Leader's communication style, LMX and organizational commitment: a study of employee perceptions in Peru Articles uri icon

publication date

  • April 2019

start page

  • 230

end page

  • 258

issue

  • 2

volume

  • 40

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

  • 0143-7739

Electronic International Standard Serial Number (EISSN)

  • 1472-5347

abstract

  • The purpose of this paper is to analyse the impact of a leader's communication style (LCS) on the quality of interpersonal exchanges between leaders and followers (LMX), and how this translates into the employee's affective organizational commitment (AOC), in the context of Peru. Design/methodology/approach: An integrated model of six dimensions is used to measure LCS. Using multiple hierarchical regressions and the Preacher and Hayes mediation model, the study focuses on determining the direct and indirect effect of each of the dimensions on LMX and organizationalcommitment. Findings: The dimension preciseness shows a significant direct association to AOC. Four dimensions are significantly related with LMX: expressiveness, preciseness and questioningness with a positive sign, while verbal aggressiveness records an important negative one. The same four dimensions show an indirect effect on AOC through LMX. Emotionality and impression manipulativeness do not record significant results. Research limitations/implications - The research was carried out with a sample of 253 white-collar Peruvian professionals with high-level studies and managerial experience, which are not necessarily representative of the labor population. This research provides comprehensive evidence on how leaders' communicative behavior may contribute to desirable outcomes such as employee commitment in a Latin American cultural context, although the findings may apply to other cultures. Practical implications - This study contributes to clarify that each dimension of the LCS impacts differently on subordinate perceptions; leaders should understand this model and be able to make the necessary adjustments to their communication inorder to obtain the desired results of leadership. The leader's ability to communicate with a stylecharacterized by expressiveness, precision, and questioning makes it easy to build high-quality LMXrelationships for Peruvian employees.

keywords

  • peru; national culture; leader-member exchange (lmx); affective organizational commitment; organizational communication; leader's communication style