The relaTionship beTween leadership , Job saTisfacTion and organisaTional commiTmenT

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between leader empowerment behaviour, job satisfaction and organisational commitment for employees in selected organisations in South Africa. A cross-sectional survey design with a random sample (N = 209) was used. The Leader Empowering Behaviour Questionnaire (LEBQ), Revised Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire (MSQ) and Organisational Commitment Questionnaire (OCQ) were administered. The scales showed acceptable internal consistencies. Statistically significant relationships were found between leader empowering behaviour, job satisfaction and organisational commitment. Structural equation modelling indicated that leader empowerment behaviour predicted job satisfaction, which, in turn, predicted organisational commitment. MARIUS W STANDER School of Behavioural Sciences North-West University South Africa SEBASTIAAN ROTHMANN1,2 1School of Behavioural Sciences North-West University South Africa 2Department of Human Sciences University of Namibia Namibia Correspondence to: Sebastiaan Rothmann e-mail: ian@ianrothmann.com 7

Organisations, by necessity, have to adapt to changing circumstances (Van Tonder, 2005).Adaptive responses take the form of strategic repositioning, reorganisation, mergers, acquisitions and buy-outs.The re-design of organisational processes has also stimulated a need for employees to adapt their roles to these demands by embracing risk, stimulating innovation and coping with high levels of uncertainty (Spreitzer, 1995).The empowerment of employees is regarded as vital for organisational effectiveness (Bartram & Casimir, 2006).Increasing access to empowerment structures and organisational support must therefore become a priority for organisations to ensure that quality work environments are created (Patrick & Spence Laschinger, 2006).Organisations attempt to increase employee motivation through empowerment (Matthews, Diaz & Cole, 2002).Laschinger, Finegan, Shamain and Wilk (2004) state that empowerment may be one way of preventing job dissatisfaction.
Most definitions of empowerment refer to some aspects of power and control -control over decision-making, control over work processes, control over performance goals and measurement, and/or control over people (Appelbaum, Hebert & Leroux, 1999).According to Robinson (1997), the common thread through most definitions of empowerment is the concept of providing more information, more skills and more ability to make decisions on how to perform one's work.Menon (2001) conceptualised empowerment as an act, a process or a state.She classified empowerment into three broad categories, namely structural empowerment, motivational empowerment (psychological empowerment) and leadership empowerment.
Leadership empowerment focuses on the leader who energises his or her followers to act with the leader providing future vision.It is thus imperative for researchers to explore what it is that makes employees experience a sense of empowerment (Menon, 2001).According to Mok and Au-Yeung (2002), management support and encouragement, information, autonomy, rewards and opportunities for development are important elements of an organisational climate to enhance a sense of empowerment.They found that teamwork and leadership have the highest correlation with empowerment.Scott-Ladd, Travaglione and Marshall (2005) showed that participation in decision-making promotes job satisfaction and organisational commitment.Konczak, Stelly and Trusty (2000) found significant correlations with all the constructs of leader empowerment behaviour, job satisfaction and organisational commitment.
In this study, focus is on the leader's role to empower followers and on the impact of this on job satisfaction and organisational commitment.Carson and King (2005) are of the opinion that empowered work environments provide the starting point from which self-leadership can result in positive organisational outcomes.They regard empowerment and self-leadership as avenues to influence and improve direction and motivation within organisations.
It seems logical that there would be a link between leadership behaviour and employee attitudes (job satisfaction and organisational commitment) leading to organisational outcomes (less intention to leave and a lower turnover).However, a lack of research exists regarding the relationship between leader empowering behaviour, job satisfaction and organisational commitment in South African industries.(Koberg, Boss, Wayne, Jason & Goodman, 1999).Savery and Luks (2001) suggest that the level of employee involvement is directly linked to job satisfaction.Scott-Ladd et al. (2005) found that participation in decision-making promotes job satisfaction.
Empowerment may create the conditions necessary to build organisational commitment (Dee, Henkin & Duemer, 2003).Allen and Meyer (1996) define organisational commitment as the psychological link between the employee and the organisation that makes it less likely for an employee to want to leave voluntarily.A committed employee identifies with the organisation, makes personal sacrifices, performs beyond normal expectations, works selflessly and contributes to the organisation's overall effectiveness.Meyer, Allen and Smith (1993) distinguish between three dimensions of organisational commitment.Firstly, continuance commitment refers to an employee's behavioural orientation.It refers to the employee's general awareness of the costs associated with leaving the organisation, especially when the employee perceives a lack of a suitable alternative and/or when the personal costs of leaving are too high.The employee feels committed to stay but more out of desperation than anything else.Secondly, affective commitment refers to an employee's emotional attachment to, identification with and involvement in his or her workplace.Lastly, normative commitment, together with affective commitment, refers to an employee's attitudinal disposition (Meyer et al., 1993).Single and Pearson (2000) found only partial support for the relationship between perceptions of empowerment and organisational commitment.Menon (2001) found that the greater the empowerment, the greater the organisational commitment.Research by McDermott, Lashinger and Shamain (1996) indicates that empowerment for health professionals is associated with higher levels of commitment.Bordin et al. (2007) and Dee et al. (2003) found that empowerment has a significant positive effect on organisational commitment; they reported that meaning, self-determination, impact and total empowerment scores have positive effects on teachers' levels of commitment.Mester Visser, Roodt and Kellerman (2003) reported that transactional and transformational leadership correlate significantly with affective commitment.Nyhan (2000) suggests that empowerment leads to increased trust, which results in higher organisational commitment.
Transformational leadership has a positive association with organisational commitment (Lee, 2005).A transformation leader's consideration for followers' individuality and willingness to coach them do, in fact, create meaningful exchanges (Lee, 2005).Teams that are led by a supervisor who exhibits the characteristics of a super leader also have higher levels of organisational commitment (Elloy, 2005).Joiner and Bakalis (2006) report that strong co-worker and supervisor support contributes to affective commitment.Results by Greguras and Ford (2006) indicate a relationship between a subordinate's respect for a supervisor and commitment.Scott-Ladd et al. (2005) found that participation in decision-making promotes commitment.Konczak et al. (2000) found correlations between leader empowering behaviour and organisational commitment.
Based on the above-mentioned discussion, the following hypotheses are formulated: H1: There is a significant positive relationship between leader empowering behaviour, job satisfaction and organisational commitment.H2: Leader empowering behaviour predicts job satisfaction, which, in turn, predicts organisational commitment.

