The Moderating Effect of Leader-Member Relationship on Introverted and Extroverted Personality Traits of Leaders and Organizational Citizenship Behavior of Followers: An Empirical Study of IT Industry in Sri Lanka

Abstract

This study focuses on investigating the relationship between personality and leadership supports the claim that individual differences may be the predictors of leadership effectiveness in contemporary organizations. Extended studies stress that ‘Big-Five ‘personality dimensions are related to leadership criteria and further identified introversion-extroversion as a key element of an individual personality. In general, the main differences between effective and less effective leaders are that, effective leaders make positive differences to themselves from their personality traits and the relationship building with followers. However, relatively few studies have tested how and why introvert and extrovert leaders’ personality traits relate to follower behaviors. In addition, if so; the mechanisms through which a leader’s personality traits relate to follower behaviors. Accordingly, the aims of the present study are to examine whether the introverted and extroverted personality traits of leaders affect the organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) of followers and to examine the role of leader-member relationship as a moderator, in social exchange process. To advance the understanding of these, simple regression analysis and regression analysis with moderator effects were performed to test hypotheses with a sample size of 46 introvert managers and 50 extrovert managers as leaders and 92 and 100 subordinates as their followers respectively from IT industry in Sri Lanka. The study found that there is a positive direct effect of introverted personality traits of leaders and no negative direct effect of extroverted personality traits of leaders on organizational citizenship behavior of followers. Yet, leader-member relationship moderates the positive and negative relationships between introverted, extroverted personality traits of leaders and organizational citizenship behavior of followers. Present study makes several theoretical contributions to path-goal theory of leadership with the support from theory of trait leadership and big five model. Further, managerial contributions of the present study make IT firms successful through better selection of leaders based on personality traits which facilitates organizational citizenship behavior.KeywordsIntroverted personality traits, extroverted personality traits, OCB, Leader-member relationship, IT industry in Sri Lanka

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“…According to Andrade (2022), women may perceive themselves as possessing lower levels of competence in leadership positions when leadership is closely linked with predominantly masculine attributes. Moreover, it has been observed that the leader-member relationship and organizational citizenship behavior of followers can be impacted by the introverted and extroverted personality traits exhibited by leaders (Niranga & Dharmadasa, 2019). According to Niranga and Dharmadasa (2019), leader personality traits play a crucial role in elucidating a substantial proportion of the variability observed in leadership effectiveness.…”

“…Moreover, it has been observed that the leader-member relationship and organizational citizenship behavior of followers can be impacted by the introverted and extroverted personality traits exhibited by leaders (Niranga & Dharmadasa, 2019). According to Niranga and Dharmadasa (2019), leader personality traits play a crucial role in elucidating a substantial proportion of the variability observed in leadership effectiveness. In summary, personality traits have a significant impact on the effectiveness of leadership, as certain traits are closely linked to both the emergence and effectiveness of leaders (Gkintoni & Dimakos, 2022).…”

Leadership styles and organizational citizenship behavior: a review of literature

“…Others, for example, Nugraha (2021), Asgari, Mezgineiad and Taherpour (2020), Saira, Mansoor, Ali (2021), Nasar and Arar (2019),Dartey-Baah, K., & Addo, S. A. ( 2019), Arar and Abu Nasar (2019), Niranga and Dharmadasa(2019), Lian andTui (2012),Nurjanah, pebianti andHandaru(2020) analyzed the relationship between leadership styles and OCB with the intervening variables.…”