LEADERSHIP STYLES IN MEDIATING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN QUALITY OF WORK LIFE AND EMPLOYEE COMMITMENT

In the present competitive, technology-driven environment, maintaining a talented workforce is the big challenge to the firms irrespective of their size and type. Through the proper scientific and systematic humanized job design by making an allowance for Quality of Work Life (QWL) interventions, it is possible to enhance the Employee Commitment (EC) under effective leadership in Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs). The extent of literature has explored the role of Quality of Work Life in increasing employee commitment, on the other hand, there is a lack of research to explore and describe the need for this relationship. This study examines the mediating effect of leadership style in the association between QWL and Employee Commitment. By collecting data through the structured questionnaires from 1092 of employees of mechanical manufacturing SMEs in Bangalore City, Karnataka, India. The data were analyzed using SPSS 20 by considering Baron and Kenny mediation analysis method and Sobel test. The results indicated that Leadership Styles act as a significant partial mediator between QWL and Employee Commitment relationship. Mediation study was also conducted for selected four dimensions of QWL, Employee Commitment and Leadership Style to strengthen the results. The research finding will help the policymakers to understand the importance leadership styles in SMEs to decide the policies on QWL and EC and also it will help in designing intervention program to improve EC and QWL in SMEs.