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The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between leader empowerment behaviour, job satisfaction and organisational commitment in selected organisations in South Africa.

Leadership empowerment behaviour
A leader plays a vital role in providing subordinates with empowering experiences (Liden, Sparrowe & Wayne, 2000).Arnold, Arad, Rhoades and Drasgow (2000) state that leadership in traditional environments may be, at most, only partially applicable in empowered environments.The leadership approach to empowerment focuses on the leader who energises his or her followers to act with the leader providing future vision (Menon, 2001).The delegation of authority, accountability for outcomes, leading by example, encouragement, the showing of concern, participative decision-making, information sharing, coaching and the development of people have been identified as leadership behaviours that empower people (Arnold et al., 2000;Conger & Kanungo, 1988).Bartram and Casimir (2006) found that transformational leadership has significant positive correlations with empowerment.A transformational leader is someone who inspires followers to transcend their own self-interests for the good of the organisation and who is capable of having an extraordinary effect on his or her followers.Transformational leaders involve followers in decision-making, develop their potential, encourage them, show consideration, allow their followers to think critically and appreciate their different needs (Avolio, Zhu, Koh & Bhatia, 2004).According to Wallach and Mueller (2006), transformational leaders can empower followers by providing positive emotional support and opportunities to experience task mastery.The work climate created by managers contributes directly to subordinates' feelings of self-worth and sense of self-determination (Deci, Connell & Ryan, 1989).
According to Blanchard, Carlos and Randolph (1999), people need direction much more than support in order to be empowered.A leader should identify outcomes, provide an action plan, share information, provide credible role models and provide information that allows employees to reach their own conclusions.The level of feedback from supervisors correlates strongly with employee's perception of organisational support (Patrick & Spence Laschinger, 2006).
The most important aspects that differentiate leadersubordinate relationships are the degree of emotional support, decision-making responsibility and task challenge granted to subordinates (Liden et al., 2000).When employees perceive that their supervisors support them, they are less likely to be concerned about making mistakes and having additional responsibilities (Bordin, Bartram & Casimir, 2007).

