Researchers have been interested in investigating the role of leadership in stimulating employees’ performance for a significant period of time. Nowadays, it is possible to find a lot of research papers dedicated to the topic, and the article by Tan et al. (2019), “Antecedents of Organizational Citizenship Behavior and the Mediating Effect of Organization Commitment in the Hotel Industry” is one of them.
In their study, Tan et al. (2019) explored the effects of benevolent leadership on organizational commitment and organizational citizenship and how those effects are mediated by leaders’ emotional intelligence. The researchers focused on the hotel industry of Malaysia because the favorable effect of benevolent leadership can help local management practitioners to address such industry-related problems as excessive staff turnover by improving the working conditions of hotel workers. In the present paper, the contents and the main sections of the selected study will be discussed, and the implications of its findings will be identified.
Article Review
Research Objectives
The authors formulated several objectives that were determined by research gaps they found based on the results of a literature review. The first objective was “to examine the impact of emotional intelligence on benevolent leadership” (Tan et al., 2019, p. 123).
Benevolent leadership or, in other words, leadership that is accountable for subordinates’ needs and interests and aims to create favorable, positive, and supportive workplace environments, is considered to be a preferable management style and can potentially contribute to better organizational performance. Nevertheless, previous evidence on the factors and competencies contributing to benevolent leadership success was scarce. Thus, by focusing on the investigation of emotional intelligence as an antecedent of benevolent leadership, Tan et al. (2019) obtained an opportunity to expand current knowledge on leadership styles and their significance.
As for the second and the third study objectives, they were “to examine the interrelationship between benevolent leadership, organizational commitment, and organizational citizenship behavior” and “to examine the mediating effect of organizational commitment in the relationship between benevolent leadership and organizational citizenship behavior” (Tan et al., 2019, p. 123). As such, organizational citizenship implies workers’ voluntary behaviors aimed to benefit their firms, whereas organizational commitment is defined as one’s long-term desire to belong to their place of employment and a keen association with corporate values, mission, and vision (Tan et al., 2019).
Although the connection between the two types of behaviors seems to be logical, no previous research was carried out to verify the links between them. Thus, the selected study makes a unique contribution to the existing body of literature by providing empirical evidence on an intuitive assumption regarding the influence of organizational commitment on organizational citizenship.
Hypotheses
The study hypotheses are closely interrelated with the identified objectives and are developed based on the results of the literature review as well. Firstly, Tan et al. (2019) hypothesized that “emotional intelligence has a positive direct effect on benevolent leadership” (p. 126). The reason for such a suggestion is that emotional intelligence refers to one’s skill to control and use their own emotions and understand the emotions of others during interpersonal communication. At the same time, the essential duties of a leader involve regular interactions with employees, as well as the motivation of subordinates and the management of changes in their behaviors.
Thus, well-developed emotional intelligence can provide significant advantages for leaders since it not only helps to direct workers’ performance towards the desired organizational goals through carefully selected communication tactics but also allows choosing the right and most beneficial approach to leadership in general.
The second hypothesis in the study was as follows: “benevolent leadership has a positive direct effect on organizational commitment” (Tan et al., 2019, p. 126). Since the major features of benevolent leadership are accountability, individual consideration, empathy, and inspiration, those who adhere to such an approach have a greater opportunity to align organizational needs with the individual ones and, by maximizing employees’ well-being, stimulate their desire to stay in the company, which is a core component of organizational commitment.
Lastly, the other three hypotheses presumed that benevolent leadership is linked to organizational citizenship which, in turn, was hypothesized to be positively correlated with organizational commitment. Besides, Tan et al. (2019) suggested that the latter behavioral phenomenon could play a mediating role in the relationship between benevolent leadership and organizational citizenship.
