Transformational leadership and employee turnover intention: The mediating role of affective commitment
World Journal of Entrepreneurship, Management and Sustainable Development
ISSN: 2042-5961
Article publication date: 11 July 2016
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of transformational leadership on employee turnover intention through the mediating role of affective commitment.
Design/methodology/approach
The study examines conceptual relationships in the Ghanaian context, based on structural equation modelling with maximum likelihood estimation, using sample employees from the private sector organizations. In addition, the mediation analysis is conducted with Sobel’s test and 95 per cent CI bootstrap analysis.
Findings
The study shows that affective commitment would decline workers’ quitting intention and serves to promote a degree of trust and willingness to follow their leaders’ philosophy, ideology, vision and guidance in the organization. Hence, affective commitment fully mediates the relationship between transformational leadership and employee turnover intention.
Practical implications
To help lessen employees quitting intentions, both middle and top-level managers should endeavour to create an atmosphere of trust, admiration, loyalty and respect for their employees.
Originality/value
Overall it is shown that affective commitment was the mechanism through which transformational leadership influences employees’ turnover intentions in the SLCs in Ghana.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
A previous version of this paper was presented at the Africa Academy of Management Conference on Managing Africa’s Future: Prospects and Challenges (2016), Nairobi, Kenya.
Declaration of Conflicting Interests: The authors declared no potential conflicts of interests with respect to the authorship and/or publication of this paper.
Citation
Gyensare, M.A., Anku-Tsede, O., Sanda, M.-A. and Okpoti, C.A. (2016), "Transformational leadership and employee turnover intention: The mediating role of affective commitment", World Journal of Entrepreneurship, Management and Sustainable Development, Vol. 12 No. 3, pp. 243-266. https://doi.org/10.1108/WJEMSD-02-2016-0008
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2016, Emerald Group Publishing Limited