Leadership style, organizational culture and performance: empirical evidence from UK companies

The topics of leadership and organizational culture have attracted consider able interest from both academics and practitioners. Much of the interest i n the two areas is based on explicit and implicit claims that both leadersh ip and culture are linked to organizational performance. However, while the links between leadership and performance and between culture and performan ce have been examined independently, few studies have investigated the asso ciation between the three concepts. This paper examines the nature of this relationship and presents empirical evidence which suggests that the relati onship between leadership style and performance is mediated by the form of organizational culture that is present. The paper concludes with a number o f implications for theory and practice.