The influence of leader’s communication style on the followers’ organizational commitment
The purpose of this study is to identify the relationship between leader’s communication style and the members’ organizational commitment focusing on the mediating and moderating factors. Specifically, we considered trust as the mediator of the relationship between communication style and organizational commitment. Also, the perception of leader’s ability was considered as the moderator of the relationship between communication style and trust of the leader. Survey results on the 350 officers in the Korean Army show that the leader’s communication style was significantly influencing on the organizational commitment of the men under his(her) command. Specifically, sociable communication style had positive effects on the level of organizational commitment, whereas dominant style influenced negatively. Also, the relationship between leader’s communication style and organizational commitment has been partially mediated by trust of the leader. Finally, the perception of leader’s ability has moderated the relationship between leader’s communication style and trust of the leader, such that the negative effect of dominant communication style on the trust level has been strengthened when their leader's ability is low than high. Comparably, the positive effect of sociable communication style on the trust level has been strengthened when the perception of leader’s ability is high than low. The implications and limitations of those empirical results was discussed.