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Hossein Damghanian, 1Assistant Prof. Faculty of Economics, Management and Administrative Sciences, Semnan University, Semnan, Iran

Mahboobeh HajKazemi 2Master of Business Administration (MBA), Faculty of Economics, Management and Administrative Sciences, Semnan University,

Semnan, Iran Corresponding Author: hdamghanian@semnan.ac.ir

Abstract

The current research has been conducted with the aim of surveying relations between transformational leadership, organizational commitment and work alienation. The research statistical sample includes 225 employees and managers of Alborz Insurance Company in Tehran. Two researcher-made questionnaires were used for data collection, measuring work alienation and transformational leadership and also Allen-Meyer standard questionnaire was used for measuring organizational commitment. Validity and reliability of these tools were surveyed and confirmed. Mechanism of covariance matrix analysis was used for data analysis. Based on the achieved results, transformational leadership has a positive and significant effect on organizational commitment and a negative and significant effect on work alienation. Research findings also showed that transformational leadership accompanied by mediation of organizational commitment has a negative and significant effect on work alienation. Another result achieved from this research is the negative and significant relation between organizational commitment and work alienation. Key words: Transformational Leadership, Work Alienation, Organizational Commitment.

Introduction Nowadays organizations are faced with conditions that are constantly changing in the economic, technological, social, cultural and political environment. For preserving their competitive position in the dynamic and changing environment most organizations need to change fast. Although environmental changes, technical and industrial advancements in the organization and work field may have positive results, their negative outcomes are undeniable. Making rapid and fundamental changes results in employees’ distrust in organizations and their structures, and inability to create a sense of belonging with the work environment. On the other hand, this is obvious that rapid changes require organizations to have managers and employees that are adaptive and work effectively. But sometimes employees, that are the most important capital of each organization in this dynamic environment, cannot get involved in the organization and they feel alienation; thus the work alienation reinforces in them and also their organizational commitment decreases. Thus two problems of decreased organizational commitment and increased work alienation are highlighted more than before in today’s dynamic environment.Employees’ organizational commitment and their involvement in working in the organization are highly important. Scott & Jaf (1999) stated that the main origin of competitive advantage for organizations is sacrifice, quality of commitment and ability of workforce (Rezaeian & Koshtehgar, 2008: 28); because the loyal and adaptive workforce is ready to go beyond the assigned tasks in their job description and consequently they provide effectiveness for the organization (Ropaki; quoted by Haj Karimi et al., 2008: 105). The importance of work alienation is also obvious. For instance, in a research conducted by Saros et al (2002) it is shown that alienated workers do not have tendency to respond to demands and they tend to question the managerial power, the power which results in increased inflexibility and inefficiency of the organization and ultimately weak organizational performance (Bao et al., 2006: 990). Several factors may affect two elements of work

1 This study has been conducted with cooperation and support of Insurance research institute

Surveying the Role of Transformational Leadership in Work Alienation with Mediation of Organizational Commitment1

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alienation and organizational commitment. Among the factors affecting these two elements, the effect of transformational leadership, which is one of the newest leadership styles in the contemporary leadership, has been less focused in conducted researches in our society. The subject literature shows that performance of transformational leader has an effect on followers for reaching their aims, increasing self-confidence, commitment and job performance (Bono & Judge; quoted by Schneider, 2010: 62). A large part of researches regarding the transformational leadership have proved the positive relation between commitment, satisfaction and tend to stay (Such as Avolio et al, 2004; Bliss & Falun, 2003; O’ Peter, Paki & Martin, 2005; Flishman, 1998; Juskit, 2003; McCole-Kennedy & Anderson, 2005; Walumboa & Loler, 2003; quoted by Schneider, 2010: 62). Brown & Yushuka (2003) concluded that leadership and job satisfaction are the most effective predictors of tend to live non-profit organizations (Schneider, 2010: 62). Due to the importance of amount of employees’ work alienation and organizational commitment for the organization, the current research tries to scientifically survey the role of transformational leadership in these two variables. The research main question is: Does transformational leadership decrease the work alienation through affecting organizational commitment? Could transformational leadership affect the employees’ commitment and work alienation based on influence on others and its leadership style? The current research aim is surveying the relation between the independent variable of transformational leadership with mediation of organizational commitment and work alienation. It must be noted that although these elements have been seen with other variables or two-by-two in previous researches, no research has surveyed these three variables altogether.

