Journal of
Managerial
Psychology
15,1
6
Journal of Managerial Psychology,
Vol. 15 No. 1, 2000, pp. 6-28.
# MCB University Press, 0268-3946
Received November 1998
Revised April 1999
Accepted June 1999
Organizational commitment: a
mediator of the relationships
of leadership behavior with job
satisfaction and performance
in a non-western country
Darwish A. Yousef
United Arab Emirates University, United Arab Emirates
Keywords Corporate culture, National cultures, Leadership, Performance, Job satisfaction,
United Arab Emirates
Abstract This article investigates the potential mediating role of organizational commitment in
the relationships of leadership behavior with the work outcomes of job satisfaction and job
performance in a non-western country where multiculturalism is a dominant feature of the
workforce. It also explores the moderating effects of national culture on the relationships of
leadership behavior with organizational commitment, job satisfaction and job performance in
such a setting. Results suggest (in support of many western studies) that those who perceive their
superiors as adopting consultative or participative leadership behavior are more committed to
their organizations, more satisfied with their jobs, and their performance is high. The results also
indicate that national culture moderates the relationship of leadership behavior with job
satisfaction.
Introduction
Organizational commitment has received substantial attention in past research
due to its significant impact on work attitudes such as job satisfaction,
performance, absenteeism, and turnover intentions. Organizational commitment
has been defined differently by different scholars depending on their
backgrounds. However, Mowday et al.'s (1979) definition has been adopted in
this study. This definition is widely used in the literature and it has been used
before in third-world studies (e.g. Al-Meer, 1989). They define organizational
commitment as the relative strength of the identification of the individual and
his involvement with his particular organization. According to this definition,
organizational commitment has three basic components: a strong belief in and
acceptance of the organization's goals and values (identification); a willingness
to exert a considerable effort on behalf of the organization (involvement); and a
strong intent or desire to remain with the organization (loyalty). A sizable
literature has looked into the relationships of organizational commitment with
leadership behavior, on the one hand, and of organizational commitment with
job satisfaction and performance, on the other, as well as of leadership behavior
with job satisfaction and performance (e.g. Savery, 1994; Zeffane, 1994; Wilson,
1995; Liou, 1995; Wong et al., 1995; Brett et al., 1995; Kalleberg and Marsden,
1995; Fletcher and Williams, 1996; Benkhoff, 1997a). However, the moderating
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