The Effect of Transformational Leadership on the Volunteer Members’ Organizational Commitment in Non-profit Organizations: The Moderating Effects of Motivation on Volunteeing

Abstract

This study investigated the individual effects of personal motivation such as the functional motivation of volunteers in non-profit organizations and the transformational leadership of their leaders on organizational commitment. First, it was predicted that the transformational leadership of leaders in non-profit organizations had a positive effect on organizational commitment. Second, it was predicted that the interaction with the individual’s six volunteer motives between transformational leadership and organizational commitment had a positive effect on organizational commitment overall. To verify this research hypothesis, a survey was conducted on 300 members who volunteered in 30 non-profit volunteer organizations called L Club, one of the NGOs, and hypotheses were established and verified based on existing previous studies. As a result of empirical analysis, the hypothesis that transformational leadership will have a positive effect on organizational commitment was supported. Also, the interaction between transformational leadership and the six volunteer motives of individuals who participated in volunteer activities had a positive effect on organizational commitment overall (rejecting career motivation). These results are significant in that they proved the positive influence of transformational leadership, which has been revealed only for private companies until now, by applying it to non-profit organizations. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.