코칭은 구성원이 성장할 수 있도록 필요한 지식, 기회 그리고 수단을 제공해 주는 과정으로 정의된다. 상사의 코칭은 구성원이 직면하고 있는 어려움을 해결할 수 있도록 도와주고, 나아가 조직이 추구하는 성과향상에도 중요한 요인으로 간주된다. 최근에는 상사의 기본 역량 중 하나로 주목받고 있다. 많은 선행연구에서 상사의 코칭행위가 구성원에게 미치는 긍정적인 효과를 주장하고 있다. 그러나 선행연구에서는 코칭행위의 직접효과를 다루고 있을 뿐 코칭행위의 메커니즘을 밝히려는 연구는 빈약하다. 따라서 본 연구는 상사의 코칭행위가 구성원의 정서적 몰입에 미치는 직접 영향을 살펴보고, 이들 관계에서 구성원의 상사에 대한 신뢰의 매개효과와 가부장적 리더십의 조절효과를 살펴보고자 한다. 실증연구를 위해 다양한 업종의 국내 기업에 재직 중인 직장인 250명을 대상으로 자기보고식 설문조사를 실시하였다. 회수된 설문지 중 불성실 응답을 제외 한 242부의 자료를 분석에 사용하였다. 실증분석 결과 첫째, 상사의 코칭행위는 구성원의 정서적 몰입에 정(+)의 영향을 미치는 것으로 나타났다. 둘째, 코칭행위와 정서적 몰입 관계에서 신뢰의 매개효과를 확인하였다. 셋째, 상사의 코칭행위와 구성원의 정서적 몰입 관계에서 가부장적 리더십의 조절효과가 확인되었다. 가부장적 리더십의 하위요인으로 보면 권위주의가 낮을수록, 자비심과 도덕성은 높을수록 코칭행위와 정서적 몰입의 정적 관계가 강하게 나타났다. 본 연구는 그 동안 선행연구에서 부족했던 코칭행위의 영향과 관련된 매개효과와 상황변수의 효과를 규명하였다는 점에서 의의가 있다. 또한 상사의 특성에 초점을 맞추어 코칭행위의 효과를 강화하거나 상쇄하는 변수를 탐색함으로써 코칭행위의 상황변수 영역을 확장하는 데 기여한다. 실무적으로, 조직 정서적 몰입 확보 등 구성원의 긍정적 태도 형성을 위해 상사의 코칭행위를 촉진할 필요성 있음을 시사하고 있으며, 이를 통해 구성원의 신뢰를 형성하는 것이 중요하다는 점을 강조한다. 또한 상사의 코칭행위의 긍정적 영향은 상사의 리더십스타일에 따라 영향을 받을 수 있다는 점을 고려해야 함을 보여준다. 마지막으로 실증연구결과를 바탕으로 연구의 한계점과 향후 연구방향을 제시하였다.
Coaching is defined as a process that provides the knowledge, opportunity, and means necessary for an individual to grow. Coaching helps to address the challenges facing members of an organization, and as such is considered an important factor in achieving the organization’s performance goals. Recently, coaching has been attracting attention as one of the basic competencies of supervisors. In leadership theory, the supervisor’s behavior is considered to be an important factor affecting team members in terms of job performance and motivation. Abusive supervision, which can be regarded as negative behavior by the leader, has been reported to be an important cause of low job performance and poor organizational commitment on the part of members. On the other hand, positive behaviors such as a leader’s authentic behavior and self-sacrificing positive behavior can make a positive change in the members’ job. In the same context, previous studies have described the positive effect of a leader’s coaching behavior on the members, but the effect of a leader’s behavior can be changed depending on the situation in which the leader and the members interact. In other words, previous studies deal with the direct effects of coaching, while research to identify the coaching mechanisms has been neglected. Therefore, this study was conducted to examine how the coaching behavior of the supervisor affects the affective commitment of the members, and to examine the mediating effect of the member’s trust in the supervisor in these relationships and the moderating effect of a parental leadership. Data were collected and analyzed through a self-reporting survey of 242 employees working at domestic companies in various industries. The empirical findings of the study are as follows: first, the coaching behavior is positively related with affective commitment. This means that members who benefit from the leader can be more engaged in the organization. This is because members recognize leaders as representatives for organizations. Second, we identified the mediating effect of the member’s trust in the relationship between coaching behavior and affective commitment. In other words, coaching behavior of the supervisor enhanced the trust of the members, leading the affective commitment of the member. Third, parental leadership moderated the relationship between coaching behavior and the affective commitment. Authoritarianism, a sub-factor of parental leadership, has a negative moderating effect on the relationship between coaching behavior and affective commitment. This finding is in line with the results of previous studies, in which the leader"s negative behaviors weaken the positive effect of leadership. On the other hand, benevolence and moral character, sub-factors of parental leadership, show a positive moderating effect on the relationship between coaching behavior and affective commitment. This implies that the positive influence of positive behaviors of leaders, such as coaching, may be greater depending on context variables such as leadership style. The theoretical implications of this study are as follows. First, it contributes to clarifying the mechanism of the effect of coaching behavior on performance. Second, it focuses on the characteristics of the supervisor and contributes to expanding the possible moderator by exploring the variables that enhance or offset the coaching effect. While previous studies exploring the contextual factors of coaching behavior generally consider variables that enhance the effectiveness of coaching behavior, it is necessary to explore the opposite factors - i.e., factors that inhibit the effects of coaching behavior - in order to expand coaching theory. The practical implications of this study are as follows. First, it stresses the necessity of promoting coaching behavior among managers in the organization. Second, it emphasizes the importance of supervisor trust. It is no exaggeration to say that leadership starts from forming trust with members. Third, the positive effect of a supervisor’s coaching behavior should be considered to be influenced by his or her leadership style. Based on the findings of this study and their implications, we discuss the limitations of this study and suggest directions for future research.