Exploring the Relationship between Despotic Leadership and Job Satisfaction: The Role of Self Efficacy and Leader–Member Exchange

Xiang Zhou, Samma Faiz Rasool, Jing Yang and Muhammad Zaheer Asghar
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Xiang Zhou: School of Management, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou 510006, China
Samma Faiz Rasool: Postdoctoral Station of Statistical, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou 510006, China
Jing Yang: School of Management, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou 510006, China
Muhammad Zaheer Asghar: Education & ICT (e-Learning), Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, 08018 Barcelona, Spain

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 10, 1-20

Abstract: This study explores the effects of despotic leadership (DL) on employee job satisfaction (JS) using self-efficacy (SE) as a mediating variable and leader–member exchange (LMX) as a moderated variable. Building on the social learning and social exchange theory, our research proposes a research model. In this model, despotic leadership affects employee job satisfaction both directly and indirectly through self-efficacy and leader–member exchange. We used a questionnaire survey analysis approach to collect data. Data were collected from the employees of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) located in Guangdong Province, P.R. China. A pilot test of 20 participants with similar demographics as the final sample was performed to test the usability of the questionnaire. We distributed 500 questionnaires among the target population. In total, 230 usable questionnaires were returned, resulting in a response rate of 53%. To estimate the proposed relationships in the theoretical framework, we used SPSS and AMOS. The results of this study confirmed that despotic leadership has a negative impact on employee job satisfaction. Moreover, the outcomes of this study indicate that self-efficacy has a mediating effect between despotic leadership and employee job satisfaction. Similarly, the results also confirm that LMX has a moderating effect between despotic leadership and employee self-efficacy. Therefore, we conclude that the community is understanding of the mechanism of despotic leadership, identify the mechanism to effectively deal with its negative effects, broaden the relevant research on the antecedent variable of self-efficacy, and provide practical enlightenment enterprises to retain and employ people.

Keywords: despotic leadership; job satisfaction; self-efficacy; leader–member exchange; small- and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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