Transformational Leadership and Subordinate Organizational Commitment in Pakistan: The Complementary Role of Status In-congruence and Supervisor Gender

Purpose/Objective: Grounded in role congruity theory, we examine how status incongruence (when the subordinate is older, has more education, work experience, and/or organizational tenure than the supervisor) in subordinate–supervisor dyads affect transformational leaders’ ability to foster effective organizational commitment among their subordinates. We also examine how male and female transformational leaders are able to instill organizational commitment in their followers depending upon their gender. For this, we applied Triana et. al. (2017) framework, on Pakistani firms.

Methodology/Design: For the purpose of the research study 364 responses were collected using the survey method and five-point self-administrated questionnaire from the manufacturing firms of Karachi, Pakistan using a purposive sampling technique. PLS-SEM using SmartPLS version 3.2.8 has been used for data analysis.

Findings: The study concludes that transformational leadership has a significantly positive effect on organizational commitment. However, the moderating effect of gender was not found statistically significant between transformational leadership and organizational commitment; whereas the moderating effect of status, incongruence was found statistically significant and negative on the relationship between transformational leadership and organizational commitment.

Implications: If an organization promotes a team-building culture, it will motivate employees to work together and achieve more. This will help to increase their level of commitment and create a harmony of long-term work culture.