Leader-follower relationships as a driver of employee commitment in South African small and medium enterprises

Abstract

The South African economy is experiencing a difficult economic period, characterised by low growth rates and high unemployment. The importance of Small and Medium Enterprises in unlocking economic growth and in creating the much-needed employment opportunities is widely advocated. Business practitioners and economist, however, note that the Small and Medium Enterprises in South Africa have been failing at high rates. This high rate of failure formed the motivation of this research with the aim of adding to our understanding of what can be done to ensure the success of the Small and Medium Enterprises. This research aimed to examine the extent to which followers’ commitment is influenced by how they perceive their relationships with their leaders. Understanding of follower commitment was considered an important area of study due to the link between commitment and organisational success. Leadership scholars are aligned in their thinking that one of the most important drivers of organisational success is employees who are committed to both their work tasks and the organisation. Furthermore, leadership research suggests that leader-follower relationships are a driver of follower commitment. Using the Leader-Member Exchange theory as the basis for the study, the aim of this research was to understand the influence of leader-follower relationships on follower commitment. To this end, the research unbundled leader-follower relationships into three latent constructs: perceived leader support, perceived relationship quality and perceived leadership characteristics. Follower commitment was unbundled into task engagement and organisational commitment. A quantitative study was conducted using the two study variables, which are leader-follower relationships and follower commitment. An online questionnaire was distributed to the target population which was made up of leader-followers who work in South African Small and Medium Enterprises. Leader-followers were defined as professionally qualified individuals, middle and senior managers. Responses received from 155 participants were used to test the hypotheses that were developed to test the relationship between leader-follower relationships and follower commitment. The analysis found a statistically significant and positive relationship between leader-follower relationships and follower commitment. The findings of the study empirically III support existing literature which suggests that a positive relationship exists between leader-follower relationships and follower commitment in small and medium enterprises. This study found that relationship quality has the most significant impact on follower commitment and leader characteristics have a higher influence on commitment compared to leader support. The findings of this study add to current literature and also offer opportunities for future studies to expand our current understanding of leadership and followership.