These assumptions were in line with previous research findings discussed in the study. For instance, organizational citizenship was empirically proven to be one of the primary outcomes of benevolent leadership, whereas servant leadership was found to result in employees’ “extra-role behaviors” by targeting their affective or emotional commitment to the firm (Tan et al., 2019, p. 127). Thus, the formulated hypotheses may be viewed as logical and valid.
Research Methodology
The researchers employed a quantitative research methodology in the study. Firstly, when developing a sample, Tan et al. (2019) implemented the purposeful sampling technique. They focused on the population of five-star and four-star hotels located in Klang Valley, which allowed them to find participants that possessed the necessary characteristics and knowledge needed to answer the major research questions.
Overall, compared to random sampling, the chosen type of non-probability sampling interferes with the ability to generalize findings to the general population of interest. In addition, the fact that Tan et al. (2019) failed to reach the desired sample size of 300 and received merely 164 full responses could undermine the quality and generalizability of their study results as well. However, when collecting the data from the sample, Tan et al. (2019) used surveys that were developed based on standardized tools for measuring emotional intelligence, organizational commitment, and other variables involved in the study. This factor could increase the overall quality of the research process.
Results and Analysis
Before administering the analysis of collected data, the testing of hypotheses and study measures was carried out. For instance, as a result of one of such preliminary assessments, a few components from the constructs of emotional intelligence, organizational commitment, and citizenship were dropped out from the study since they did not meet the requirements for convergent validity (Tan et al., 2019).
Such manipulations allowed the researchers to increase the overall credibility and trustworthiness of the final findings by eliminating the items that were controversial and did not fit in the overall study framework. In the end, Tan et al. (2019) managed to verify only hypotheses 1, 2, and 4 by using structural equation modeling. Overall, direct impacts of emotional intelligence on benevolent leadership and of the latter on organizational commitment were found. In turn, the variable of organizational commitment was proven to have a significant direct impact on organizational citizenship.
Discussion and Implication
The mentioned results of the study demonstrated that it is essential for managers and leaders to develop their emotional intelligence and to strive to promote organizational commitment since both of them contribute to better employee performance and especially their engagement in extra-role behaviors or, organizational citizenship, in other words. The deliberate development of emotional intelligence or the hiring of those who already possess this competency can facilitate the adoption of benevolent leadership, which contributes to the promotion of desired behaviors in subordinates.
Tan et al. (2019) explained this finding from the perspective of social exchange theory, which suggests that “employees are willing to exchange their commitment for their leaders’ support” (p. 132). In line with this, the researchers recommended companies to improve HR practices, invest in leadership training, and develop good appraisal and reward systems since these practices can help to develop a supportive workplace environment for employees at different organizational levels and to motivate them to behave in a mutually beneficial manner. Overall, the study showed that leadership style and leader competencies play a pivotal role in the enhancement of the firm’s performance, as well as staff retention.
Conclusion
While the results obtained in the study can be viewed as credible to a large extent due to the rigorous nature of the analytical tools used, they had some limitations. For instance, when developing an instrument for measuring benevolent leadership, Tan et al. (2019) employed the paternalistic leadership questionnaire because no evidence-based tool for the assessment of the former exists nowadays. In this way, the validity of this construct could be compromised since it could be associated with some biases in the collected data.
Secondly, the utilization of the qualitative research design could provide the researchers with a greater insight into the problems of interest since such qualitative instruments as interviews allow getting more in-depth answers from study participants and identifying more unexpected connections among variables.
Moreover, Tan et al. (2019) noted that future research can focus on more than one determinant of benevolent leadership and, in this way, provide more practically significant evidence that could help to enhance employee well-being and organizational performance. Nevertheless, regardless of all these limitations, it is valid to conclude that the reviewed study made a valuable contribution to the existing body of knowledge on leadership and its effects. It investigated the relationships among phenomena that lacked empirical verification before.
Reference List
Tan, et al. (2019) ‘Antecedents of organizational citizenship behavior and the mediating effect of organization commitment in the hotel industry’, Asian Journal of Business Research, 9(2), pp. 121-139.