Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-tn8tq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-06T08:23:03.820Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Linking leader power use and performance: The mediating role of follower satisfaction and commitment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 April 2019

Peter J. Reiley Open the ORCID record for Peter J. Reiley [Opens in a new window]  and
Rick R. Jacobs
Peter J. Reiley*
Affiliation:
United States Air Force Academy, HQ USAFA/DFBL, 2354 Fairchild Drive, Suite 6L-111, USAF Academy, CO 80840, USA
Rick R. Jacobs
Affiliation:
The Pennsylvania State University, 140 Moore Building, University Park, PA 16802, USA
*
*Corresponding author. Email: peter.reiley@usafa.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This study examined the intermediate role job satisfaction and organizational commitment play between leaders' perceived use of power and followers' performance. Based on a sample of 365 cadets at the U.S. Air Force Academy, this study found followers' job satisfaction and commitment mediated the positive relationships between their leaders' use of expert, referent, and reward power and the followers' organizational citizenship behavior. Further, while the use of legitimate or coercive power were both related negatively to followers' in-role job performance, these relationships were not mediated by the followers' job satisfaction or organizational commitment. This study then discusses the practical implications of these findings, highlights its theoretical contributions toward understanding power's direct and indirect relationships with performance in the leadership dynamic, and recommends future research avenues to leverage and build upon these findings.

Keywords

leadershippowerjob satisfactionorganizational commitmentperformanceorganizational citizenship behavior
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Management & Organization , Volume 28 , Issue 4 , July 2022 , pp. 733 - 753
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press and Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management 2019

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

This paper is an original work that has not been published previously and is not under consideration for publication elsewhere. All authors have read and approved the paper and have met the criteria for authorship. In line with the scope of this journal, this paper informs management research and practice by examining how followers’ job satisfaction and organizational commitment serve as mediating mechanisms that help explain the relationships between their leaders’ perceived use of power and the followers’ in-role and extra-role performance.