Theoretical Concepts & Research Background Work alienation is a cognitive feeling indicating the individual’s separation from work and work environment; this means not being involved in job and organizational identity. Kanango defines alienation as a state of psychological separation from work in a way that it is perceived that job lacks potentials for meeting the needs and important expectations of the individual (Banay et al., 2004). Cognitively, work alienation separates employees from work and work environment and it shows itself in less job participation and lack of organizational cognition (Armstrong-Stason; quoted by Sulu et al., 2010: 29). Seeman (1959) introduced 5 dimensions for alienation: Powerlessness is a state in which the individual has expectations but thinks that cannot reach them.

Normlessness happens when the norms determining behavior lost their efficiency.

Meaninglessness happens when individual cannot detect any meaning for his/her behavior and as a result the result of individual’s actions is unpredictable.

Social isolation is isolation and separation from society. When the individual does not respect the norms of the society and they do not have any value for him/her, the social isolation occurs.

Self-estrangement is a state in which the problems are unimportant to the individyal and he/she does not pay attention to his/her character, feelings and abilities (Hajizadeh & Meymandi; quoted by Valadbigi & Ghobadi, 2011: 209).

In a research, Tunex and Nelson (2008) found out that sense of powerlessness, isolation and identity loss is a result of alienation; among which the meaninglessness results in decreased organizational commitment and individual’s decreased performance in organization (Mostafavi Rad et al., 2009: 54). Due to the importance of individual’s performance in organization it is required for the organization to always try to find methods for decreasing negative factors and reinforcing positive factors in employees. Undoubtedly, one of the most important factors affecting the decreased work alienation is leadership style. If leaders want to have a positive effect on individuals, groups and organizations, then the leadership must go beyond the bureaucratic and strict leadership style toward friendly and contemporary style (Dess et al., 1998). Among different leadership styles, modern leaders adopt perspectives supporting employees, providing a perspective, growing hope, encouraging them toward innovative thinking, paying attention to individuals and extending connections. All of these factors are the main features of transformational leadership style (Bushra, 2011: 261).Different experts have considered different aspects for transformational leadership. Rafferty & Griffin (2004) considered 4 dimensions of inspirational communication, intellectual stimulation, supportive leadership, and personnel recognition. Pounder (2001) considered 4 dimensions of inspirational motivation, innovation, effect management, and paying attention to individuals for transformational leadership (Hassanpour et al., 2011: 162). In the current research, according to Bernard Bass (1985) transformational leadership is considered based on 4 features of idealized influence (II), intellectual

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stimulation (IS), inspirational motivation (IM) and individualized consideration (IC). Idealized influence (II) describes leaders act as strong models for the followers. When a leader is transformational, he/she creates a sense of respect, praise and loyalty among the followers and he/she will emphasize on the importance of being highly committed in order to reach organizational aims. Transformational leaders use intellectual stimulation for challenging thoughts, ideas and creativity of followers. In such state, the current situation is questioned and new methods are stated for developing organization and realizing missions. Inspirational motivation (IM) describes leaders who increase followers’ commitment and create motivation through allowing followers to participate in drawing the future perspective. Individualized consideration (IC) happens when a leader serves followers toward reaching their desired needs and tries to develop their potentials (Abedi Jafari & Aghaz, 2008: 79). As it was stated, decreased organizational commitment in today’s organizations that are within a dynamic environment is another problem of the organizations. Among the factors affecting commitment, leadership plays an import role in determining the employees’ commitment. Few empirical researches have focused on procedures by which transformational leaders affect the level of followers’ organizational commitment (Avolio et al., 2004: 952). Transformational leaders affect the followers’ organizational commitment through encouraging them toward critical thinking, using new approaches, allowing them to participate in decision making, inspirational loyalty accompanied by recognizing different needs of each follower for increasing their potentials (Avolio, 1999; Bass & Avolio, 1994; Yamarino, Spangler & Bass, 1993; quoted by Avolio et al., 2004: 935). Transformational leaders encourage followers to search for new ways of getting close to problems, challenges and detecting the followers’ needs, and they are able to create motivations in followers for their more participation in works which leads to higher levels of organizational commitment (Walumboa & Loler; quoted by Avolio et al., 2004: 953). Reviewing the previous researches it is found out that different experts have considered different dimensions for organizational commitment. In this research the concepts developed by Allen & Meyer (1991) act as a resource for evaluating employees’ commitment level and organizational commitment is recognized by the three following dimensions: Affective commitment; emotional attachment perceived by the employee; sense of recognition of organization and

participation. Employees who have strong affective commitment stay with the organization with their own will and choice.

Continuance commitment; a kind of evaluation conducted by employees in a way that they evaluate whether the cost of leaving organization is more than staying or not.

