Impact of Cognitive Reappraisal on Transformational Leadership Among Leaders of Contemporary Organizations in Pakistan

Transformational leadership is essential for enhancing organizational effectiveness and motivating employees in contemporary workplaces. Leaders in Pakistan face complex challenges that require not only strategic decision-making but also effective emotion regulation to maintain a positive work environment. Cognitive reappraisal, an adaptive emotion regulation strategy, enables leaders to reinterpret emotionally challenging situations constructively, potentially influencing their leadership behaviours. The present study examined the relationship between cognitive reappraisal and transformational leadership among 200 organizational leaders from diverse sectors in Pakistan, using a cross-sectional correlational design and purposive sampling. Cognitive reappraisal was measured with the cognitive reappraisal subscale of the emotion regulation questionnaire, and transformational leadership was assessed with the Transformational Leadership subscale of the multifactor leadership questionnaire. Pearson correlation analysis revealed a strong positive association between cognitive reappraisal and transformational leadership (r = .96, p < .01). Regression analysis indicated that cognitive reappraisal significantly predicted transformational leadership (B = 3.40, SE = 0.06, β = .96, p < .001, R² = .93). Gender comparisons showed that men scored higher than women on cognitive reappraisal (t(198) = 2.36, p = .01, d = 0.34), whereas no significant gender difference was observed in transformational leadership (t(198) = 1.58, p = .11, d = 0.22). These findings suggest that cognitive reappraisal is a critical psychological mechanism supporting transformational leadership among leaders in Pakistani organizations.