References

Ackfeldt, A. L., & Coote, L. V. (2005). A study of organizational citizenship behaviors in a retail setting. Journal of Business Research, 58(2), 151–159.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Adams, J. S. (1965). Inequity in social exchange. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 2, 267–299.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ajzen, I. (2002). Residual effects of past on later behavior: Habituation and reasoned action perspectives. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 6(2), 107–122.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ajzen, I., & Fishbein, M. (1980). Understanding attitudes and predicting social behavior. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.Google Scholar
Avolio, B. J. (2007). Promoting more integrative strategies for leadership theory-building. American Psychologist, 62(1), 25–33.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bachman, J. G. (1968). Faculty satisfaction and the Dean's influence: An organizational study of twelve liberal arts colleges. Journal of Applied Psychology, 52(1), 55–61.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bachman, J. G., Bowers, D. G., & Marcus, P. M. (1968). Bases of supervisory power: A comparative study in five organizational settings. In Tannenbaum, A. S. (Ed.), Control in organizations (pp. 229–238). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Bachman, J. G., Smith, C. G., & Slesinger, J. A. (1966). Control, performance, and job satisfaction: An analysis of structural and individual effects. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 4(2), 127–136.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barbuto, J. E. Jr. (2000). Influence triggers: A framework for understanding follower compliance. The Leadership Quarterly, 11(3), 365–387.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baron, B. M., & Kenny, D. A. (1986). The moderator-mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: Conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51(6), 1173–1182.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bass, B. (1960). Leadership, psychology, and organizational behavior. New York, NY: Harper.Google Scholar
Bateman, T. S., & Organ, D. W. (1983). Job satisfaction and the good soldier: The relationship between affect and employee “citizenship.” Academy of Management Journal, 26(4), 587–595.Google Scholar
Bennis, W. (2007). The challenges of leadership in the modern world: Introduction to the special issue. American Psychologist, 62(1), 2–5.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bolon, D. S. (1997). Organizational citizenship behavior among hospital employees: A multidimensional analysis involving job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Hospital & Health Services Administration, 42(2), 221–241.Google ScholarPubMed
Borman, W. C., & Motowidlo, S. J. (1993). Expanding the criterion domain to include elements of contextual performance. In Schmitt, N. & Borman, W. C. (Eds.), Personnel selection in organizations (pp. 71–98). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.Google Scholar
Brauer, M., & Bourhis, R. Y. (2006). Social power. European Journal of Social Psychology, 36(4), 601–616.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Budihardjo, A. (2017). The relationship between job satisfaction, affective commitment, organizational learning climate and corporate performance. GSTF Journal on Business Review (GBR), 2(4), 58–64.Google Scholar
Busch, P. (1980). The sales manager's bases of social power and influence upon the sales force. Journal of Marketing, 44(4), 91–101.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carson, P. P., Carson, K. D., & Roe, W. (1993). Social power bases: A meta-analytic examination of interrelationships and outcomes. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 23(14), 1150–1169.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cobb, A. T. (1980). Informal influence in the formal organization: Perceived sources of power among work unit peers. Academy of Management Journal, 23(1), 155–161.Google Scholar
Collinson, D., & Tourish, D. (2015). Teaching leadership critically: New directions for leadership pedagogy. Academy of Management Learning and Education, 14(4), 576–594.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eisenhower, D. D. (1954). Remarks at the annual conference of the society for personnel administration. In Peters, G. & Woolley, T. (Eds.), The American presidency project. Retrieved from http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=9884.Google Scholar
Elangovan, A. R., & Xie, J. L. (2000). Effects of perceived power of supervisor on subordinate work attitudes. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 21(6), 319–328.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Etzioni, A. (1975). A comparative analysis of complex organizations: On power, involvement, and their correlates. New York, NY: Free Press.Google Scholar
Faiz, N. (2013). Impact of manager's reward power and coercive power on employee's job satisfaction: A comparative study of public and private sector. International Journal of Management and Business Research, 3(4), 383–392.Google Scholar
Fiorelli, J. S. (1988). Power in work groups: Team member's perspectives. Human Relations, 41(1), 1–12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fishbein, M., & Ajzen, I. (2010). Predicting and changing behavior: The reasoned action approach. New York, NY: Taylor & Francis.Google Scholar
Fisher, C. D. (2003). Why do lay people believe that satisfaction and performance are correlated? Possible sources of a commonsense theory. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 24(6), 753–777.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Franklin, J. L. (1975). Power and commitment: An empirical assessment. Human Relations, 28(8), 737–753.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
French, J. R. P. Jr., & Raven, B. R. (1959). The bases of social power. In Cartwright, D. (Ed.), Studies in social power (pp. 150–167). Ann Arbor, MI: Institute for Social Research.Google Scholar
Gardner, J. W. (1993). On leadership. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster.Google ScholarPubMed
Gellatly, I. R., Meyer, J. P., & Luchak, A. A. (2006). Combined effects of the three commitment components on focal and discretionary behaviors: A test of Meyer and Herscovitch's propositions. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 69(2), 331–345.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gustafson, S. B., & Mumford, M. D. (1995). Personal style and person-environment fit: A pattern approach. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 46(2), 163–188.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hackman, J. R., & Oldham, G. R. (1975). Development of the job diagnostic survey. Journal of Applied Psychology, 60(2), 159–170.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hinkin, T. R., & Schriesheim, C. A. (1989). Development and application of new scales to measure the French and Raven (1959) bases of social power. Journal of Applied Psychology, 74(4), 561–567.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hofstede, G. (1980). Culture's consequences. London, UK: Sage.Google Scholar
