The effect of the work meaning on organizational commitment The moderating effect of transformational leadership

Abstract

The study was designed to investigate the effects of employees’ work meaning on organizational commitment and the moderating effect of transformational leadership on the relationship between work meaning and organizational commitment. Data were collected from 1,000 employees via online survey. Results of hierarchical regression analyses showed that work meaning explained an additional 26.1% of variance in organizational commitment with controlling demographic variables. Also among three factors of work meaning, self-actualization was the most important factor in explaining organizational commitment, and was followed by making a living and social relationships in order. Transformational leadership was found to play a moderating role on the relationship between self-actualization work meaning and organizational commitment. The higher transformational leadership of leaders was, the stronger relationship between self-actualization and organizational commitment was. This study showed that organizational commitment is influenced by work meaning and leadership style, and interactions of the two variables. Finally, the implications and limitations of this study and suggestions for the future research were discussed.