Normative commitment; a sense of responsibility by the employees toward their organization. An employee with high level of normative commitment stays with the organization because he/she feels that this is the right thing to do (Sahertian & Soetjipto, 2011: 50).

When employees are dissatisfied with their workplace, they have less commitment and try to find opportunities to leave that work. If such opportunities do not exist, they try to mentally or physically stay away from the workplace. Thus organizational commitment is an important attitude in evaluating the employees’ intention to leave work and the overall participation of employees in the organization (Kanchana & Panchanatham, 2011: 1332). Commitment increases the employee’s tendency and willingness to work and it results in effective work; but work alienation results in moving them away from work environment and social interactions at work (Sulu et al., 2010: 30). It seems that transformational leadership which has the required stability, due to effective features such as inspiration, creating hope and giving meaning to working life of human resources in its field of responsibility, could protect employees against destructive and irreparable damages of work alienation and self-estrangement and could encourage them toward excellence and progress (Taslimi et al., 2011: 4). Business managers consider awareness of employees about work alienation and organizational commitment as important issues. Committed employees with less alienation are more productive and there is less chance that they want to leave their organization (Comer & Dubinsky; quoted by Michaels et al., 1996: 8). Previously researchers (Michaels et al., 1988; Organ & Green, 1981; quoted by Michaels et al., 1996: 11) had stated that work alienation has a negative relation with organizational commitment. Their rational and logical justification was that compared to employees who do not have commitment, employees who are committed to their organization, find the psychological sense toward their work; empirically this position has been confirmed in several studies (Agarwal & Ramaswami,

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1993; Michaels et al., 1988). Consequently, organizational commitment has direct and negative effect on sellers’ work alienation (Michaels et al., 1996: 12).

Hypotheses Development & Conceptual Model Taslimi (2011) conducted a research about moderating work alienation among employees of PNU by the use of components of transformational leadership, organizational culture and organizational structure. The statistical sample included 218 academic and administrative employees and 119 directors of PNU. Research results and findings showed that unlike the existing theories, transformational leadership in PNU has a significant effect on work alienation (Taslimi et al., 2011). The first research hypothesis is formed here.

1) Transformational leadership has a direct, negative and significant effect on work alienation.

In this hypothesis, transformational leadership is the independent variable and work alienation is the dependent variable. Dimensions of transformational leadership according to Bernard Bass (1985) is considered based on 4 features of idealized influence (II), Intellectual stimulation (IS), inspirational motivation (IM) and individualized consideration (IC). 5 researcher-made indicators were designed for measuring each dimension and in overall, 20 indicators were used for measuring transformational leadership. For work alienation also 5 dimensions of powerlessness, meaninglessness, normlessness, social isolation and self-estrangement mentioned by Seeman (1959) were used. For measuring each dimension of work alienation, 4 researcher-made indicators and in overall 20 indicators were used. Amirkabiri et al (2006) conducted a research named surveying the relation between transformational leadership styles, transactional leadership styles and employees’ organizational commitment in companies of Zanjan industrial park. All managers were chosen as the sample and 344 employees were chosen through random sampling. Research results showed that there is a significant relation between transformational leadership style, transactional leadership style and employees’ organizational commitment; and leaders who use transformational leadership style are more successful at increasing the employees’ commitment toward the organization and the more the managers’ leadership style move from transactional to transformation, the more loyalty will be observed among the employees. Sanjaghi et al (2010) conducted a research named effect of transformational leadership style on organizational culture and organizational commitment in a defense organization. Results achieved from data indicate that transformational leadership is able to affect the employees’ organizational commitment through promoting entrepreurship and hierarchical cultures. A research named effects of transformation leadership on commitment and efforts of teachers was conducted in 2003. The results showed that dimensions of transformational leadership have an effect on teachers’ organizational commitment and their significant efforts. Also in this study it was determined that creating a future perspective and intellectual stimulation of followers have significant effect in this process (Geijsel et al., 2003). In an article named relation between leadership style and organizational commitment: testing a theory in Turkish banking sector, Ibrahim et al (2010) found out that there is a significant relation between transactional leadership style, transformational leadership style, organizational commitment and employees (Ali et al., 2011). Also, the 2

nd research hypothesis is formed in this part according to the research

background. 2) Transformational leadership has a direct, positive and significant effect on organizational commitment.

