Influence of Organizational Culture and Leadership Styles on Nonprofit Staff Members\u27 Commitment

Organizational culture and leadership styles of a leader are important to staff members\u27 commitment in a nonprofit organization, yet little is understood about the role of leadership style and the degree to which staff are committed to organizational effectiveness in nonprofit organizations. Using Avolio and Bass\u27 conceptualization of transformational leadership as the theoretical foundation, the purpose of this descriptive study was to examine the organizational culture, leadership styles, and nonprofit staff members\u27 commitment in 1 large organization in the United States. Survey data were collected (N = 100) through an instrument that combined Cameron and Quinn\u27s Organizational Cultural Assessment and Avolio and Bass\u27s Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire. These data were analyzed using descriptive statistics to examine organizational culture relative to leadership style. The statistical analyses in this study examined organizational commitment and organizational culture in each leadership style. There were differences in the proportion of organizational commitment and organizational culture among leadership style, which were measured using coefficients of variation. Notably, when participants perceived a leader to exhibit transformational leadership traits, there also were greater proportions of perceptions of organizational commitment and positive organizational culture within those groups. The implications for positive social change stemming from this study include recommendations to organizational leadership to identify the employees\u27 backgrounds, cultures and practice, and to determine the organizational culture\u27s relevance. These recommendations may increase engagement and job satisfaction, thus reducing turnover, increasing profitability and influencing organizational commitment, resulting in a highly productive workforce