Leadership and Commitment to Service Quality in Pakistani Hospitals: The Contingent Role of Role Clarity

Abstract

The health care system is usually a reflection of the human development and prosperity index of a country. In particular, a sound health care system is generally deemed essential for providing quality service delivery to service users. Pakistan, in this respect, is lagging even after implementing the district health management model of World Health Organization (WHO). In particular, the province of Sindh reports a higher level of dissatisfaction among the service recipients and, therefore, remains a core concern for the concerned authorities. This study, therefore, aims to investigate the levels of employees’ commitment to service quality in Pakistan’s health care sector. A quantitative survey method was adopted to collect data from 315 medical officers working in 43 public-sector hospitals in Sindh, Pakistan. The data were analyzed using the partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) technique and Smart PLS 3 software. Based on cognitive dissonance theory and path-goal theory, the present study investigated the role of leadership styles in influencing commitment to service quality with the moderation of role clarity. The findings lend support to the direct hypothesized relationships of transformational and transactional leadership with commitment to service quality. The study found significant support for all the hypothetical relationships except laissez-faire leadership’s direct link with commitment to service quality. While role clarity was found to moderate the relationships of two leadership styles, namely, transformational leadership and laissez-faire leadership with commitment to service quality, there was no such moderating effect for the relationship between transactional leadership and commitment to service quality. These findings offer useful theoretical and managerial implications on the importance of leadership styles in influencing commitment to service quality and provide the basis for future research.

Evaluation of organizational climate factors on tax administration enterprise resource planning (ERP) system

“…This demonstrates that the clarity of one's role has a significant influence on individual impact. This is in line with the findings of the Pahi et al. (2020) study.…”

Leadership Style and Employees' Commitment to Service Quality: An Analysis of the Mediation Pathway via Knowledge Sharing

“…Furthermore, CSQ is essential in the workplace (Bass and Stogdill, 1981 ; Hartline and Ferrell, 1996 ; Khalid et al, 2016 ). Previous scholars have documented that employee commitment is crucial for service organizations because these organizations rely on employee commitment and dedication (Tosi and Mero, 2003 ; Pahi and Hamid, 2015 ; Pahi et al, 2020 ).…”

“…Several studies indicate that leaders are most suitable for nurturing positive service quality among their subordinates, especially frontline employees. (Clark et al, 2009 ; Afsar and Umrani, 2019 ; Ahmad and Umrani, 2019 ; Pahi et al, 2020 ). Although different styles of leadership can play a role in motivation (Isaac et al, 2011 ; Novitasari et al, 2021a , b ), performance enhancement (Isaac et al, 2001 ), service excellency (Graido-Gonzalez et al, 1998 ; Luu et al, 2019 ), and commitment of subordinates (Pahi et al, 2015 ; Ahmed et al, 2020 ), it is confirmed that leaders have the closest association with the individual commitment of employees.…”

“…Although different styles of leadership can play a role in motivation (Isaac et al, 2011 ; Novitasari et al, 2021a , b ), performance enhancement (Isaac et al, 2001 ), service excellency (Graido-Gonzalez et al, 1998 ; Luu et al, 2019 ), and commitment of subordinates (Pahi et al, 2015 ; Ahmed et al, 2020 ), it is confirmed that leaders have the closest association with the individual commitment of employees. Leaders can engender individual CSQ in service sectors, especially in underdeveloped countries (Imam et al, 2017 ; Pahi et al, 2020 ).…”

Human Resource Management Practices and Organizational Commitment in Yemen Islamic Banking Sector: The Mediating Role of Tribalism

“…Nevertheless, it maintained that its usefulness in managerial decisions partly depends on the accuracy of the information it provides. The performance appraisal system is defined as a planned and organized process that evaluates each employee's performance in physical, technical, behavioral, or physiological terms to determine their strengths and weaknesses and find ways in which they can improve their performance (Aladwan et al, 2015;Pahi et al, 2020). Coffie et al (2018) pointed out those performance appraisal systems cannot be generalized or easily transplanted from one organization to another.…”