The Mediating Effect of Organizational Commitment in the Impact of Transformational Leadership Style on Employee Performance: A Study of Divisional Secretariats in the Jaffna District

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine the mediating effects of organizational commitment on the relationship between transformational leadership style and employees’ job performance in the Divisional Secretariats in Jaffna District. 287 employees were selected for this study. Leadership styles were measured using MLQ Rater Form 5-x, employee performance was measured using job performance Scale and organizational commitment was measured using Organizational Commitment Questionnaire. Exploratory factor analysis was performed to get factor structure and confirmatory factor analysis performed to confirm the validly and reliability of the study instruments. The results revealed that transformational leadership has a positive impact on job performance and on organizational commitment. It was also found that organizational commitment doesn’t have a mediating effect in the impact of transformational leadership on employee performance. The findings also revealed that organizational commitment doesn’t have impact on employee performance. This study recommends that the leaders should pay more attention in their leadership style as a way to improve employee performance. This study further suggests that future researchers should cover larger samples and the other public sector organizations to better understand the relationship between the variables.