In this research, transformational leadership is the independent variable and organizational commitment is the dependent variable. For organizational commitment three dimensions proposed by Allen-Meyer (1991) were used. By the use of Allen-Meyer standard questionnaire, 8 indicators were used for each dimension and in overall, 24 indicators were used. Mostafavi Rad et al (2010) conducted a research named surveying the relation between organizational culture, quality of working life, organizational commitment and work alienation of principals of high schools of Shiraz. The surveyed sample included 412 principals and 234 individuals answered the questionnaires. The path analysis result showed that there is a negative and significant relation between organizational culture and work alienation, between organizational culture through mediation of organizational commitment and between quality of working life and work alienation with the mediator of organizational commitment. Also, there is a positive and significant relation between variable of quality and commitment. By conducting path analysis, the organizational culture is recognized to be a stronger predictor for decreasing work alienation in education organizations.

3) Organizational commitment has a direct, negative and significant effect on work alienation.

By reviewing the history of conducted researches in the literature it was determined that most researches in this field conducted a mutual survey on concepts of transformational leadership, organizational

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commitment and work alienation and up to now there has been no research conducted about the relation between the three above mentioned variables in a specific environment; and the organizational commitment variable has never been seen as the mediator of transformational leadership and work alienation; but regarding the research background and the existence of a positive relation between transformational leadership and organizational commitment and negative relation between organizational commitment and work alienation, the 4

th hypothesis is formed; and for the first time the variable of

organizational commitment is considered as the mediator between transformational leadership and organizational commitment and the 4

th hypothesis is as follows:

4) Transformational leadership with mediation of organizational commitment has an indirect, negative and significant effect on work alienation.

All three research variables and their dimensions are provided in the following table: Table 1. Variables and dimensions of research design.

Dimensions Definitions

Transformational leadership

Idealized Influence

(II)

In II the leader serves as an ideal role model for followers; the leader "walks the talk," and is admired for this (Gregory et al., 2011).

Inspirational Motivation (IM)

Transformational leaders have the ability to inspire and motivate followers. Combined these first two I's are what constitute the transformational leader's charisma (Gregory et al., 2011).

Individualized Consideration

(IC)

Transformational leaders demonstrate genuine concern for the needs and feelings of followers. This personal attention to each follower is a key element in bringing out their very best efforts (Bass; Bass et al; Bass & Rigio; quoted by Birasnav, 2006).

Intellectual Stimulation (IS)

The leader challenges followers to be innovative and creative. A common misunderstanding is that transformational leaders are "soft," but the truth is that they constantly challenge followers to higher levels of performance (Bass; Deluga; quoted by Barbuto, 2005).

Organizational

commitment

Affective commitment

Emotional bonding with the organization (which mean recognizing the organization and participating in it (Kanchana & Panchanatham, 2011).

Normative commitment

The feeling of requirement to stay at the organization (Kanchana & Panchanatham, 2011).

Continuance commitment

Individuals’ recognition of advantages of organizational membership in case of staying at the organization against the perceived costs of leaving the organization (Kanchana & Panchanatham, 2011).

Work Alienation

Powerlessness Lack of job independence because employees have limited freedom for having control over work activities (Seeman; quoted by Suarez-Mendoza & Manrique-de-Lara, 2007).

Normlessness Individual thinks of this possibility that only actions making him/her close to the aim are the ones that are not confirmed by the society (Kargaz Mazin, 2005).

Meaninglessness A state in which the individual does not know what to have belief in. This happens when individual does not have clear standards for decision making (Seeman, 1959).

Social Isolation Cultural isolation from the society; individual does not agree with what is valuable for the society (Seeman, 1959).

Self-estrangement

When working is only considered as a path for meeting the external needs and not as a tool for showing the individual’s potentials (Seeman, 1959). In this

state there is no internal significant activity because the behavior depends on the future expected reward (Lefkowitz & Bricando, 1980).

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The current research conceptual model is as follows. Transformational leadership is the independent variable, work alienation is the dependent variable and organizational commitment is the mediator.

Figure 1. Research conceptual model

Methodology Type of research design

From the point of aim the current research is an applied research; and from the point of data collection it is descriptive-analytical.

Data collection tools In the current research two following tools have been used for data collection:

1. Surveys and library studies: studying and surveying books, articles, journals, theses, internet etc. In this research it has been tried to use all mentioned resources.

2. Field researches: Questionnaire was used for collecting data. For designing the questionnaire, firstly the subject literature was fully surveyed and the measurement index was designed for each of the dimensions of research variables; and in overall, the transformational leadership questionnaire, work alienation questionnaire and organizational commitment questionnaire were used. A 5-degree Likert scale (from 1= completely disagree to 5= completely agree) was used for all three questionnaires. Validity and reliability of data collection tools

Reliability Cronbach alpha was used in this research for determining the reliability of tools. The achieved results are brought in table 2.