Relationship between leadership, job satisfaction and organisational commitment
Job satisfaction is the attitude that an employee has towards his or her job (Robbins, 2003).Job satisfaction is an affective reaction to a job that results from a person's comparison of outcomes with those that are desired, anticipated or deserved (Oshagbemi, 1999).According to Robbins (2003), factors that influence job satisfaction are the work itself, promotional opportunities, the abilities of the supervisors to provide emotional and technical support, the extent to which fellow workers are supportive, working conditions and the equitability of remuneration.
Appelbaum and Honeggar (1998) and Rad and Yarmohammadian (2006) showed that empowerment leads to increased job satisfaction.The survey by Menon (2001) also determined that the greater the empowerment, the higher the job satisfaction.These statements are supported by the research of Bordin et al. (2007) and Pearson and Moomaw (2005) when they state that higher job satisfaction is associated with a high degree of

Participants
The study population can be defined as random samples of employees in selected organisations in South Africa (N = 209).This sample consists of employees from the chemical and mining industry.The population includes workers from all levels, in other words ranging from unskilled to semi-skilled to professional levels.The lowest level of employees had a level of literacy that was adequate for the valid completion of the questionnaires.Descriptive information of the sample is given in Table 1.
As indicated in Table 1, the majority of employees (70%) was older than 30.More males (92%) than females (8%) participated in the research.The majority of employees (53%) had tertiary qualifications.Fourteen per cent were at management level, while 44% had more than 10 years of service, and 37% had less than five years of service.

