Effect of Leadership Styles on Organizational Citizenship Behaviour in Employees of Telecom Sector in Pakistan

AuthorSANIA ZAHRA MALIK, MAHEEN SALEEM AND RAMSHA NAEEM

Abstract. This study has been carried out to examine the relationship between leadership styles and organizational citizenship behaviour in telecom companies operating in Pakistan. The three popular styles of leadership including autocratic leadership style, democratic leadership style and Laissez faire leadership style have been observed and their relationship is explored with organizational citizenship behaviour in three major telecom companies of Pakistan. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis and ANOVA have been applied on the data collected from 72 leaders and 144 subordinates to test the hypotheses of the study. Statistical findings demonstrate that there is significant difference in leadership styles across telecom companies. The findings of the study indicate that there is strong positive relationship between leadership styles and organizational citizenship behaviour.

This study demonstrates that leadership styles significantly contribute to augment the organizational citizenship behaviour. Democratic leadership style stimulates more organizational citizenship behaviour among the employees. However, autocratic leader is unable to stimulate the feelings of helping others due to its task-oriented nature. Furthermore, Laissez faire leadership style has a very weak relationship with organizational citizenship behaviour.

Keywords: Leadership style, Organizational citizenship behaviour, Democratic leadership style, Autocratic leadership style, Laissez faire leadership style

  1. INTRODUCTION

    Today huge changes are taking place in every direction of socioeconomic context. Innovative leaders can make a difference in all sectors of the economy: public, private, education, business etc. Moreover, change has generated many opportunities. In order to avail such opportunities, adaptable, inventive and conscious leadership is required. Today, organizations need to have leaders who are enlightened and responsive towards bringing change in the organization. Moreover, success of the organization lies in the ability of leader to effectively manage stress and addressing the various needs of its subordinates (Darling and Heller, 2011). Today organizations around the world are increasingly concerned about the effective and sympathetic leadership. Every organization needs that leader who is capable of achieving organizational goals in an effective manner as well as empowering its followers (Khan et al., 2013).

    An effective leader builds good and long lasting relations with stakeholders (Al-Khasawneh and Futa, 2013).

    Leadership plays a vital role in the success of organization. Leaders are able to influence not only their followers but also firm’s performance (Darling and Heller, 2011; Sahaya, 2012). Leadership facilitates favourable change within the organization that influences “performance, development of particular skills, or a broader sense of personal growth” (Harper, 2012, p. 23). The area of leadership had gained the attention of numerous academic practitioners and scholars since the beginning of twentieth century (Al-Khasawneh and Futa, 2013; Euwema et al., 2007; Podsakoff et al., 2000). Leadership styles in organization received great attention in particular. Kamisan and King (2013, p. 107) define leadership as a “process in which individual persuades the group of individuals to achieve a common goal”.

    A number of studies have been conducted on the transactional and transformational classification of leadership styles (Bambale et al., 2011; Judge and Piccolo, 2004; Kamisan and King, 2013; Lee and Salleh, 2009; Saeed and Ahmad, 2012; Sahaya, 2012; Vigoda-Gadot, 2007). There is a need to explore the relationship among more leadership paradigms and Organizational Citizenship Behaviour (OCB) in order to identify the characteristics of effective leaders.

    The other construct of the present study is OCB which is a dynamic field of research. It is defined as a “discretionary and voluntary behaviour being followed by formal reward system” (Organ, 1988). Studying OCB is important because it contributes to greater productivity in organizations (Podsakoff and MacKenzie, 1997) and previous findings on the nature and antecedents of OCB. Employees who demonstrate higher OCB are more likely to be committed to their organizations (Organ, 1988; Podsakoff and MacKenzie, 1997; Sevi, 2010). Therefore, it is worthwhile for management to understand the existing leadership styles prevalent in organizations and how specific leadership styles augments the OCB level of subordinates.

    The following section presents a brief overview of existing literature on the three leadership styles and also the concept of OCB. The next section discusses the theoretical framework and the significance of this study. Next the method and statistical analyses are presented. Finally, the paper concludes with the discussion of findings, limitations and prospects of future study.

