The role of group-level perceived organizational support and collective affective commitment in the relationship between leaders’ directive and supportive behaviors and group-level helping behaviors

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine a model linking directive and supportive leadership to group-level helping behaviors via group-level perceived organizational support (GPOS) and collective affective commitment (CAC). Design/methodology/approach: Using data from 115 business units of an international retailer, the authors tested and compared the theoretical model against more parsimonious solutions using χ² difference tests. The hypotheses were examined within a structural model. Findings: The results show that GPOS acts as a mediator in the relationship between leadership behaviors and CAC and between directive leadership and group-level helping behaviors. Supportive leadership is directly related to CAC and group-level helping behaviors. Research limitations/implications: Implications of these findings for research on supportive and directive leadership are discussed. Originality/value: This paper proposed a model that examined intermediate linkages between directive and supportive leadership and group-level helping behaviors. In doing so, the authors provide a preliminary response to recent calls for examination of mediators of task-oriented and relations-oriented leadership effects (Judge et al., 2004).