Hunter, J. E., & Hunter, R. F. (1984). Validity and utility of alternate predictors of job performance. Psychological Bulletin, 96(1), 72–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jain, A. K., Giga, S. I., & Cooper, C. L. (2011). Social power as a means of increasing personal and organizational effectiveness: The mediating role of organizational citizenship behavior. Journal of Management & Organization, 17(3), 412–432.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnson, C. E., Wood, R., & Blinkhorn, S. F. (1988). Spuriouser and spuriouser: The use of ipsative personality tests. Journal of Occupational Psychology, 61(2), 153–162.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Judge, T. A., & Bono, J. E. (2001). Relationship of core self-evaluations traits – self-esteem, generalized self-efficacy, locus of control, and emotional stability – with job satisfaction and job performance: A meta-analysis. Journal of Applied Psychology, 86(1), 80–92.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Judge, T. A., Bono, J. E., Ilies, R., & Gerhardt, M. W. (2002). Personality and leadership: A qualitative and quantitative review. Journal of Applied Psychology, 87(4), 765–780.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Judge, T. A., Bono, J. E., Thoresen, C. J., & Patton, G. K. (2001). The job satisfaction-job performance relationship: A qualitative and quantitative review. Psychological Bulletin, 127(3), 376–407.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Junaimah, J., See, L. P., & Bashawir, A. G. (2015). Effect of manager's bases of power on employee's job satisfaction: An empirical study of satisfaction with supervision. International Journal of Economics, Commerce and Management, 3(2), 1–14.Google Scholar
Kelley, C. P., Dobbs, J. M., Lucas, J. W., & Lovaglia, M. J. (2017). Power and status: The building blocks of effective leadership. Journal of Character & Leadership Integration, 4(1), 55–76.Google Scholar
Kipnis, D., Schmidt, S. M., & Wilkinson, I. (1980). Intraorganizational influence tactics: Explorations in getting one's way. Journal of Applied Psychology, 65(4), 440–452.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kumar, N., Stern, N. L., & Anderson, J. C. (1993). Conducting interorganizational research using key informants. Academy of Management Journal, 36(6), 1633–1651.Google Scholar
Lee, K., & Allen, N. J. (2002). Organizational citizenship behavior and workplace deviance: The role of affect and cognitions. Journal of Applied Psychology, 87(1), 131–142.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Liao, L. (2008). Knowledge-sharing in R&D departments: A social power and social exchange theory perspective. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 19(10), 1881–1895.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Locke, E. A. (1976). The nature and causes of job satisfaction. In Dunnette, M. (Ed.), Handbook of industrial and organizational psychology (pp. 1297–1350). Chicago, IL: Rand McNally.Google Scholar
Lord, R. G. (1985). An information processing approach to social perceptions, leadership perceptions and behavioral measurement in organizational settings. In Staw, B. M. & Cummings, L. L. (Eds.), Research in organizational behavior (Vol. 7, pp. 85–128). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.Google Scholar
Lord, R. G., Foti, R. J., & De Vader, C. L. (1984). A test of leadership categorization theory: Internal structure, information processing, and leadership perceptions. Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, 34(3), 343–378.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MacKenzie, S. B., Podsakoff, P. M., & Rich, G. A. (2001). Transformational and transactional leadership and salesperson performance. Academy of Marketing Science Journal, 29(2), 115–134.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meade, A. W., & Craig, S. B. (2012). Identifying careless responses in survey data. Psychological Methods, 17(3), 437–455.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Meyer, J. P., & Allen, N. J. (1991). A three-component conceptualization of organizational commitment. Human Resource Management Review, 1(1), 61. doi:10.1016/1053-4822(91)90011-ZCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meyer, J. P., & Allen, N. J. (1997). Commitment in the workplace: Theory, research, and application. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meyer, J. P., Stanley, D. J., Herscovitch, L., & Topolnytsky, L. (2002). Affective, continuance, and normative commitment to the organization: A meta-analysis of antecedents, correlates, and consequences. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 61(1), 20–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mowday, R. T., Steers, R. M., & Porter, L. W. (1979). The measurement of organizational commitment. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 14(2), 224–247.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mossholder, K. W., Bennett, N., Kemery, E. R., & Wesolowski, M. A. (1998). Relationships between bases of power and work reactions: The mediational role of procedural justice. Journal of Management, 24(4), 533–552.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nunnally, J. C. Jr (1978). Psychometric theory, New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Offermann, L. R., Kennedy, J. K. Jr., & Wirtz, P. W. (1994). Implicit leadership theories: Content, structure and generalizability. Leadership Quarterly, 5(1), 43–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Organ, D. W. (1977). A reappraisal and reinterpretation of the satisfaction causes performance hypothesis. Academy of Management Review, 2(1), 46–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Organ, D. W. (1988a). Organizational citizenship behavior: The good soldier syndrome. Lexington, MA: Lexington Books.Google Scholar
Organ, D. W. (1988b). A restatement of the satisfaction-performance hypothesis. Journal of Management, 14(4), 547–557.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Organ, D. W., & Ryan, K. (1995). A meta-analytic review of attitudinal and dispositional predictors of organizational citizenship behavior. Personnel Psychology, 48(4), 775–802.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peabody, R. L. (1961). Perceptions of organizational authority: A comparative analysis. Administrative Science Quarterly, 6(4), 463–482.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pfeffer, J. (1992). Managing with power: Politics and influence in organizations. Boston, MA: Harvard Business Press.Google Scholar
