Inclusive leadership and change-oriented organizational citizenship behavior: Role of psychological safety

Abstract

Understanding the current business challenges, research has examined different leadership behaviors in relation with change-oriented organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) to enhance the ultimate competitive advantage and long-term success of the organizations. However, a comprehensive form of leadership that is more suitable in current challenges namely inclusive leadership (IL) has not been studied in this context. Addressing this important gap, current research examined IL in relationship with change-oriented OCB directly and via mediating role of psychological safety (PS). Data were collected from 296 supervisor-subordinate dyads within 78 work teams working in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across different industries in Pakistan. Using SPSS and AMOS, the results reveal the positive relationship between IL and change-oriented OCB. The results further confirm the mediating role of PS between IL and change-oriented OCB relationship. We utilized causal attribution theory to support our findings and their inferences; several implications for research and practice are also discussed.