ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Psychol., 06 April 2022

Sec. Organizational Psychology

Volume 13 - 2022 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.831060

The Impact of Transformational Leadership on Affective Organizational Commitment and Job Performance: The Mediating Role of Employee Engagement

  • 1. College of Teacher Education, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua, China

  • 2. China University of Political Science and Law, Beijing, China

  • 3. Treasurer Office, Lahore College for Women University, Lahore, Pakistan

  • 4. School of Management, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, China

  • 5. The Institute of Management Sciences, PAK AIMS, Lahore, Pakistan

  • 6. Lyallpur Business School, Government College University, Faisalabad, Pakistan

Abstract

This study investigated the impact of transformational leadership on affective organizational commitment and job performance with the mediating role of employee engagement. This study gathered data from 845 hotel employees in China and the structural equation modeling technique was used to verify the results. The findings indicated that transformational leadership has a positive effect on affective organizational commitment and job performance. Meanwhile, results showed that employee engagement partially mediates in the relationship between transformational leadership, affective organizational commitment, and job performance. This study contributes to the research on transformational leadership in the Chinese hospitality sector and analyzes its effects on work performance metrics. Furthermore, theoretical and practical implications were also discussed in this article.

Introduction

Leadership plays an important role in growing organizations and individual job performance (; ). In particular, a leader must provide his/her followers with what they need to be effective and move toward a common vision (; Zhao and Zhou, 2019). Transformational leadership represents a leadership style that covert subordinates to see beyond self-interest by changing their confidence and interest to perform beyond expectations (; ). Transformational leadership is a crucial element for organizations that are willing to anticipate fundamental transitions to have an adequate environment for positive or adaptive changes through the effective process (; ). Leaders’ action as transformational acting as learning support is nearly linked to the culture of affective organizational commitment (; ).

Looking into previous literature the authors have examined the studies on transformational leadership and organizational performance (), employee innovative behavior (; ), and counterproductive work behavior (; ) in the context of banking, education, and health sectors. The research on the hospitality industry is empirically less explored. Hospitality employees are regarded as the most unique and valuable asset and the most costly investment of the hotel entities (). In the developing countries, such as Korea, China, Vietnam, and Thailand, hospitality jobs do not seem attractive to high-quality personnel () due to several limitations, such as low wage (), few career promotion opportunities, and high physical and/or emotional stress from work (e.g., long periods of standing or sitting, dealing with many customer complaints). In addition, hospitality jobs do not merit a high social status, unlike high-tech jobs, in society at large ().

Prior studies demonstrated the role of authentic (), servant (), and transformational leadership on job satisfaction and innovative work behavior (; ). According to , transformational leaders are capable of allowing individuals to work collectively and transcend their self-interests through many transformational leadership dimensions such as charisma, intellectual stimulation, individualized consideration, and inspirational motivation. Transformational leadership holds an important and well-built impact on affective organizational commitment ().

Existing studies remarked the activist part of transformational leadership on job attitude and proactive behavior () and a few studies try to identify the relationship between transformational leadership, employee engagement, and affective organizational commitment. Transformational leadership provides a positive result to employee job performance (), as transactional leadership looks too weak commitment of employee and their satisfaction (), discovering transformational leadership predicting to examine the performance and work-related helpful behaviors are critical for employees of the hospitality industry (; ). A few articles were found in journals of hospitality that examined the relationship between transformational leadership, employee engagement, affective organizational commitment, and job performance ().

Besides, research specifies the characteristics of transformational leaders such as idealize intelligent stimulus and individualized reflection are significantly associated with intellectual, expressive, and social engagement of employees (). The existing study indicated that transformational leadership and employee engagement had a significant effect on job performance with the mediating role of employee engagement (). Yet, few empirical studies have examined to explore in which way transformational leadership could enhance the intensity of employee engagement that gives affective organizational commitment (; ). Therefore, there is a research need to predict the influence of transformational leadership on the employee to improve their job performance in the hospitality sector of China.

This study contributes to the literature in the following perspectives; at first existing research indicated employee engagement holds a crucial role to control the behavior of leaders on subordinate attitude and performance (; ). Second, employee engagement as a mediator helps employees to improve their performance to achieve a competitive advantage. Thirdly, prior research indicated that there is a lack of research that explores transformational leadership on job performance and affective organizational commitment in the literature of Asian context (; ). Accordingly, this study aims to investigate the impacts of transformational leadership on job performance and affective organizational commitment, and also the mediating effect of employee engagement on their relationships.

Theory and Hypotheses Development

Theoretical Support

Numerous researchers argued that the role of the job demands—resources model and social exchange theory (SET) in transformational leadership is to make the casual relationship between subordinate and leader for the building of shared harmony (; ). Employee engagement and intensity of their affective organizational commitment are linked to support transformational leadership and their ideas to enhance job performance (). Existing research revealed that the constructive link of transformational leadership to the attitude and performance of an employee is positively associated with each other (). Transformational leadership is a vital channel for the encouragement of affective organizational commitment of employees and job performance with the mediation role of employee engagement.

