Influence of leadership style on job satisfaction of NGO employee: The mediating role of psychological empowerment

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/pa.1983
• Date: 01 February 2020
• Published date: 01 February 2020
• Author: Asma Sarwar,Syed Jamal Shah,Peng Xiaobao,Mishal Mufti,Yuan Zhenqing

ACADEMIC PAPER

Influence of leadership style on job satisfaction of NGO

employee: The mediating role of psychological empowerment

Mishal Mufti

1

|Peng Xiaobao

1

|Syed Jamal Shah

2

|Asma Sarwar

1

|Yuan Zhenqing

1

1

School of Public Affairs, University of Science

and Technology of China, Hefei, China

2

School of Management, Harbin Institute of

Technology, Harbin, China

Correspondence

Mishal Mufti, School of Public affairs,

University of Science and Technology of China,

Hefei 230026, China.

Email: mishal.mufti90@gmail.com

The objective of this investigation is to analyze the impact of leadership styles on

frontline employee psychological empowerment, and thereby, improving the job

satisfaction level of employees. A questionnaire‐based survey was conducted in

nongovernmental organization (NGO) functioning in two major cities (Islamabad

and Peshawar) of Pakistan, analyzing a total sample size of 319. Structural equation

modeling results revealed that transformational leadership style has a significant

association with job satisfaction, and the effect is partially mediated by the psycho-

logical empowerment. Conversely, findings showed that the relationship between

transactional leadership and psychological empowerment was insignificant. Though,

there existed a direct positive relationship between transactional leadership and

job satisfaction. This research makes an important contribution in the area of

leadership, which can be useful for NGOs to recognize the importance of

leadership and encourage psychological empowerment of frontline employees. The

findings also provide significant implications for organizations to understand better

the importance of leadership, which will be helpful to enhance organizational

success.

1|INTRODUCTION

Due to significant growth in number, the NGOs in Pakistan are under

immense competitive pressures. To survive and progress in such

competitive environment, more than ever, these organizations want

to keep their employees to be contented and satisfied. Many studies

recommend the “perfect worker”is the one who is highly satisfied,

who has the will to go an extra mile to help the organization achieve

its goal (Aydogmus, Camgoz, Ergeneli, & Ekmekci, 2018). It has been

well established that satisfied personnel are more likely to be com-

mitted to their organization (Humborstad & Perry, 2011), have higher

level of job performance (Yang & Hwang, 2014), lower levels of turn-

over (Lu, Zhao, & While, 2019). Research on leadership identifies a

range of leadership styles and their possible influence on employee's

job satisfaction. However, in case of Pakistan‐based local NGOs, the

impact of leadership styles on frontline employees' job satisfaction is

poorly understood. Evidently, frontline employees in the NGO sector

are recruited based on contract that expires with the end of each

project. Thus, reshuffling and engagement in another new project

often requires them to learn different skills because as sector of pro-

jects frequently changes. This uncertainty is considered as one of the

major factor behind frontline employee's dissatisfaction with their

job. Moreover, there has been witnessed a substantial difference of

remuneration provided by local and multinational NGOs. Employees

often express displeasure over their salaries when they learn about

reputed organizations compensating more to the employees sharing

the same designation. Moreover, previous research suggests that

the tangible support plays an influential role in employee's satisfac-

tion and eventually job retention (Bonenberger, Aikins, Akweongo,

& Wyss, 2014; Currall, Towler, Judge, & Kohn, 2005). Considering

these irrefutable problems, the objective of the current study is to

identify which leadership style influence the psychological empower-

ment and job satisfaction among frontline employees of Pakistan‐

based local NGOs.

Research on leadership have shown that styles that have been

most commonly used are autocratic, bureaucratic, laissez‐faire,

charismatic, democratic, participative, situational, transactional, and

transformational leadership (Mosadegh, 2003), but out of all these

Received: 16 April 2019 Accepted: 9 May 2019

DOI: 10.1002/pa.1983

J Public Affairs. 2020;20:e1983.

https://doi.org/10.1002/pa.1983

© 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/pa 1of11