The role of transformational leadership in citizenship behavior Organizational learning and interpersonal trust as mediators

• Published in: International journal of manpower Vol. 40; no. 7; pp. 1347 - 1360
• Main Authors: Kim, Eun-Jee, Park, Sunyoung
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Bradford Emerald Group Publishing Limited 07-10-2019
• Subjects: Altruism; Behavior; Employee behavior; Employees; Leadership; Management styles; Manufacturing; Organizational behavior; Organizational learning; Social exchange theory; Structural equation modeling; Studies; Transformational leadership; Trust; South Korea
• ISSN: 0143-7720; 1758-6577
• DOI: 10.1108/IJM-12-2018-0413

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the relationships among transformational leadership, organizational learning, interpersonal trust and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB).Design/methodology/approachThe authors collected data from the manufacturing sector in South Korea. A total of 208 responses were analyzed by employing the structural equation modeling method.FindingsThe findings showed that transformational leadership directly affected organizational learning, interpersonal trust and OCB; interpersonal trust positively and significantly influenced organizational learning and OCB; organizational learning had direct and significant effects on OCB; and organizational learning mediated the relationship between transformational leadership and OCB.Research limitations/implicationsThis study highlights the value of empirically establishing how employee citizenship behaviors are affected by transformational leadership as an integrative construct bringing together organizational learning and trust.Originality/valueThe study intends to encourage future research by assessing whether organizational learning and interpersonal trust mediates the link between leaders’ behavior and employees’ behavior.