Perceived Relationship between Leadership Style and Organizational Commitment in the Poly Technique Colleges of Addis Ababa City Administration

Abstract

This study explored the relationship between leadership style and organizational commitment at Poly Technique Colleges of Addis Ababa, using a correlational research design. A total of 234 sample respondents were selected using availability and simple random sampling techniques. Data were gathered using two standardized questionnaires: Bass & Avolios’ (1995) Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) was used to measure leadership styles while Allen & Meyers’ (1990) Organizational Commitment Questionnaire (OCQ) was used to measure organizational commitment and analyzed with the help of descriptive and inferential statistics. The findings disclosed that transactional, transformational and laissez-faire leadership styles had positive and statistically significant relationship with the dimensions of organizational commitment. However, the relationship between laissez-faire leadership style and affective commitment was weak and negative. Finally, it was concluded that the low level of normative and continuance commitments and poor exercise of transformational leadership style might negatively affect the performance of the Poly Technique Colleges. The study indicated policy directions to improve the existing leadership style as related to employees’ commitment