Table 2. Cronbach alpha of questionnaires.

Variable Type of questionnaire No. Amount of Cronbach alpha

Transformational leadership

Researcher-made 20 0.97

Organizational commitment

Allen-Meyer standard questionnaire (1987)

24 0.85

Work alienation Researcher-made 20 0.85

Validity

Content validity At this stage the quality and quantity of questions are surveyed by experts. To this aim the questionnaires are handed out to a number of professors and the suggested modifications are applied. Construct validity In the current research the confirmatory factor analysis mechanism was used for ensuring about the construct validity. Before surveying the causal relations between variables and doing path analysis, it is necessary to make sure about the accuracy of measurement model; to this aim, firstly the relations between

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indicators and components (first-order confirmatory factor analysis) and then the relations between components and variables (second-order confirmatory factor analysis) are surveyed. After implementing these two stages, the path analysis is conducted. The amount of fit index of 1

st-order CFA and 2

nd-order CFA

of research variables is shown in table 3. Table 3. Amount of fit index in 1

st and 2

nd order factor analysis.

Measurement variable Type of analysis CFA Chi-square Df Chi-square to df ratio

RMSE

Transformational leadership

1st-order 425.32 164 2.59 0.0904

2nd

-order 339.43 161 2.1 0.078

Transformational leadership (after

revision)

1st-order 336.22 159 2.11 0.078

2nd

-order - - - -

Work alienation 1st-order 339.43 161 1.62 0.067

2nd

-order 284.09 147 1.93 0.072

Organizational commitment

1st-order 590.97 249 2.37 0.087

2nd

-order 391.67 168 2.33 0.086

Organizational commitment (after

revision)

1st-order 339.53 163 2.083 0.077

2nd

-order 350.32 166 2.11 0.078

In the 1st-order factor analysis of transformational leadership and 1

st and 2

nd-order factor analysis of

organizational commitment, all numbers were significant regarding the parameters of significant model except for the relation between (4

th question of questionnaire and dimension of affective commitment),

(17th

question of questionnaire and dimension of normative commitment), (19th

question of questionnaire and dimension of normative commitment) and (24

th question of questionnaire and dimension of normative

commitment); because their significance is bigger than 1.96 and due to this these mentioned relations are eliminated and also 4

th, 17

th, 19

th and 24

th questions in organizational commitment questionnaire are not

considered in model analysis. Also the good indices of model do not indicate the appropriateness of measurement model of the variable. Although chi-square to df ratio is less than 3, RMSEA amount could not be below 0.08 and it is undesirable; as a result, model is revised according to the suggested revisions and some paths are created between error variances in 1

st and 2

nd-order factor analysis of organizational

commitment. As a result, the model is modified according to the suggested revisions. In 1st and 2

nd-order

factor analysis of work alienation and 2nd

-order factor analysis of transformational analysis, the chi-square to df ratio is less than 3. Also, the RMSEA amount is below 0.08; thus model fit indices indicate appropriateness of measurement model of the variable. But observing the significance of model it is observed that all significance numbers related to model parameters are significant except for relation between one of the indices (3

rd question of questionnaire) and component of powerlessness of work

alienation; due to this, this relation is eliminated and the question is not considered in data analysis. The amount of load factor in 1

st-order and 2

nd-order factor analysis of all three research variables after revising

the model is brought in table 4, 5 and 6.

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Table 4. Amount of load factor in 1st and 2

nd-order factor analysis of transformational leadership.

Component Indices No.

Load factor (2nd

-order FA) Load factor (1st

-order FA)

Standard estimation

Significance Standard estimation

Significance

Idealized influence

(II)

1 0.95

9.08

0.64 9.31

2 0.60 8.69

3 0.86 14.19

4 0.79 12.55

5 0.84 13.81

Inspirational

motivation (IM)

6 0.94

10.86

0.74 11.46

7 0.92 15.98

8 0.89 15.44

9 0.88 14.86

10 0.80 12.90

Individualized

considerations (IC)

11 0.96

14.05

0.88 14.94

12 0.68 10.24

13 0.87 14.58

14 0.87 14.69

15 0.83 13.71

Intellectual

stimulation (IS)

16 0.96

12.74

0.83 13.56

17 0.86 14.45

18 0.87 14.73

19 0.91 15.89

20 0.91 15.81

Table 5. Amount of load factor in 1st-order and 2

nd-order factor analysis of work alienation.

Component Indices No.

