Followers feel valued — When leaders' regulatory focus makes leaders exhibit behavior that fits followers' regulatory focus

•Leader regulatory focus leads to transformational versus transactional behavior.•Fit between leader and follower regulatory focus leads to followers feeling valued.•Transformationaltransactional behavior elicited leader–follower regulatory fit.

When do followers feel valued by their leader? We propose that leaders' regulatory focus can make followers feel valued when leaders' regulatory focus is the same as followers' regulatory focus, that is, when there is regulatory fit between leaders and followers. We further propose that the reason why this occurs is that leaders' regulatory focus impacts on their transformationaltransactional leadership, and these behavioral styles in turn also differentially fit followers' regulatory focus. Results from a group experiment supported these expectations. Followers felt valued by their leaders when the two parties' regulatory foci fit, and this effect resulted from leaders' transformational and transactional leadership behavior.