Abstract

This study examines the association between employees’ personality, organizational commitment, and perception of their leaders’ behavior and communication quality. Following this leading research scope, a literature review is conducted, describing different models of organizational commitment and its multi-factorial structure. Leadership is discussed within the framework of transformational, transactional, and avoidant leadership. Leadership and personality variables alike are considered potential predictors of organizational commitment, as it is assessed within this study both from the perspective of emotional and behavioral aspects. The empirical research followed a quantitative, correlative approach, utilizing a sample of n = 300 German business professionals from various fields and applying measures of emotional and behavioral commitment, perceived leadership communication quality, perceived leadership style (transformational, transactional, or avoidant), and employee personality were administered using an online survey. The statistical analyses followed a correlational approach to explain the interplay between the aspects of leadership, personality, and organizational commitment. Using multiple stepwise regression analyses, the study was able to show how both emotional and behavioral commitment are predicted by employee personality (conscientiousness for both measures, neuroticism additionally for emotional commitment), by the perception of a transformational leadership style, and by perceived leadership communication quality. Using these variables, a total of around 30% of the overall variance in both measures of organizational commitment could be explained. Thus, the critical function of leadership and leadership communication in organizational commitment may be demonstrated in conjunction with the role of employee personality. Additionally, the measure of emotional and behavioral commitment's criterion validity may be validated.