Impact of managerial coaching skills on employee commitment: the role of personal learning

Abstract

Purpose Managerial coaching has been popularized as a way of motivating, developing and retaining employees in organizations. Yet, there has been a lack of empirical studies to examine the linkage between managerial coaching and its potential impact on employees. This study aims to investigate the interrelationships among managerial coaching, employees’ personal learning and organizational commitment. This study also attempts to revise an existing instrument for measuring coaching skills in organizations created by McLean et al. (2005) to assess managers’ coaching skills. Design/methodology/approach Data analyzes were based on 187 employees of a top global technology organization headquartered in the USA. The existing instrument for measuring coaching skills was revised and confirmed through a series of efforts including expert reviews, pilot tests and assessing its reliability and validity. Structural equation modeling was used to examine the relationships among managerial coaching skills and employees’ personal learning and organizational commitment. Findings This study identified five dimensions of managerial coaching skills and validated the revised instrument measuring coaching skills in organizations. It also demonstrated that managers’ utilization of managerial coaching skills had a direct effect on employees’ learning and organizational commitment and impacted employees’ organizational commitment through personal learning. Originality/value This study examined the interrelationships among managerial coaching and employees’ personal learning and organizational commitment in organizations. In doing so, this study unveiled the process of how managers’ coaching affects employees’ development and attitudes at work. This study also identified five coaching skills as a tool to assess the level of managerial coaching.