Linking Distributed Leadership to Organizational Citizenship Behavior in Turkish Software Development Companies: The Mediating Role of Work Engagement

This research examines how distributed leadership shapes organizational citizenship behavior within Türkiye’s software development sector, with work engagement positioned as a mediating variable. As authority disperses from a singular leader toward a collective, collaborative framework, distributed leadership becomes ever more salient in agile, knowledge-intensive businesses such as software development. Data were collected through an online questionnaire completed by 273 software practitioners positioned in different locations in Türkiye. The sample encompassed a spectrum of occupational roles, educational attainments, and professional longevity, thereby reflecting the sector’s heterogeneous character. Results highlight that higher levels of distributed leadership are associated with higher work engagement and organizational citizenship behavior. A major distributed leadership impact on organizational citizenship behavior is channeled through work engagement, which underscores the cognitive and affective pathways through which distributed leadership facilitates organizational citizenship behavior. These findings contribute to the leadership literature by showing how distributed leadership takes advantage of intrinsic motivation and discretionary effort, particularly in highly innovative and collaborative environments, and they align with results reported in previous studies on leadership, engagement, and citizenship behavior. From a managerial perspective, the study recommends the promotion of shared decision-making and engagement as means to enhance work engagement. This research fills a critical gap as it is the first empirical study to test the mediating role of work engagement in the relationship between distributed leadership and organizational citizenship behavior within Türkiye’s software development companies.