Entrepreneurial Leadership and Employee Satisfaction, and Commitment in Pakistani Firms: Mediatory Role of Climate, and Peer Support

Abstract

In this frequently changing and ambiguous business environment, leaders in organizations need to do something outstanding to make their organization competitive. Entrepreneurial leadership is significantly unique in its characteristics because of which leaders effectively manage challenges, recognize opportunities, delegate authority, influence subordinates, and create a favorable environment in the organization. With the consideration of these all aspects, this study examined the relationship between the characteristics of entrepreneurial leaders and employee performance component i.e. commitment and satisfaction. We propose a theoretical framework hypothesizing that entrepreneurial leaders promote a conducive organizational climate as well as supportive peers. And that would in turn increase commitment and satisfaction among the employees. The dimensions of entrepreneurial leader included: 1.beliefs and values, 2. Visionary leadership, 3. Creativity and innovativeness, 4. Pro-activeness, 5. Achievement-oriented, 6. Risk-taking, 7. Contextual factor, and 8. Opportunity seeking. Empirical validity was established by conducting a a survey using close-ended questionnaire. Data was collected from 77 leaders of various organizations and their 146 subordinates and analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis and structured equation modeling. Results revealed that beliefs and values, creativity and innovativeness, and visionary leadership of entrepreneurial leaders significantly impact on peer support, and on satisfaction level of employee (with mediating impact of peer support). Although with the same mediation effect, only creativity and innovativeness showed a significant impact on commitment. With the mediation impact of climate, only contextual factors significantly impact on employee satisfaction and contextual factor also impact significantly on climate of the organization. More importantly, supportive climate and peer support both significantly impact on employee commitment and satisfaction. This research concludes with new future directions for researchers.