A mixed method study of the role of middle managers’ affective organisational commitment and psychological empowerment in strategy execution among medium sized enterprises in Johannesburg, South Africa

Abstract

Arguably, the ineffective execution of strategy is considered the predominant cause of failure of strategies and consequently, poor organisational performance. Particularly, middle management’s lack of commitment to strategy implementation is a significant contributor to the failure of strategies. While securing middle managers’ commitment to the implementation of strategy is essential for the successful delivery of an organisation’s strategy, few empirical studies shed light on the antecedent conditions for managerial commitment to the implementation of an organisation’s business strategy. Especially, the impact of psychological foundations of middle management’s behaviour is largely ignored. Drawing from self-determination theory, this study set out to test the general hypothesis that middle managers’ affective attachment to the organisation and perceived psychological empowerment will have a direct effect on their commitment to implement their organisation’s business strategy. Besides identifying the strategic roles that middle managers play in the implementation of business strategy, this study established a direct positive link between affective organisational commitment, psychological empowerment and the commitment to strategy implementation, thus addressing a gap identified in the extant literature. The support for the hypothesised positive relationships, and the corroboration of such relationships at a qualitative level (via the dialectical synthesis), suggest that both affective organisational commitment and psychological empowerment have a direct positive influence on the commitment to strategy implementation. In addition, the study uncovered the behavioural mechanisms underlying the direct positive influence of managerial psychological states on the commitment to strategy implementation. The strategy implementation-supportive behaviours deriving from the genuine affective attachment to the organisation and perceived psychological empowerment suggest the motivational prospects of these managerial psychological states. From a practical perspective, the outcome of this study enhances our understanding of the critical roles that middle managers play in the strategy implementation process, thus enabling senior organisational leaders to provide the required executive leadership support in influencing middle managers in the enactment of such roles. In addition, being aware of the motivational prospect of the affective attachment to the organisation and psychological empowerment, senior management should pay attention to influencing antecedent conditions that shape middle managers’ affective commitment to the organisation and perceived psychological empowerment.