The impact of leadership styles on organisational commitment

Abstract

This study examined leadership styles in an organisation in the gas industry and how the different leadership styles impact on employees‘ commitment to the organisation. Specifically, the study sought to determine the relationship between leadership styles and organisational commitment. Over the past decades, several studies examined the relationship between these concepts. In fact, extant literature suggested a strong correlation between leadership styles and organisational commitment in different sectors, without specific reference to the gas sector. Accordingly, this study focused on determining the leadership styles that leaders in the gas sector demonstrate to ensure organisational commitment. This study utilised a mixed methods approach. The instrument that was used for collecting quantitative data was developed by the modifying scales utilised by other authorities. It comprised of 21 items plotted on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from strongly agree to disagree strongly. The items focused on leadership styles. In contrast, the section for qualitative data comprised of 6 open-ended items. The instrument was e-mailed to participants via SurveyMonkey. A total of n=61 questionnaires were completed and returned via SurveyMonkey. In analysing the quantitative data, SPSS was utilised. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse the profiles of participants. A factor analysis involving principal component extraction and varimax rotation was performed, resulting in a 2-factor solution that relates to democratic and transformational leadership styles. The qualitative data were collected involving n=10 participants. Themes were developed from textual data and then analysed. The ‗describe-compare-relate‘ technique was utilised to present and report on the findings. The study found that there is a correlation between management leadership styles and organisational commitment by employees. As such, leadership styles directly influence the extent to which employees commit to their employer organisation. The study also found that management at Afrox apply the democratic and transformational leadership iv styles. The findings raise important insights as to which leadership style(s) management need to demonstrate and how management can optimise their leadership styles to benefit their organisation. Such an understanding should be applied to enhance job satisfaction and increase productivity. Based on the findings, directions for future research were proposed.