Transformational leadership, pride in being a follower of the leader and organizational commitment

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship among transformational leadership, pride in being a follower of the leader, and organizational commitment, as represented by affective and normative commitment. Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected from two samples in Mainland China (Study 1 of 145 executive MBA students in one of the local universities located in Xian; Study 2 of 210 employees in a service-based private-owned company located in Shenzhen). Descriptive statistics and regression analyses, Sobel tests, and bootstrapping tests were used to analyze the data. Findings – Both studies found that transformational leadership is positively related to pride in being a follower of the leader, and affective and normative commitment. Results indicated that pride in being a follower of the leader fully mediated the relationship between transformational leadership, affective and normative commitment. Research limitations/implications – The main limitation of this study is to collect data from a self-reported single source in a cross-sectional survey design. The findings are susceptible to problems of common method variance of the independent variable, mediator and dependent variables. Practical implications – The findings assist managers to better understand the importance of getting the support of their followers. If the followers are pride in being a follower of their leader, they are more likely to be committed toward an organization. Originality/value – This paper contributes to the existing literature by which pride in being a follower of the leader as a mediator between transformational leadership and organizational commitment in the Chinese context.