Load factor (2nd

-order FA) Load factor (1st

-order FA)

Standard estimation Significance Standard estimation

Significance

Powerlessness

1 0.41

4.30

0.88 9.79

2 0.91 11.27

3 Question eliminated

Question eliminated

4 0.59 7.27

Normlessness

5 0.67

5.55

0.62 7.65

6 1.06 12.21

7 0.41 4.72

8 0.68 7.24

Meaninglessness

9 0.94

7.23

0.65 7.74

10 0.76 8.53

11 0.76 7.93

12 0.44 4.62

Social isolation

13 0.79

6.86

0.87 8.47

14 0.64 7.93

15 1.03 10.82

16 0.65 7.21

Self-estrangement

17 0.96

3.04

0.24 2.98

18 0.75 8.25

19 0.71 8.36

20 0.95 11.70

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Table 5. Amount of load factor in 1st-order and 2

nd-order factor analysis of organizational commitment.

Component Indices No.

Load factor (2nd

-order FA) Load factor (1st

-order FA)

Standard estimation Significance Standard estimation

Significance

Affective

1

0.76

6.01

0.60 8.66

2 0.67 9.92

3 0.76 11.94

4 Question eliminated

Question eliminated

5 0.86 14.38

6 0.85 14.05

7 0.83 13.51

8 0.88 14.92

Continuance

9

0.40

3.68

0.50 6.54

10 0.40 5.07

11 0.68 9.20

12 0.80 11.58

13 0.67 9.24

14 0.67 9.32

15 0.37 4.57

16 0.55 7.25

Normative

17

1.02

6.17

Question eliminated

Question eliminated

18 0.50 6.75

19 Question eliminated

Question eliminated

20 0.84 13.04

21 0.58 8.05

22 0.81 12.33

23 0.19 2.40

24 Question eliminated

Question eliminated

Statistical Population

In the current research the statistical population includes all employees and managers of Alborz Insurance Company in central headquarters and all branches of Tehran and the number is 736 individuals.

Sampling Method Stratified multi-stage random sampling was used for sampling. In random sampling each of the components or elements of the statistical population had an equal chance in finding a place in sample. Firstly according to the geographical region, the Alborz Insurance Co. headquarters and all branches located in Tehran (9 branches) were chosen. Then the sampling was conducted on employees and managers of each branch according to the share they had in the total population.

Determining the sample size Determining the sample size is highly important in generalizing the test results. There are different methods available for determining the sample size and the most accurate methods are mathematical methods for calculating the sample size. Three scientists named Cohen, Morgan and Krejcie have provided a table in which the number of samples is determined based on the number of statistical population. The number of samples in this table is conservatively determined and in case of calculating the number of samples based on statistical formula, usually the number is smaller (Momeni and Ghayoumi, 2010: 225).

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Based on Cohen, Morgan and Krejcie table, since in the current research the number of population is 736 individuals the statistical sample size is determined to be 254 individuals.

Data Analysis Path Analysis

Path analysis was used for testing the research hypotheses. This path diagram could be considered as a tool for showing that which of the variables results in changes in other variables. If the model shown as a diagram is confirmed by the fit indices, that path diagram could be used in testing the hypotheses. Thus the first step is determining the model fit. But according to table 6, indices do not indicate the research model fit; as a result, the model is revised by creating a few correlations between error variances.

Table 7. Amount of model fit indices.

Name of the index Achieved amount Permissible limit

Chi-square to df ratio

2.83 Below 3

GFI 0.88 Above 0.9

RMSEA 0.101 Below 0.09

CFI 0.95 Above 0.9

AGFI 0.82 Above 0.8

NFI 0.93 Above 0.9

NNFI 0.94 Above 0.9

Figure 2. Revised model at standard mode.

Figure 3. Revised model at significance mode.

All indices indicate the appropriateness of model with observed data. Model fit indices indicate appropriateness of measurement model; in other words, model and general framework after the revision is significant and acceptable.

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Table 8. Amount of revised model fit indices.

Name of the index Achieved amount after revision

Permissible limit

Chi-square to df ratio

2.067 Below 3

GFI 0.92 Above 0.9

RMSEA 0.077 Below 0.08

CFI 0.97 Above 0.9

AGFI 0.86 Above 0.8

NFI 0.95 Above 0.9

NNFI 0.96 Above 0.9

Table 9. Research hypotheses results.

