Immediate Supervisors’ Leadership Behaviour and Employees’ Organizational Commitment: Do Pay and Promotion Mediate the Nexus?

Abstract

This study examines the mediating effect of motivational factors of pay and promotion on transformational leadership and organizational commitment relationship in Unilever Ghana using a quantitative, non-experimental, cross-sectional and analytical survey design study. The results of the study revealed significant positive relationship between transformational leadership style and affective commitment, continuance commitment, and normative commitment. However, the results of the study revealed no significant mediation of pay in the relationship between transformational leadership style and affective commitment, continuance commitment, and normative commitment. Additionally, no significant mediation of promotion was found in the relationship between transformational leadership and affective commitment, transformational leadership and continuance commitment, and transformational leadership and normative commitment. Managers’ adoption of transformational leadership behavior as a key strategy to get employees committed to the organizations will be of great significance because motivational factors such as pay and promotion do not mediate the transformational leadership and organizational commitment relationship. This is a maiden empirical research in Ghana where motivational factors are used as mediators in transformational leadership and organizational commitment relationship.