Hypotheses Development

Transformational Leadership and Affective Organizational Commitment

Transformational leadership has been identified as an important contributing factor in the development of affective organizational commitment (). The relationship between the leader and follower has been developed when transformational leaders use individual consideration to meet follower’s needs, transcend economic transactions, and contribute to long organizational tenure and strong commitment (). Previous researchers indicated that transformational leadership is the best predecessor of affective organizational commitment (). Affective organizational commitment describes “the state of emotional connection so that committed employee recognizes with, concerned and take pleasure of being of the organization”(; ). Affective organizational commitment is more linked than normative or continuance commitment to the organization and employee’s relevant outcomes because it is related to an individual’s intrinsic motivation, whereas normative and continuance commitment is associated with the feeling of obligation or pressure ().

demonstrated the relationship between transformational leadership and affective organizational commitment. From the Chinese perspective, an intellectual leader holds more power on affective commitment as compared with the continuance commitment. Chinese affective commitment is being considered as the sole gauge for organizational commitment (). The existing study argued that there is a positive correlation between transformational leadership and affective organizational commitment (). Hence, this study hypothesized;

  • H1: Transformational leadership has a positive effect on affective organizational commitment.

Transformational Leadership and Job Performance

The relationship between transformational leadership and job performance was examined by prior researchers (). To enhance employee performance, transformational leadership support employees for persistence and sympathy in work duties (). Transformational leaders help to satisfy employees at work psychologically and keep them happy, resultantly enhancing employees’ job performance (). Transformational leadership defines as proactive behavior, raising awareness of the common interests of followers, and helping followers achieve goals at the highest level. Transformational leadership is a leader who can inspire, motivate, and give a great influence to his followers to do more work than expected and put aside personal interests for the benefit of the organization ().

An existing study discovered the constructive relationship among transformational leadership, employee innovative behavior, and attitude regarding perceived results (). Furthermore, as compared with the other leadership styles such as ethical leadership, authentic leadership, servant leadership, transformational leadership had a significant influence on employee’s performance (), because transformational leadership holds manifold characteristics including moral values (; ). Transformational leadership has proved to be an important tool for the employees.

From the Chinese organizational perspective, the transformational leadership constructs reliability face issues regarding the traditional way of leadership styles because of the quickly changing work environment (). Therefore, in a Chinese context, transformational leadership is considered a vital medium to encourage the attitude of an employee and their performance. Transformational leadership theory describes that the vision needs to be communicated by the leader, who needs to motivate and inspire the employees. Leaders are effective when they involve their employees in achieving the company’s vision by trusting and involving them in goal setting. The focus of a leader should be to support the employees and to encourage critical thinking (). Therefore, the following hypothesis is predicted;

  • H2: Transformational leadership has a positive effect on employee job performance.

Transformational Leadership and Employee Engagement

Prior research has discussed the behavior of transformational leadership and its impact on the degree of employees engagement (; ; ). The previous study revealed that transformational leadership significantly influenced job engagement (). A transformational leader can encourage employee engagement, defined as an individual employee’s cognitive, emotional, and behavioral state directed toward desired organizational outcomes, by fostering his/her subordinates’ positive behaviors and attitudes toward work, and also supporting their self-efficacy to the challenging vision and goal ().

Transformational leadership behaviors are stimulating employee engagement and provide a clear vision that can help employees to internalize the organization’s goals and understand how valuable their contributions are toward achieving this vision (). Subsequently, the employees may become engaged because they are certain about the connections between their efforts and the future of their organization. Intellectual stimulation involves leaders challenging employees to critically examine situations and find creative solutions to organizational problems (). Such leader behavior may not only influence employees’ perceptions that the job is more challenging but also their perceptions of autonomy in the work climate because employees are given the flexibility to solve problems using novel methods (). Taken together, increased perceptions of challenge and autonomy can activate employees intrinsically, and thus, may increase employee engagement (). Therefore, we hypothesized;

  • H3: Transformational leadership has a positive effect on employee engagement.

Employee Engagement and Affective Organizational Commitment

The studies conducted in the Western context demonstrated a positive relationship between employee engagement and affective organizational commitment (). argued that with the enhancement of employee engagement and organizational commitment gets heightened. Furthermore, the job demand-resource model explains that engagement at work is much more effective than job demand in predicting organizational commitment since the latter predisposes an employee toward more professional and emotional exhaustion and ultimately leads to burnout (). The previous investigation also indicates that a work environment that provides psychological safety and meaning ensures the commitment of the employees toward their organizations ().

An existing study found that helpful relation of employee engagement is positively associated with affective commitment (; ). Meanwhile, research directed in the hospitality sector confirmed that corporate social responsibility and employee engagement are the positive antecedent of affective organizational commitment (). Most of the studies on employee engagement and organizational commitments are predominantly based on the Western organizational setup and have used Western samples (). In the Indian context, , have tested the factors of commitment on the ground of performance among employees to understand the level of engagement among their executives. described engagement as a form of commitment that is determined by the number of mutual efforts placed by the employees and the organizational development. Thus, the following hypothesis is predicted;

  • H4: Employee engagement has a positive effect on affective organizational commitment.

