Transformational leadership and organizational commitment: mediating role of leader-member exchange

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to propose and to test three models in order to examine the mechanisms through which dimensions of transformational leadership influence different forms of organizational commitment by testing the possible mediating role of leader-member exchange (LMX) dimensions.

Design/methodology/approach The participants in this study are represented by 427 senior executive French employees having a university degree and minimum two years of work experience in their current organization. The relationships between different variables were analyzed using structural equation modeling.

Findings The results indicate that the dimensions of LMX mediated the relationships between the dimensions of transformational leadership and organizational commitment dimensions. The contribution dimension of LMX acts as a consequence, rather than an antecedent of commitment. These findings are important since they may serve as a bind between leadership dimensions and the kind of organizational commitment that each of these dimensions can generate in followers.

Originality/value To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first empirical study that tests the interaction of transformational leadership and LMX on organizational commitment in a French context. The originality of this work leads on investigating these three concepts as multidimensional constructs and focusing on the mediating role of LMX in the relationship between dimensions of transformational leadership and different forms of organizational commitment which can be considered as a novelty in the field of research in this area. As a result, this study addresses concerns about that lack of academic research on the mechanisms by which transformational leaders influence the organizational commitment of their followers.