Purpose
The purpose of this research was to examine the mediating roles of staff-level employee perceptions of corporate social responsibility (PCSR) and organizational identification in the relationship between transformational leadership and affective organizational commitment.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey was administered to staff-level employees of private sector companies through social media groups comprising members of the alumni associations of two universities in the northeast of America. A total of 218 responses were received, and the data were analyzed using a serial multiple mediator model.
Findings
The research indicates that transformational leadership helps staff-level employees perceive the organization as socially considerate, which in turn adds to their feelings of identification and commitment to the organization. Perceived corporate social responsibility and organizational identification do mediate the relationship between transformational leadership and affective organizational commitment. Leader development programs should consider emphasizing transformational leadership to achieve a win for both organizations and society.
Originality/value
This study adds empirical evidence to understand the linkage between transformational leadership and PCSR in staff-level employees. The research provides insight into how leaders can be responsive to stakeholder demands through transformational leadership, how PCSR is engendered at the staff-level, how staff-level employee PCSR contributes organizational value and how PSCR and organizational identification partly explain how transformational leadership effects affective organizational commitment.
K‐12 principals exhibiting authentic leadership and the benefits derived from teacher trust in the principal beg for attention in today's educational milieu. Authentic leadership scholars proposed a major conceptual framework, which linked authentic leadership to follower's attitudes and behaviors. The framework purported that authentic leadership leads to trust, yet is mediated through personal and organizational identification. The current study empirically tested these relationships within the context of principals and teachers in the K‐12 setting. The context is ideal because principals are increasingly called upon to create open, collaborative, and positive learning communities. Nineteen public and private schools in the state of Maryland participated in the study, with 398 teachers (77% response rate) responding. The results support a framework of principals exhibiting authentic leadership where personal identification is a mediator in the causal pathway from authentic leadership to teacher trust. The results do not substantiate the framework regarding organizational identification being a mediator in the same causal pathway. Educational leaders can view the study as prescriptive, thereby building overall trust in the often strained asymmetrical relationship between administrators and teachers.
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