Impact of Academic Leadership on Organizational Commitment of Faculty Members in Private Sector Universities of Punjab: Mediating Role of Work Engagement and Moderating Role of Co-worker Support

Abstract

This research study analyzed the impact of academic leadership on organizational commitment of faculty members in private universities of Punjab, with the role of work engagement as mediator and the role of co-worker support as moderator. Convenience sampling technique was used to sample faculty members of private universities. This study was quantitative and cross-sectional in nature, and the regression and correlation analyses were used to investigate hypotheses. Social exchange theory was used to explore the impact of AL on OC of faculty members. A sample of 215 faculty members (including instructors, lecturers, assistant and associate professors and full time professors) was drawn from various private sector universities in Punjab. Results of current study indicates that the academic leadership has positive significant effect on the organizational commitment of faculty members. Findings further explain that the work engagement acts as mediator and it partially mediates the relationship between AL and OC of faculty members. Furthermore, this study explored the role of co-worker support as a boundary condition and the results explain insignificant relation which shows that co-worker support does not moderate the relationship between academic leadership and work engagement of faculty in private sector universities. Additionally, theoretical and practical implications of this research study are also discussed.