BACKGROUND
Employee retention has been studied by researchers in relation to many factors. Cost of losing talented employees in much higher than recruiting and training the new ones. Past studies have shown abundant research and importance of chosen variables in different relationships. This study is unique in terms of studying the mediating role of organizational citizenship behavior and moderating role of communication in the selected model.
OBJECTIVE
This study investigates the impact of transformational leadership on employee retention in SMEs. Furthermore, this study examines the mediating role of organizational citizenship behavior and the moderating role of communication.
METHODS
Based on random sampling, 505 employees from SMEs were selected to response the constructed questionnaire. Smart PLS structured equation model (PLS-SEM) was used to estimate the various relationships.
RESULTS
The findings of the study reveal that there is a positive and significant relationship in transformational leadership and organizational citizenship behavior. Similarly, this study found positive and significant relationship in organizational citizenship behavior and employee retention. In addition, organizational citizenship behavior had a positive mediating effect on the relationship between transformational leadership and employee retention. Furthermore, communication positively moderates transformational leadership, organizational citizenship employee retention relationships.
CONCLUSIONS
This study examines the mediation of organizational citizenship behavior and the moderation of communication which have been less studied in the literature. Findings revealed that transformational leadership and communication plays a significant role in relation of organizational citizenship behavior and employee retention. As such, management of SMEs need to pay particular attention to these variables, to retain employees for enhanced productivity and organizational growth.
The Impact of Authentic Leadership on Organizational Citizenship Behaviors: The Mediating Role of Affective‐ and Cognitive-Based Trust
