The Relationship Between Benevolent Leadership and Organizational Citizenship Behavior

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to assess the relationship between benevolent leadership and employees’ organizational citizenship behavior in the context of Polish organizations. Design/methodology/approach: The data were obtained from 415 company employees. The relationship was investigated using structural equation models (SEMs). Findings: The analyses of the results showed that benevolent leadership has a positive relationship with OCB. The more benevolent the leadership, the more frequent the organizational citizenship behaviors among workers. Research limitations/implications: There are some limitations to this study. The results cannot be generalized since the sample was not selected probabilistically. It should be added that the research was conducted only in enterprises. The analyzed relationship between BL and OCB in public institutions, which are by definition established to serve the public, could also be examined. The research provided a significant contribution to the literature, particularly in the field of leadership. First, it demonstrates that benevolent leadership as a synthetic construct may be applied in a variety of cultural contexts. Secondly, the study findings support predictions derived from the social exchange theory. Benevolent leaders, and thus fair and trustworthy ones, will motivate their subordinates to emulate their positive behavior. Originality/value: The article presents a fragment of the results of research conducted for the first time in Poland on the topic of benevolent leadership.