The Relationship between Leadership styles and organizational commitment in the healthcare sector

This study aimed to investigate the relationship between employees’ perceptions of their immediate supervisors’ leadership behaviors and different dimensions of organizational commitment. Bass & Avolio's (1997) Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ Form 5X) was used to measure leadership behaviors, and to measure organizational commitment, Meyer & Allen’s (1997) Organizational Commitment Questionnaire (OCQ) was used. Participants in the research included 378 of healthcare personnel who worked mainly as a nurse in Imam Khomeini hospital of Ahvaz city, Iran. The distributed questionnaires were completed and returned by 300 of selected sample (i.e. 79 percent). All three leadership styles (i.e. transformational, transactional, and Laissez-faire leadership) were considered as independent variables, and three components of commitment (affective, continuance, and normative commitment) considered as dependent variables. Pearson correlation coefficients were computed and revealed that positive correlation existed between organizational commitment of healthcare staff and transformational behaviors of their supervisors, as expected. However, unexpectedly there was a significant negative relationship between transactional behaviors of supervisors and organizational commitment of their subordinates. Laissez-faire style, as hypothesized had a negative relationship with followers' organizational commitment. The study concluded that contrary to transactional and Laissez-faire leadership, transformational leadership behaviors of supervisors in the mentioned-above hospital could enhance the organizational commitment of healthcare personnel

Keywords:

leadership behaviors , organizational commitment , transformational leadership transactional leadership , healthcare staff