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32 Deanne N, Den Hartog, Jaap J, Van Muifen and Paul L. KoopmanDiscussionThree questions were addressed in this study. The first is whether the three main leader-ship concepts as defined by Bass (transformational, transactional and laissez-faire) can be found in the data collected with the Dutch version of the MLQ. To answer this question, first, the scales as developed by Bass were analysed. The analysis of these scales suggested that it was desirable to increase the internal consistency of the scales, especially the trans-actional and laissez-faire scales.Two or three factors ?An exploratory factor analysis was done to see whether the factor structure as found byBass would again appear in these data. One could argue that the only real distinction that can be found in leadership research is the distinction between the presence and the absence of leadership. Distinguishing between transactional and transformational leader-ship would then be an artifact. If a two-factor solution is forced on the data in this study, this pattern is indeed found, an active and a passive factor. However, more non-trivial fac-tors can be found in the data. The three-factor solution yields a separate transactional and transformational factor within the active factor and a passive factor. These three factors were well interpretable from Bass' theoretical viewpoint, the Bass' framework is indeed found in the data, even through exploratory analyses.The most important reasons to use the three-factor solution, rather than the mere active—passive leadership distinctions, are, first, the theoretical importance of the three factors and, second, the differential effects of the two active types of leadership (transfor-mational and transactional) which have been found in many studies (see Bryman, 1992).Can eight separate leadership dimensions be distinguished?The second question addressed in this study is whether the four transformational and three transactional dimensions can be distinguished separately. Besides the two- and three-factor solution only the four-factor solution was interpretable within the Bass framework. The four-factor solution yields the inspirational, the passive and two transac-tional factors, namely contingent reward and active management-by-exception. The sub-dimensions of tranformational leadership as defined by Bass were not found in the data through exploratory factor analysis, transformational items group together differently.Although the three-factor solution provides a useful research solution, distinguishing between different components of transformational leadership may remain useful, partic-ularly for training purposes. One can use colourful and simple language to be more inspi-rational without being seen as individually considerate and vice versa. Thus, in certain circumstances, treating the components separately may be useful even though these behaviours tend to be correlated.One factor for passive leadership ?The third question was whether the data support combining passive management-by-exception and laissez-faire leadership in one factor for passive leadership. The data give no reason to distinguish between the subdimensions laissez-faire and passive management-Transactional vs. transformational leadership 33by-exception. The expected grouping of passive management-by-exception and laissez-faire items is clear from the data, the passive management-by-exception and laissez-faire items are all in the passive factor. Also Bass' dimensions of laissez-faire and passive man-agement-by-exception correlate positively with each other and negatively with all other subdimensions of transactional and transformational leadership (see Table 3). The theo-retical distinction between laissez-faire and passive management-by-exception, made by Hater & Bass (1988), is thus not found empirically in this data set. The same correlation pattern between passive management-by-exception and laissez-faire leadership found in this study has been found in the United States (see Yammarino & Bass, 1990). Therefore, even if the theoretical distinction is of importance, it either cannot be measured clearly with the MLQ, or respondents do not perceive the difference. The two types of leadership are not only empirically but also theoretically related, as they are both extremely passivein nature, this opposed to all other measured dimensions that are active in nature.ConclusionBass' framework for examining transformational and transactional leadership has pro-duced an impressive array of findings over the last decade. Transformational leadership has been shown to play an important part in many of the outcomes that have tradition-ally been of interest to organizational researchers as well as practitioners. Central to Bass' measurement-based framework is the widely used Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire analysed in this study. From the results of this study it can be concluded that the Bass' framework distinguishing a transformational, a transactional and a laissez-faire factor is also found through exploratory analysis on a Dutch data set. In this study the internal consistency of two of the three scales of the MLQ as defined by Bass was not sufficient. We feel this is a result of the assumption in Bass' framework that passive management-by-exception belongs in the transactional and not in the laissez-faire factor. This assump-tion is not supported by the data. The question remains, can and should new items be written to distinguish between management-by-exception and laissez-faire leadership? According to Bass they refer to different components of leader behaviour, however, dis-criminating among them may call for preparing new items.The three scales found in this study improve the internal consistency, first and foremost by combining passive management-by-exception and laissez-faire in one passive factor. The separate dimensions of transformational and transactional leadership were not found. The adapted instrument covers the same domain with fewer items.AcknowledgementThe authors would like to thank the reviewers for their helpful comments and suggestions.ReferencesBass, B. M. (1985). Leadership and Performance Beyond Expectations. New York: Free Press.Bass, B. M. (1990a). Bass and Stogdill's Handbook of Leadership: Theory, Research and Managerial Applications, 3rd ed. New York: Free Press.Bass, B. M. (1990*). Editorial: Toward a meeting of minds. Leadership Quarterly, 1.Bass, B. M. & Avolio, B. J. (1989). Manual for the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire. Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press.34 Deanne N. Den Hartog, JaapJ. Van Muijen and Paul L. KoopmanBass, B. M. & Avolio, B. J. (1990). The implications of transactional and transformational leadership for indi-vidual, team, and organizational development. Research in Organizational Change and Development, 4, 231-272. 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