Measuring instruments
Three measuring instruments were used in the empirical study: The Leader Empowering Behaviour Questionnaire (LEBQ) (Konczak et al., 2000) provides leaders with feedback on behaviour relevant to employee empowerment.The LEBQ consists of 17 items and is scaled from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree).This scale contains six dimensions: delegation of authority, e.g."My manager gives me the authority I need to make decisions that improve work processes and procedures"; accountability, e.g."My manager holds me accountable for performance and results"; self-directed decision-making, e.g."My manager encourages me to develop my own solutions to problems I encounter in my work"; information sharing, e.g."My manager shares information I need to ensure high-quality results"; skills development, e.g."My manager provides me with frequent opportunities to develop new skills"; and coaching, e.g."I am encouraged to try out new ideas even if there is a chance they may not succeed") (Konczak et al., 2000, p. 307).
Three items measure each construct, except for the construct of information sharing, which is measured by two items.Two items from Arnold et al. (2000, p. 269) were added to this dimension for the purposes of this study ("My manager explains his or her decisions and actions to my work group"; "My manager explains company goals to my work group").Stander and Rugg (2001) indicated that the construct validity of the questionnaire was acceptable.Konczak et al. (2000) found Cronbach alpha coefficients of 0.92 for delegation, 0.82 for accountability, 0.85 for self-directed decision-making, 0.93 for information sharing, 0.86 for skills development and 0.89 for coaching.Exploratory factor analysis was also conducted for leader empowering behaviour to verify the construct validity of the questionnaire.A simple principal components analysis was conducted on the 19 items of the LEBQ on the total sample.An analysis of eigenvalues (larger than 1) indicated that two factors (as opposed to the original six factors) could be extracted, explaining 69% of the total variance.The scree plot indicated that one factor could be extracted.The factor was labelled Leader Empowering Behaviour.
The revised 'Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire' (MSQ) (Weiss, Dawis, England & Lofquist, 1967) was used to indicate how satisfied or dissatisfied respondents are with their jobs by asking the respondents to rate themselves on 20 questions using a 5-point scale varying from 1 (very dissatisfied) to 5 (very satisfied).
The MSQ short form measures intrinsic job satisfaction using items such as "The chance to do different things from time to time" and extrinsic job satisfaction using items such as "The way my boss handles her or his workers".Hirschfeld (2000) found that a two-factor model is superior to a one-factor model (total job satisfaction).Alpha coefficients were found to range from 0.87 to 0.95, which supports the internal consistency of the scale (Hirschfeld, 2000).Research done by Konczak et al. (2000) indicates a Cronbach alpha coefficient of 0.85.Stander and Rugg (2001) find an alpha coefficient of 0.91.Both a one-factor model and a two-factor model of job satisfaction were tested for the purposes of this study.The two-factor model hypothesised that the MSQ consists of two factors, namely extrinsic and intrinsic job satisfaction.Comparison on the fit indices indicates that model 1 displays the best fit (although not a good fit).The statistically significant χ 2 = 761.06(df = 100; p = 0.00) and fit indices of model 1 revealed the best fit for the originally hypothesised two-factor model.From a practical perspective, values for the Goodness-of-Fit Index (GFI), Normed-Fit Index (NFI), Tucker-Lewis Index (TLI) and Comparative-Fit Index (CFI) above the 0.90 level indicate a satisfactory fit.The Root-Means-Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA) value (< 0.08 = reasonable fit) furthermore confirms the hypothesised model.This result supports other studies that found a two-structure (extrinsic and intrinsic job satisfaction) model (Hirschfeld, 2000).
The Organisational Commitment Questionnaire (OCQ) (Meyer et al., 1993) was used to measure the organisational commitment of employees.Continuance and affective and normative commitments are dimensions measured by this questionnaire.
The questionnaire consists of 18 items.Inter-correlations among populations were found to be consistently above 0.90 (Allen & Meyer, 1996).Stander and Rugg (2001) found an alpha coefficient of 0.86.An exploratory factor analysis was carried out on the OCQ.An analysis of eigenvalues (larger than 1) and scree plot indicated that three factors could be extracted, explaining 53% of the total variance.After the factors that had double loadings were eliminated, two factors were identified, namely attitudinal commitment (consisting of both affective and normative commitment) and continuance commitment.with affective commitment, refers to an employee's attitudinal disposition.

Research procedure
Fieldworkers 'distributed' hard copies of the questionnaires to the participants in the different organisations.The copies of the questionnaires were collected directly after they had been completed anonymously by the participants.The fieldworkers explained to the participants that the questionnaires would be treated confidentially.

Statistical analyses
Statistical analysis was carried out with the SPSS program (SPSS, 2006).Descriptive statistics were used to analyse the data.Cronbach alpha coefficients were used to determine the reliability of the measuring instruments (Clark & Watson, 1995).Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients were used to specify the relationship between the variables.In terms of statistical significance, it was decided to set the value at a 99% confidence interval level (p ≤ 0,01).Effect sizes (Steyn, 1999) were used, in addition to statistical significance, to determine the practical significance of correlation coefficients.A cut-off point of 0.30 (medium effect, Cohen, 1988) was set for the practical significance of correlation coefficients.Structural equation modelling, as implemented in AMOS (Arbuckle, 2006), was used to test the factorial model of the MSQ and to test the structural model of leader empowering behaviour, job satisfaction and organisational commitment.The following indices produced by AMOS were used in this study: the Chisquare statistic, which is the test of the absolute fit of the model, the GFI, the Adjusted Goodness-of-Fit Index (AGFI), the NFI, the CFI, the TLI and the RMSEA.

