Transactional Leadership

In South Africa's pre-democratic era, when apartheid policies were applied, members of certain racial groups (Black, Coloured and Indian) were barred from playing many roles, including occupying important managerial positions. This discriminatory practice is the reason why these racial groups are labelled as 'previously-disadvantaged' groups. Notably, the South African Employment Equity Act (EEA) (No. 55 of 1998), in its quest to redress apartheid-induced racial skewness and to transform South African workplaces, classifies all previously disadvantaged racial groups as Black people. Partly due to the EEA, more Black people now occupy top leadership positions in various South African organisations.

Indeed, Luthans et al. acknowledge the entrance of more Black South Africans into all levels of organisations but warn that the resulting cultural diversity needs proactive management. Consequently, it became imperative to establish special interventions such as the South African Management Programmes to bridge gaps in the managerial acumen of targeted Black employees. The whole point of such initiatives was to ensure that Black people who become managers will be able to provide requisite leadership to employees. Buoyed by this understanding, this study seeks to examine the relationship between facets of the transactional leadership style (TLS) of Black top-managers and employee commitment in South African state-owned enterprises (SOEs). It is worth highlighting that in the context of the South African SOEs, this cohort of top-managers, includes C-suite executives and division heads, who are typically responsible for providing strategic leadership (Department of Labour, 2020) and driving work performance.

The study draws impetus from extant literature which suggests that a manager's leadership style influences employee commitment; though studies have not specifically examined the nexus of specific behaviours associated with a single leadership style and employee commitment. Interestingly, however, Oztekin et al. argue that employee commitment mirrors the quality of leadership within an organisation. Similarly, Katsaros et al. also opine that employees' commitment depends on how they view the leader and the extent to which their expectations continue to be met within the context of organisational operations.