  2. LITERATURE REVIEW

    LEADERSHIP

    The complex phenomenon of leadership is an essential area of interest with universal appeal. Leadership has been defined by industrial-organizational psychologists, academic scholars and practitioners over the decades. The element which is common to almost all definitions is that leadership is a persuasive process that assists different groups of individuals towards goal attainment (Germain, 2012).

    The definition of leadership varies from person to person. Leader is defined as a person who holds a significant position in a group, persuades others regarding the job expectation of a position; and organizes and directs the group in sustaining itself and reaching its purpose (Doh et al., 2011). According to Al-Khasawneh and Futa (2013, p. 3), leadership is a “social process of influencing others to voluntary participate in achieving organizational goals”.

    The topic of leadership has been comprehensively studied by numerous researchers. Various leadership theories have appeared: the Great Man theory; Trait theory; Behavioural theory, Participative leadership theory, Situational leadership theory, Contingency theory, Transactional theory, Transformational theory etc. (Armandi et al., 2003; Bass and Bass, 2009; Kamisan and King, 2013). The two most noteworthy approaches include: Traits theory and Behavioural theory. According to traits theory, leaders are distinct from subordinates due to personality attributes, social characteristics and physical features. Any person born with attributes such as intelligence, confidence, idealism and determination has potential to become a leader (Kamisan and King, 2013). Furthermore, Behavioural theory distinguishes leaders and followers on the basis of behaviour patterns. According to this theory, any person can become leader through training and observation.

    Behavioural theory gathers the attention of Michigan research center, Bureau of Business research center and other scholars (Al-Khasawneh and Futa, 2013). After the emergence of Behavioural theory, Raus and Haita (2011) illustrate the development of three leadership styles which are: autocratic, Laissez faire and democratic.

    Autocratic Leadership Style. Autocratic leaders make decisions according to their own choices and are not willing to accept advice from their subordinates. These leaders set direction, goals and structure work. Leaders demonstrate all the procedures and methods to be accomplished by the group members. Group members are not usually allowed to contribute in significant matters and decisions because they are not considered trustworthy. Such leaders dominate interactions and are personally responsible for completing tasks (Euwema et al., 2007; Malos, 2012). Autocratic leaders inhibit helping behaviour of subordinates, thereby negatively associated with OCB (Bambale et al., 2011). Authoritarian leadership is very similar to Theory X. These leaders remain aloof from group discussion but elucidate tasks for group members. They have pessimistic and negative views regarding the performance of their subordinates. These leaders foster reliance, submissiveness and loss of individuality.

    However, these leaders are able to bring clarity in shorter period of time and efficient in motivating others to accomplish their work. It is appropriate style of leadership in case of emergencies (Northouse, 2011).

    Democratic Leadership Style. Democratic leadership is a kind of leadership in which group members are more contributive towards decision making and inculcate a team climate in which team members feel empowered to act. This leadership style is similar to Theory Y. These leaders do not use a top down approach of communication and keep subordinates at the same level. The literature review reveals that democratic leadership leads to high production, better outcomes, increased group enthusiasm, group cohesiveness, high commitment, OCB and better involvement from group members. However, it might take more time in getting commitment from subordinates (Al-Khasawneh and Futa, 2013; Cruz et al., 1999; Malos, 2012; Northouse, 2011).

    Laissez faire Leadership Style. Laissez faire leadership style is distinct from both Theory X and Theory Y. These leaders adopt hands off approach towards followers. Leaders tend to avoid sense of responsibility, are not qualified enough, lack leadership qualities and abilities to direct and make decisions, can’t motivate or influence followers, create communication gaps and lack any kind of leadership attributes (Sahaya, 2012). Laissez faire leader is extremely passive leading to lower self-empowerment of subordinates (Harper, 2012). These leaders do not make any attempt to motivate their subordinates. Hence, this leadership style leads to negative outcomes: more time in completion of work, frustration among subordinates, difficulty in finding meaning and direction of work etc. (Northouse, 2011).

    ORGANIZATIONAL CITIZENSHIP BEHAVIOUR

    Research findings indicate that OCB is essential for effective functioning of organization. The study...

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