RESULTS
The descriptive statistics and Cronbach alpha coefficients of the measuring instruments are reported in Table 2. From Table 2, it is evident that the scores on the scales are normally distributed.
The internal consistencies of the constructs, with the exception of continuance commitment, are acceptable according to the guideline of 0.70 as set by Nunnally and Bernstein (1994).These results indicate a high reliability of the instruments, which is consistent with the findings of other research.Due to the low Cronbach alpha of continuance commitment, it was not used in further analysis.
The correlations between the LEBQ, MSQ and OCQ are reported in Table 3.
Table 3 shows that practically significant correlation coefficients of large effect were found between leader empowering behaviour and intrinsic and extrinsic job satisfaction.Practically significant correlation coefficients of medium effect were found between leader empowering behaviour and attitudinal commitment (both affective and normative).A practically significant correlation of medium effect was obtained between the extrinsic and intrinsic job satisfaction subscales and attitudinal commitment.This indicates that higher levels of job satisfaction are associated with higher levels of attitudinal commitment.Hypothesis 1, stating that there is a significant positive relationship between leader empowering behaviour, job satisfaction and organisational commitment, is supported by the results.
Subsequently, structural equation modelling, as implemented in AMOS (Arbuckle, 2006), was used to test a structural model of leader empowering behaviour, job satisfaction and organisational commitment.In Fig. 1, a path model was used to test the hypothesised relationships, where the latent variables included leader empowering behaviour and job satisfaction, with organisational commitment as the latent dependent variable.The hypothesis states that leader empowering behaviour predicts job satisfaction, which, in turn, predicts organisational commitment.
One of the three dimensions (namely, job satisfaction) was covered by at least two scales.For these dimensions, a latent variable was specified on which the corresponding scales loaded, separating random measurement error from true score variance.For leader empowerment behaviour and organisational commitment, there was only one indicator, meaning that, in these cases, there was one-to-one correspondence between the manifested variables (scales) and the underlying latent dimensions.Usually, no distinction is made in these cases between random error variance and true score variance, so that the correlations among these oneindicator latent variables and other latent variables may be biased (Little, Cunningham, Shahar & Widaman, 2002).This problem was overcome by means of a procedure proposed by Bagozzi and Heatherton (1994).Firstly, a one-factor model was fitted for all items belonging to each of the scales.
Secondly, separate indicators for each scale were formed by selecting items on the basis of their loadings, alternating items with high and low loadings.Thus, three parcels of items were created for leader empowerment behaviour, while two parcels of items were created for organisational commitment.
The results in Fig. 1 demonstrate that 87% of the variance of job satisfaction is explained by leader empowering behaviour.The path in Fig. 1 indicates that leader empowerment impacts on attitudinal commitment through job satisfaction.It can be stated that a leader's empowering behaviour impacts positively on employee attitude towards their jobs.This positive attitude leads to employee desire to maintain their relationship with the company.Based on the above results, the second hypothesis stating that leader empowering behaviour predicts job satisfaction, which, in turn, predicts organisational commitment, can be supported.

