Impact of Transformational Leadership on Organizational Commitment: Evidence from Apparel Industries in Sri Lanka

Abstract

For a firm to reap a sustained competitive advantage in the market, highly committed individuals are needed. Organizational commitment is one of the salient factors to augment business performance. The past literature claims that an effective leadership style can evoke organizational commitment among employees in organizations. Further, due to the tremendous transformations and reforms in businesses, it is vitally important for researchers and practitioners to investigate the nexus between leadership style and organizational commitment. Therefore, the present study aims to investigate the impact of transformational leadership style on organizational commitment. With the aid of a purposive sampling technique, a total of 123 responses from two leading apparel firms in the Vavuniya district were garnered using various measures of a self-reported questionnaire. The findings of the study revealed that all components of transformational leadership viz, individualized consideration, intellectual stimulation, idealized influence, inspirational motivation have a significant impact on organizational commitment. Managerial implications are presented based on these results. The present becomes a springboard for future scholarly works.