Hypothesis No. Research hypotheses

Path coefficient

t-statistic Research hypothesis result

1. Organizational commitment has direct, negative and significant effect on work alienation.

-0.52 -4.56* Confirmed

2. Transformational leadership has direct, negative and significant effect on work alienation.

-0.22 -2.66* Confirmed

3. Transformational leadership has direct, positive and significant effect on organizational commitment.

0.51 6.51* Confirmed

4. Transformational leadership has indirect, negative and significant effect on work alienation.

-0.26 -5.13* confirmed

*Significance at confidence level 0.99. 1-1

st hypothesis: Transformational leadership has direct, negative and significant effect on work alienation.

Based on achieved results from path coefficient and t-statistic, the variable of transformational leadership at confidence level 0.99 has significant effect on variable of work alienation (t-statistic is out of the range of -2.58 to +2.58). Regarding the negative path coefficient it could be said that this relation is indirect. Thus the more the leadership becomes close to transformation the less the work alienation will become and vice versa. Thus the research hypothesis is confirmed. 2-2

nd hypothesis: Transformational leadership has direct, positive and significant effect on organizational

commitment. According to the achieved results from path coefficient and t-statistic, the variable of transformational leadership at confidence level of 0.99 has a significant effect on variable of organizational commitment (t-statistic is out of the range of -2.58 to +2.58). Regarding the positive path coefficient it could be said that the relation is direct. Thus the more positive the transformational leadership the more the organizational commitment will be and vice versa. Thus the research hypothesis is confirmed. 3-3

rd hypothesis: organizational commitment has direct, negative and significant effect on work alienation.

According to the results achieved from path coefficient and t-statistic, the variable of organizational commitment and sig. level of 0.99 has a significant effect on variable of work alienation (t-statistic is out of the range of -2.58 to +2.58). Regarding the negative path coefficient it could be said that the relation is

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indirect. Thus the more positive the organizational commitment the less the work alienation will be and vice versa. Thus the research hypothesis is confirmed. 4-4

th hypothesis: Transformational leadership has an indirect, negative and significant effect on work

alienation. According to the achieved results from path coefficient and t-statistic, the variable of transformational leadership at sig. level of 0.99 has a significant effect on variable of work alienation (t-statistic is out of the range of -2.58 to +2.58). Regarding the negative path coefficient it could be said that the relation is indirect. Thus the more positive the transformational leadership the less the work alienation will be and vice versa. Thus the research hypothesis is confirmed. Coefficient of determination analysis (R

2)

This coefficient surveys the predictability of dependent variable by independent variable or variables. This coefficient studies that what percentage of changes of dependent variable is explained by independent variables. Based on this, variables of transformational leadership and organizational commitment altogether managed to explain 44% of changes of work alienation. The remaining 56% is related to prediction error and it could include the rest of variables affecting work alienation. Based on this coefficient the variable of transformational leadership has managed to explain 26% of changes of organizational commitment. The remaining 74% is related to prediction error and it could include the rest of variables affecting organizational commitment.

Discussion & Conclusion The research findings indicate that there is a positive and significant relation between transformational leadership style and organizational commitment. This result is consistent with previous research results (Arnold, 2001; Dick & Metcalf, Geijsel et al., 2003; Sanjaghi et al., 2011; Muharrem et al., 2001; Amri et al., Simon, 1994; Dubinsky et al., 1995). Another hypothesis confirmed in the current research is the direct and negative relation between transformational leadership and work alienation. This result is also consistent with previous research results (Taslimi, 2011); and by the help of a leader having transformational leadership style, employees become less work alienated and they involve in their work. The current research results indicate that the hypothesis of an indirect, negative and significant relation between transformational leadership and work alienation is confirmed and transformational leadership accompanied by intermediation of organizational commitment could result in decreased work alienation. This hypothesis has been cited from the subject literature and up to now there has been no domestic or international research confirming this hypothesis. The 4

th research hypothesis indicating the significant and negative relation between organizational

commitment and work alienation is also confirmed regarding the path analysis. This hypothesis has also been confirmed in the previous researches (Agarwal & Ramswami, 1993; Michaels et al., 1988; Mostafavi Rad et al., 2010) and the results indicate the conformity of the result of this hypothesis with previous researches). Based on this, it is suggested to managers to take the following measures in order to increase the organizational commitment and decrease the work alienation in their employees and to reinforce the 5 dimensions of organizational commitment in them: Having inspirational motivation or trying to create this feature in one’s self and other managers through being

committed to aims, giving information and awareness to individuals regarding the perspective and encouraging employees.

Creating the idealized influence feature in one’s self and other managers through changing the behavior in directions causing the managers to be respected and trusted by the employees and to become a role model for them.

