question we employ data from a survey of agency heads in U. S. city government, asking them about the transformational leadership qualities of their city manager, and estimate how this is associated with the organizational conditions followers experience and, in turn, red tape. We hypothesize that transformational leadership alters perceptions of red tape through its influence on goal clarity, political support, and communication. Results from a structural equation model provide empirical evidence consistent with our theory. We also find that respondents with public administration training and those who work in control agencies reported themselves less likely to experience red tape.