The impact of consensus and agreement of leadership perceptions on commitment, Organizational Citizenship Behaviour, and customer satisfaction

Abstract

Based on a follower-centred approach to transformational leadership, the meaning of team consensus for relevant organizational outcome measures is examined. It is argued that high consensus among followers with regard to their respective leaders' behaviour is an indicator of consistent transformational leadership. It is also hypothesized that the team consensus concerning leadership moderates the relation between transformational leadership and outcome criteria. Furthermore we expect leader–team agreement in leadership evaluation between the leader and the group to be related to followers' and customers' reactions. Data was collected from 27 supervisors and 233 subordinates representing 36 service-oriented organizations. Independent measures were taken from 1463 customers. For data analysis a multilevel approach was employed. The results show that consensus is an important predictor for commitment, Organizational Citizenship Behaviour (OCB), and customer satisfaction, and moderates the relationship of transformational leadership with commitment and OCB. Agreement is related to commitment and customer satisfaction and moderates the relationship between leadership and commitment. The findings are discussed in a practical light with regard to the consequences of consensus about leadership within a group and of agreement between a group and the respective leader. Moreover, practical implications are given for the improvement of commitment, OCB, and customer satisfaction.

Keywords:

• Commitment
• Consensus and agreement
• Customer satisfaction
• Leadership perceptions
• Multilevel analysis
• Organizational Citizenship Behaviour

We are grateful to Anja Beck and Andrea Herz who collected the data when conducting their diploma thesis. We also thank the anonymous reviewers and the editor for their helpful comments.