Effect of Inclusive Leadership on Organizational Citizenship Behavior in the Military Organization: The Mediating Effect of Psychological Safety and Moderating Effect of Tenure

Abstract

Organizational members increasingly value individuality and diversity, and prioritize individual values over collective values. Accordingly, there is an increasing needs for leadership that promotes the implementation of desired performance and behavior among members by encouraging a sense of belonging to the organization while accommodating the individuality of members and diversity. Based on the social information processing theory, this study empirically tested the mechanism of inclusive leadership on the organizational citizenship behavior of members through psychological safety. In addition, the moderating effect of tenure on the relationship between inclusive leadership and psychological safety was examined. As a result of analyzing the questionnaire data obtained through online targeting military officers, it was confirmed that there is a positive relationship between inclusive leadership, psychological safety, and organizational citizenship behavior. In addition, the mediating effect of psychological safety in the relationship between inclusive leadership and organizational citizenship behavior was significant. On the other hand, the moderating effect of tenure in the relationship between inclusive leadership and psychological safety was significant. In other words, the effect of inclusive leadership on psychological safety was stronger for the shorter tenure than the longer tenure. This study partially covered the gap in related research by examining the mechanism which inclusive leadership influences organizational citizenship behavior through psychological safety. In addition, by expanding the scope of insufficient research on the boundary conditions (tenure) that inclusive leadership affects psychological safety, we hope that it not only contributes to the expansion of inclusive leadership theory, but also it will be able to help leader's choice of targets for inclusiveness in practice.