Explaining organizational commitment and job satisfaction: the role of leadership and seniority

Effective leaders increase organizational success. The Leadership Efficacy Model suggests that leaders’ efficacy increases when leaders are perceived as congruent; that is, when employees perceive the leader to do (practical cycle of leadership) what s/he says will (conceptual cycle of leadership) and there is a close match between what employees expect from leaders and what leaders display. This recent theoretical framework also acknowledges that a number of factors can interfere with the relationship between leadership cycle congruence and leadership efficacy. Such antecedent factors include group members’ characteristics (e.g., organizational seniority). This study aimed to test the assumption that leadership cycles congruence positively predicts leadership efficacy (measured by organizational commitment and job satisfaction, and that this relationship is moderated by employees’ seniority. 318 employees (55% male, with an average seniority of 8 years) completed a questionnaire assessing leadership cycles, organizational commitment, and job satisfaction. Path analysis results showed that the higher leadership cycles congruence, the higher employees’ organizational commitment and job satisfaction. Furthermore, the relationship between leadership cycle congruence and organizational commitment was stronger for more senior members of the organization (but not for job satisfaction). The results highlight the importance of leaders act in a congruent manner with their ideas and of meeting employees’ needs. Moreover, it shows that senior members of the organization are particularly sensitive to leadership congruency.