Intellectually stimulating individuals and encouraging them to review their methods of doing tasks and giving feedback to employees if required.

Paying full attention to individuals through empowering them, paying attention to their needs and demands and playing the role of a coach if required.

All above mentioned statements generally point to this matter that a transformational leader must be full of energy and power; they must have a positive perspective about the future and must predict a good future for reaching the aims and must deal with employees as valuable individuals and respect them and they must know that realizing the organizational aims depends on the positive attitude toward the future and making appropriate connections with organizational members.

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As in one of the hypotheses of this research the direct, negative and significant relation between organizational commitment and work alienation was confirmed; it is recommended to take the following measures in order to increase the individuals’ organizational commitment: Creating a fair and appropriate reward system for appropriate and effective distribution of rewards among the

employees.

Creating a fair salary and income system in a way that individuals feel that the organization appreciates their efforts.

Valuing the organizational members and holding events for respecting individuals in a way that they feel they are a member of the organizational family.

Regarding the conducted researches and theoretical discussions, for reducing the work alienation it could be stated that the following measures could be effective for the organization: Establishing a suggestion system and allowing the employees to participate in different affairs of the organization

and using the beneficial suggestions.

Creating job diversity and preventing from giving repetitive tasks to employees.

Delegation to employees and giving feedback in a way that they feel they are part of the task and they are effective on the overall result.

Many elements could be effective in adopting a transformational leadership style. It is suggested to detect these elements in the future researches and to determine their effects on transformational leadership. Also, other factors such as traditional leadership style, organizational climate, motivational factors and all individual and organizational factors may result in prevalence of work alienation; and regarding the limited number of researches conducted in this regard, the necessity of conducting more researches in this field is felt in our society. Work alienation could have several undesirable outputs such as slow work etc. lack of adequate number of researches conducted in this field is obvious and the outputs must be detected and their results on individuals and organization must be surveyed for better explanation of work alienation. The main problem of the current research is the unimportance of the position of research and survey in our organizational community. Many individuals believe that research results only remain theoretically and they are never important for the organizations. This is true to some extent. Usually in our society the research results are not practically implemented; the reason to this may be the lack of belief in the result that could be implemented and/or the high cost of implementing the research suggestions. Thus distributing questionnaires and asking individuals to answer them is one of the most important limitations of the research. Lack of cooperation of managers or employees for answering the questionnaire due to being conservative and information disclosure is another limitation of the research. Another limitation is the lack of desirable and full access to informational resources and foreign required resources. Reference 1. Amirkabiri AR, Khodayari I, Nazari F, Moradi M, 2006. Surveying the relation between transformational leadership style, transactional leadership style, and employees’ organizational commitment. Management culture. 4(14): 117-142. 2. Taslimi MS, Bazargan A, Mousakhani M, Alvadari H, 2011. Developing a transformational leadership developmental model in universities of the country toward reducing the work alienation (case study: PNU). Journal of management of University of Tehran. 3. Haj Karimi AA, Gholamali T, Rahimi FA, 2008. Surveying the effectiveness of measures of human resources on OCB considering the role of organizational commitment. Management thought. 2(1): 103-123. 4. Hassanpour A, Abbasi T, Norouzi M, 2011. Surveying the role of transformational leadership in empowering employees. Management researches in Iran. 15(1): 159-180. 5. Rezaeian A, Koshtehgar AA, 2008. Surveying the relation between emotional intelligence and organizational commitment. Management message. 27: 27-39. 6. Sanjaghi MI, Farahi Bouzanjani, Borzou, Sarkhosh SM, 2011. Effect of transformational leadership on organizational culture and organizational commitment in a defense company. Journal of defensive strategy. 9(32): 111-136. 7. Abedi Jafari H, Aghaz A, 2008. Transformational leadership and organizational culture (case study: Ministry of welfare and social security). 21(80): 77-92. 8. Momeni M, Faal Ghayoumi A, 2010. Statistical analyses by the use of SPSS. 1st ed. Tehran: Moallef publications. 9. Kargaz Mazin A, 2006. Work alienation and its effect on productivity of workforce. Scientific, social, economic, and cultural journal of work & society. 88-93. 10. Mostafavi Rad F, Behrangi MR, Askarian M, Farzad VA, 2010. Surveying the relation between organizational culture, quality of working life, organizational commitment and work alienation in principles of high schools of Shiraz. 6(2-17), 1:2-17. 11. Agarwal, S. & Ramaswami, S.N. (1993). “Affective organizational commitment of salespeople: an expanded model”. The Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, Vol. 13,49-70.

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