DISCUSSION
The objective of this study was to investigate the relationship of leader empowering behaviour, job satisfaction and organisational commitment.The results showed that statistically significant relationships exist between leader empowering behaviour, job satisfaction and organisational commitment.Structural equation modelling confirmed that leader empowering behaviour predicts job satisfaction, which, in turn, predicts organisational commitment.
Practically significant correlation coefficients of large effect were found between leader empowering behaviour and job satisfaction.According to Appelbaum and Honeggar (1998), a review of literature suggests that empowerment leads to increased job satisfaction.The survey by Menon (2001) determined that the greater the empowerment, the higher the job satisfaction.These statements are supported by the research of Bordin et al. (2007) and Pearson and Moomaw (2005) when they state that greater job satisfaction is associated with a high degree of empowerment.Savery and Luks (2001) suggest that level of employee involvement is directly linked to job satisfaction.Scott-Ladd et al. (2005) found that participation in decision-making promotes job satisfaction.
The results of this study support findings by Laschinger, Wong, McMahon and Kaufmann (1999), which state that access to information, support, resources and opportunity create the psychological state that employees must experience for managerial interventions to be successful.The structural model of leader empowering behaviour, job satisfaction and organisational commitment Practically significant correlation coefficients of medium effect were found between leader empowering behaviour and attitudinal commitment (both affective and normative).Konczak et al. (2000) found significant correlations between leader empowering behaviour, psychological empowerment and organisational commitment.Empowerment perceptions are also associated with increased job satisfaction and work effectiveness and with a decreased propensity to leave an organisation (Koberg et al., 1999).According to Joiner and Bakalis (2006), strong supervisor support contributes to affective commitment.Results by Greguras and Ford (2006) indicate a relationship between a subordinate's respect for a supervisor and commitment: they conclude that supervisory support uniquely influences affective organisational commitment.Scott-Ladd et al. (2005) found that participation in decisionmaking promotes commitment.Bordin et al. (2007) state that creating feelings of psychological empowerment may intensify organisational commitment.A higher level of commitment may lead to a willingness to stay with a company and, in the process, supports the retention of staff by an organisation.
The results indicated that leader empowering behaviour predicts job satisfaction, which, in turn, predicts organisational commitment.A leader's empowering behaviour impacts positively on employee attitude towards their jobs.This positive attitude leads to employee desire to maintain their relationships with the company.These results support Robbins' (2003) opinion that a person with a high level of job satisfaction holds positive attitudes towards the job, while a person who is dissatisfied with his or her job holds negative attitudes towards 12 the job.The results of this study underline the important role of leaders in creating positive attitudes towards jobs and their organisations.
This study had various limitations.Firstly, the sample size limits the generalisability of the results.Larger samples, a diversity of industries and an equal representation of races, organisational levels and genders should improve the value of the research.Secondly, reliance on self-reports, a lack of social desirability and the cross-sectional design may limit the conclusions.Cross-sectional design makes it difficult to prove causal relationships between constructs.Longitudinal research is needed to assess the issues of the strength and duration of the relationship between leader empowering behaviour and employee attitudes.

RECOmmENDATIONS
Organisations should create environments where people can optimise their potential and add value to the organisations.Leaders play a very important role in creating and maintaining these environments.Carson and King (2005) are of the opinion that empowered work environments provide the starting point from which self-leadership can result in positive organisational outcomes.Empowerment and self-leadership are avenues through which to influence and improve direction and motivation within organisations (Carson & King, 2005).
A key competence that managers should develop is that of people developer.To be able to be a good people developer, managers should be coached and developed themselves to delegate authority, hold employees accountable for outcomes, lead by example, encourage subordinates, show concern for others' feelings, allow participative decision-making, share information, and coach and mentor people.Bordin et al. (2007) mention that supervisors should be more communicative, more sensitive to the needs of subordinates, willing and empathetic listeners, and understanding and approachable.Managers should budget time for the development of their people.One way of ensuring that managers do this is to set people development as one of the performance criteria for every manager.If managers are rewarded for people development, they create an empowering culture.
The concept of leader empowering behaviour in the unique South African business environment should be explored further.Additional research should also be done on the validity of the LEBQ in South Africa.
The information obtained in this study can be of value when facilitating organisational development interventions, individual development, talent-management strategies and training programmes. .Empowerment perceptions are associated with increased job satisfaction and work productivity and with a decreased propensity to leave an organisation Vol. 7 No. 3 pp.7 -13 SA Tydskrif vir Menslikehulpbronbestuur SA Journal of Human Resource Management http://www.sajhrm.co.za empowerment

TABLE 1
Characteristics of the participants

TABLE 2
Descriptive statistics and cronbach alpha coefficients of the measuring instruments