A Study of Leadership and Locus of Control on Workplace Happiness and Affective Commitment

Abstract

Employee well-being has been a popular topic of discussion in societies that are well developed. It has been linked to better individual and organizational outcomes in various populations. This study intended to empirically test whether employee well-being does have an effect on employee’s affective domain in work place, specifically, whether happier employees do feel much more affectively attached to the organization. In addition, this study tests the effects of two antecedent variables of workplace happiness, supervisor’s leadership behavior and employee’s work locus of control, in order to better understand how to create an organizational atmosphere conducive to employee happiness. White-collar office workers were the target population of this study. This study used a survey research approach to collect empirical data from one of the biggest real estate agencies in Taiwan. Survey questionnaires were sent to all 2664 real estate agents located in 295 agency branches in Taiwan, of which 283 (or 11%) agents responded,. The survey questionnaire contained the measures on leadership behaviors, work locus of control, workplace happiness and affective commitment. Hierarchical regression and path model analysis were used to test the relationship among variables in this study. The results are summarized as follows, 6. Supervisor’s leadership behaviors, especially consideration leadership behaviors, have a positive effect on employee’s workplace happiness and affective commitment to the organization. 7. Employee’s workplace happiness has a positive effect on employee’s affective commitment to the organization. 8. Workplace happiness strongly mediates the relationship between supervisor’s leadership behaviors and employee’s affective commitment to the organization. 9. Employee’s work locus of control has a direct effect on employee’s workplace happiness. Employees who rely on internal work locus of control tend to be happier than those who rely on external work locus of control. 10. The relationship between both types of leadership behaviors and workplace happiness is even stronger when the subject relies on internal work locus of control.