I want to achieve my goals when I can? The interactive effect of leader organization-based self-esteem and political skill on goal-focused leadership

The purpose of this study is to extend goal-focused leadership research. To accomplish our objective, we raise the questions: When do leaders work to foster and support the goal achievement of followers and can leaders' efforts toward followers' goal achievement impact followers' attachment to the organization? Subsequently, this study asserts that leaders' own psychological states - specifically organization-based self-esteem (OBSE) - influence leaders' motivation to provide goal-focused leadership, but that leaders' skills - particularly political skill - are important as well. Whereas leader OBSE (i.e., want to) represents a leader's heightened motivation and belief that he or she can make a positive impact within an organization, leader political skill (i.e., can do) captures a leader's ability to be an effective leader who encourages and supports organizationally-valued follower goal attainment. Further, using social exchange theory, we argue that the outcomes of goal-focused leadership include an enhanced attachment to the organization, as followers recognize and reciprocate the effort and resources given to them by the leader. Findings from a multi-source cross-sectional field survey of leader and follower dyads demonstrate that leader OBSE impacts follower affective commitment and turnover intentions via goal-focused leadership. Moreover, this particular indirect effect is enhanced when leader political skill is relatively high compared to relatively low. Implications, limitations, and future research are discussed.