The moderating effects of organizational culture on the relationships between leadership behaviour and organizational commitment and between organizational commitment and job satisfaction and performance

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the moderating effects of organizational culture on the relationships between leadership behaviour and organizational commitment and between organizational commitment and job satisfaction and performance in the Malaysian setting. Design/methodology/approach Data were gathered from 238 Malaysian UM MBA part‐time students and the researchers' working peers. Data on the respondents' organizational culture and leadership behaviours, and how they affect organizational commitment, job satisfaction and employee performance, were collected using the OCI, leadership behaviour questionnaire, ACS, single global rating for job satisfaction and overall performance questionnaire, respectively. Descriptive statistics were reported, followed by factor analysis, reliability analysis, Pearson correlation and hypotheses testing using hierarchical multiple regression. Findings Generally, and with a few exceptions, leadership behaviour was found to be significantly related to organizational commitment, and organizational culture played an important role in moderating this relationship. Organizational commitment was found to be significantly associated with job satisfaction, but not with employee performance. However, only supportive culture influenced the relationship between commitment and satisfaction. Possible causes and implications for managers are discussed. Originality/value The paper contributes to the existing pool of knowledge on the relationships between leadership behaviours, organizational culture, organizational commitment, job satisfaction and employee performance. Different aspects of these variables were tested, so as to provide a wider and more comprehensive understanding of the factors that affect organizations and employees.