The Effects of
Organizational Culture on
Work Outcomes through
Leadership Styles.
MICHELLE LEE
SUNWAY UNIVERSITY
MOHD AWANF IDRIS
UNIVERSITY MALAYA
Focus of the Study
 Examine
the fit between
organizational culture to direct
leadership style on employees’
outcome, specifically the Asian
context.
Definitions & Variables

Organizational culture as ‘the shared beliefs,
perceptions, and expectations of individuals in
organizations.’ (Boan, 2006)

Hierarchical organizational culture implies a very
top-bottom hierarchy system whereby

authority is valued and cherished

Very systematic procedure

Not being questioned or voice out.
(Cameron & Quinn, 1999)


Transformational leadership style

Intellectual stimulation,

Individualized consideration,

Inspirational motivation

Idealized influenced
Transactional leadership style which includes

Contingent reward,

Active and passive management by exception and

Laissez-faire leadership.
(Bass, 1985)
Thus Far…

Different organizational culture used different leadership
style (Giritli, Oney-Yazici, Topcu-Oraz, &Acar, 2013)

3 types leadership, which are,

Strategic leadership, ones create the vision of the organization
(CEO, COO, CFO)

Organizational leadership higher managerial posts (GM,
marketing manager, regional manager)

Direct leadership who execute the plans to make sure they
are effective
(National Defense University, 2012)

Strategic leadership is often = organizational culture
(Giberson et al., 2009),

Organizational culture, organizational climate and
leadership style: Fundamental building blocks for
explaining & analysing organization phenomena (Schein,
2000); extension of knowledge on organizational behaviour
literature (Ashkanasy, 2003; Ashkanasy, & Jackson, 2001;
Cooper, Cartwright, & Earley, 2001).

Transformational often obtain a favorable outcomes
than transactional leadership. TFL higher LeaderMember relationship (Wang, Law, Hackett, Wang, &
Chen, 2005).

Southeast Asian managers to be more directive and
more transactional (Gill, 1998)

Malaysian workplace: Collectivistic, relationship
oriented, & hierarchical. (Abdullah, 1994)

Issue: Horizontal-individualistic context (e.g. Western)
than in vertical-collectivistic (eg. Asian) contexts
(Rockstuhl, Shore, Ang, & Dulebohn, 2013).

Weese (1996) found organizational culture as an
effect towards organizational effectiveness rather
than leadership style

Giritli, Oney-Yazici, Topcu-Oraz, and Acar (2013) also
confirmed the presence of organizational culture in
determining the appropriate leadership styles to
practice within organization.
Gap of the Study

Upper levels factors (organizational climate,
organizational culture, leadership style) were not
well researched in the Asian context (Ojo, 2012).

The importance of leader-culture fit framework in
work outcomes (Nieminen, Biermeier-Hanson,
Denison, 2013; Sackmann, 2011)

Giberson et al., (2009)


:Strategic leadership is often = organizational
culture

:Most researches place focus on organizational
leadership, with least on direct leadership
Direct leadership has the most direct effect on
employees (Hogan, Curphy, & Hogan, 1994).
Theoretical Approach

Social Information Processing Theory (Salancik &
Pfefer, 1978): Environment on behavior

Group Effect(Schulte, Ostroff, & Kinicky, 2006) :
Group members on attributes & perception

Interactionalism (Mischel’s, 1977)
Level 2
Level 1
H3
H1
Hierarchical
Organizational
Culture
H2
Job
Performance
Direct
Transformational
Leadership
Direct
Transactional
Leadership
Work
Productivity
Job
Satisfaction
H4: Mediation Effects
Method

Participants

256 participants, of 41 teams
(male:46%; female:54%) Malaysia

Instruments

Organizational Culture (OCAI, Cameron & Quinn,
1999); Transformational and Transactional Leadership
(MLQ, Bass & Avolio, 1990); Job Performance
(Hochwarter et al, 2006); Work Productivity (HPQ,
(Kessler et al., 2003), Job Satisfaction (COPSOQ, 2003)

Procedure

Analyses

Rwg, ICC, HLM, Monte Carlo test
Table 1 Means, standard deviations, reliability, and Pearson bivariate correlations
Variables
Mean
S.D.
α
No. Items
1
1. Hierarchy Culture
26.31
5.18
0.66
6
1
2. Transformational Leadership
35.49
4.23
0.95
12
-0.18**
3. Transactional Leadership
14.56
1.93
0.87
5
-0.2**
4. Job Performance
22.38
3.15
0.86
6
-0.18**
5. Productivity
21.99
3.64
0.78
4
-0.15*
6. Job Satisfaction
15.20
5.04
0.77
4
-0.19**
Note. * p < .05, ** p < .01, *** p < 0.001. N=256, team = 41
2
3
4
5
6
1
.86**
.31**
.32**
.45**
1
.30**
.29**
.39**
1
.44**
.28**
1
.31**
1
Level 2
Level 1
β=-.29
Hierarchical
Organizational
Culture
β=-.13***
Direct
Transformational
Leadership
β=.11***
Job
Performance
β=.14***
β=.25***
Direct
Transactional
Leadership
β=.30***
Work
Productivity
β=.09***
β=.19***
Job
Satisfaction
Level 1
Level 2
β=-.14*
Hierarchical
Organizational
Culture
β=-.19*
β=-.07
Job
Performance
Work
Productivity
Job
Satisfaction
Level 2
Hierarchical
Organizational
Culture
95% CI, LL= -0.0749, UL= 0.0004
Direct
Transformational
Leadership
Level 1
β=.11***
Job
Performance
Direct
Transactional
Leadership
β=.25***
95% CI, LL= -0.0727, UL= -0.0028
Level 2
Hierarchical
Organizational
Culture
95% CI, LL = -0.091, UL= 0.0000
Direct
Transformational
Leadership
Level 1
β=.14***
Work
Productivity
Direct
Transactional
Leadership
β=.30***
95% CI, LL= -0.0812, UL= -0.0042
Level 2
Hierarchical
Organizational
Culture
95% CI, LL= -0.9102, UL= 0.0006
Direct
Transformational
Leadership
Level 1
β=.09***
Job
Satisfaction
Direct
Transactional
Leadership
β=.19***
95% CI, LL= -0.05, UL= -0.002
Discussion







Transformational leadership supported previous
researches
Surprisingly, transactional too
It is plausible to explain that there is no fixed
leadership that can shaped and determined the
outcomes, it usually comes with a set of prescribed
underlying indirect effect, though it is still very much
unclear about (Bass, 1995).
Leader-culture fit framework in work outcomes
(Nieminen, Biermeier-Hanson, Denison, 2013;
Sackmann, 2011)
Hierarchical culture had a negative relationship with
all variables
Transformational leadership did not show mediation
but transactional did.
Moderator to further test the model
The End