Pierro, A., Raven, B. H., Amato, C., & Bélanger, J. J. (2013). Bases of social power, leadership styles, and organizational commitment. International Journal of Psychology, 48(6), 1122–1134.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Podsakoff, P. M., MacKenzie, S. B., Lee, J. Y., & Podsakoff, N. P. (2003). Common method biases in behavioral research: A critical review of the literature and recommended remedies. Journal of Applied Psychology, 88(5), 879–903.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Podsakoff, P. M., MacKenzie, S. B., Moorman, R. H., & Fetter, R. (1990). Transformational leader behaviors and their effects on followers' trust in leader, satisfaction, and organizational citizenship behaviors. The Leadership Quarterly, 1(2), 107–142.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Podsakoff, P. M., & Schriesheim, C. A. (1985). Field studies of French and Raven's bases of power critique, reanalysis, and suggestions for future research. Psychological Bulletin, 97, 387–411.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Preacher, K. J., & Hayes, A. F. (2004). SPSS and SAS procedures for estimating indirect effects in simple mediation models. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, & Computers, 36(4), 717–731.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Preacher, K. J., & Hayes, A. F. (2008). Asymptotic and resampling strategies for assessing and comparing indirect effects in multiple mediator models. Behavior Research Methods, 40(3), 879–891.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Price, J. L. (1997). Handbook of organizational measurement. International Journal of Manpower, 18(4/5/6), 305–558.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rahim, M. A. (1988). The development of a leader power inventory. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 23(4), 491–503.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rahim, M. A. (1989). Relationships of leader power to compliance and satisfaction with supervision: Evidence from a national sample of managers. Journal of Management, 15(4), 545–556.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rahim, M. A. (2009). Bases of leader power and effectiveness. In Tjosvold, D., & Wisse, B. (Eds.), Power and interdependence in organizations (pp. 224–243). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rahim, M. A., & Afza, M. (1993). Leader power, commitment, satisfaction, compliance, and propensity to leave a job among US accountants. The Journal of Social Psychology, 133(5), 611–625.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rahim, M. A., Antonioni, D., Krumov, K., & Illieva, S. (2000). Power, conflict, and effectiveness: A cross-cultural study in the United States and Bulgaria. European Psychologist, 5(10), 28–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rahim, M. A., Antonioni, D., & Psenicka, C. (2001). A structural equations model of leader power, subordinates' styles of handling conflict, and job performance. International Journal of Conflict Management, 12(3), 191–211.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rahim, M. A., & Psenicka, C. (1996). Bases of leader power, workgroup commitment, and conflict: A structural equations model. In Rahim, M. A., Golembiewski, R. T., & Lundberg, C. C. (Eds.), Current topics in management (Vol. l, pp. 31–47). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.Google Scholar
Raymer, S., Kelley, C. P., & Laney, M. (2017). Alignment through technology: How leaders can use organizational structure to create a culture of empowerment. In Watola, D. & MacIntyre, A. (Eds.), The impact of technology on leadership (pp. 149–164). Kingston, Ontario, Canada: Canadian Defence Academy Press.Google Scholar
Raven, B. H. (2017). The comparative analysis of power and power preference. In Social power and political influence (pp. 172–198). New York, NY: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Riketta, M. (2002). Attitudinal organizational commitment and job performance: A meta-analysis. Journal of Organizational Commitment, 23(3), 257–266.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reiley, P. J., & Jacobs, R. R. (2016). Ethics matter: Moderating leaders' power use and followers' citizenship behaviors. Journal of Business Ethics, 134(1), 69–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reiley, P. J., & Kelley, C. P., & Soboroff, S. D. (2018). Military leadership and the effective use of power and influence. In Watola, D. & MacIntyre, A. (Eds.), From knowing to doing: International perspectives on leading effectively (pp. 33–58). Kingston, Ontario, Canada: Canadian Defence Academy Press.Google Scholar
Schriesheim, C. A., Hinkin, T. R., & Podsakoff, P. M. (1991). Can ipsative and single-item measures produce erroneous results in field studies of French and Raven's (1959) five bases of power? An empirical investigation. Journal of Applied Psychology, 76(1), 106–114.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shukla, R. K. (1982). Influence of power bases in organizational decision making: A contingency model. Decision Sciences, 13(3), 450–470.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sobel, M. E. (1982). Asymptotic intervals for indirect effects in structural equations models. In Leinhart, S. (Ed.), Sociological methodology (pp. 290–312). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.Google Scholar
Student, K. R. (1968). Supervisory influence and work-group performance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 52(3), 188–194.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sturm, R. E., & Antonakis, J. (2015). Interpersonal power a review, critique, and research agenda. Journal of Management, 41(1), 136–163.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williams, L. J., & Anderson, S. E. (1991). Job satisfaction and organizational commitment as predictors of organizational citizenship and in-role behaviors. Journal of Management, 17(3), 601–617.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wood, J. (2014). Fight the power: Comparing and evaluating two measures of French and Raven's bases of social power. Current Research in Social Psychology, 21(10), 37–49.Google Scholar
Wong, L., Bliese, P., & McGurk, D. (2003). Military leadership: A context specific review. The Leadership Quarterly, 14(6), 657–692.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wright, T. A., & Bonett, D. G. (2002). The moderating effects of employee tenure on the relation between organizational commitment and job performance: A meta-analysis. Journal of Applied Psychology, 87(6), 1183–1190.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Yukl, G. A. (2005). Leadership in organizations (6th ed.). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.Google Scholar
Yukl, G. A., & Falbe, C. M. (1991). Importance of different power sources in downward and lateral relations. Journal of Applied Psychology, 76(3), 416–423.CrossRefGoogle Scholar