Employee Engagement and Job Performance

Employee engagement has been defined in different ways depending upon the context, in which it has been discussed. The definition of engagement revolves around specific attributes of the employee attitude (involvement, loyalty, and commitment) and employee behavior (such as taking initiatives and productivity levels) (Young et al., 2018). Many researchers identified employee engagement as a “psychological condition in work with three features including emotional, cognitive, and behavior vigor”(; ). Prior scholars argued that employee engagement is a positive indicator that impacts job performance (; ). Engaged employees are very much attached to their work duties and subordinate that ultimately bring employee performance ().

Employees are capable enough to perform in the extra role when they are engaged. provided a comprehensive definition of employee engagement “as a positive, fulfilling work-related state of mind and is characterized by vigor, dedication, and absorption.” Vigor is described as a high level of energy, while dedication is described as a mental resilience that involves being strongly involved in one’s work and to experience a sense of significance, enthusiasm, and absorption is depicted as bringing a concentrated and engrossed self in employees’ performance (). Employee engagement at work is a better predictor of their cognitive, emotional, and behavior output, as it depicts their efforts toward the organization’s objectives by making them engage in a better way (; ). Thus, this study offers a subsequent hypothesis;

  • H5: Employee engagement has a positive impact on job performance.

Mediating Role of Employee Engagement

Based on the job demands-resource (JD-R model) an employee’s engagement is enhanced by job resources and it can produce positive work outcomes (; ). Based on this JD-R model employee engagement has a mediating role in the relationship between job resources (). The behavior of leaders in the shape of transformational leadership indicates job resources toward employee engagement (). explained that job demand and resources impact the engagement of employees which in turn manipulates commitment toward the organization. Similarly, prior studies found that process of motivation like an instrument affects transformational leadership and performance through employee engagement (; ). examined employee engagement as a mediating construct in the connection between transformational leadership and turnover intention. established the view of employee engagement is playing a mediation role in the association between transformational leadership and job performance. Hence, we predicted the following hypotheses:

  • H6: Employee engagement positively mediates the relationship between transformational leadership and affective organizational commitment.

  • H7: Employee engagement positively mediates the relationship between transformational leadership and job performance.

Materials and Methods

The conceptual model depicting the relationships and hypothesis is given in Figure 1.

FIGURE 1

Sample and Data Collections

The nature of this study was cross-sectional and data were gathered from medium to upscale level (2–3 stars) hotels of Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces of China. The non-probability convenience sampling technique was used because it was convenient for researchers to get data from respondents. Before going to collect data, an official email and consent letter was sent to the human resource department of the hotels. After the approval from the HR department, we visited hotels and gathered data from employees who expressed interest in participating to complete the questionnaire onsite. The data collection procedure was hectic and there was an issue of language communication, therefore, we took help from ten Chinese graduate students to facilitate the researchers in the data collection process. To secure the anonymity and confidentiality of the data, we ensured the participants that their answers were treated solely and not used for any other purpose. Moreover, we distributed 1,000 paper–pencil questionnaires among hotel staff and 900 completed surveys obtained. After the initial screening with the help of statistical software 55 questionnaires were discarded because of the incomplete forms of responses. Thus, 845 valid responses were incorporated for further analysis. The participants were (58.6%) male and (41.4%) female. Also, the highest number of the respondents (57.0%) was aged between 18 and 30 years old, with (77.0%) of them married. The majority of the respondents (59.3%) had a hospitality and hotel management diploma degree and (49.8%) of the participants were working in the hotel industry since 3 years.

Instrument Development

The questionnaire was divided into two parts. The first part comprised of transformational leadership, employee engagement, affective organizational commitment, and job performance. The transformational leadership scale was based on () scale. It comprises of 8 items. An example item was “my supervisor encourages me to think about problems from a new perspective.” The Cronbach’s alpha for transformational leadership was (0.960). Moreover, employee engagement was measured using 7 item scale used by . A sample item “I am proud of the work that I do.” The Cronbach’s alpha for employee engagement was (0.967). Affective organizational commitment was assessed using 6 items scale and adopted from the study of . A sample item “I feel the problems of this organization as my problems.” The Cronbach’s alpha for affective organizational commitment was (0.911). Job performance was measured using 5 items scale and adopted from the study of . A sample item “performs tasks that are expected of him/her.” The Cronbach’s alpha for job performance was (0.917). All the measurement constructs were rated using seven-point Likert scales ranging (from 1 = strongly disagree to 7 = strongly agree) and these measures are already tested and validated by others researchers (; ). Furthermore, the second part contained the demographical information of the participants such as gender, age, education, marital status, and experience.

Results

Data Analysis Technique

The data were analyzed using the smart-partial least squares (PLS) software version 3.0. This software is currently considered as one of the suitable software to apply PLS structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) (). PLS-SEM was recommended in most business management studies (; ). This method is preferred for theory testing and confirmation and is appropriate for checking the existence of complex relationships. PLS-SEM allows the construction of a research paradigm based on a theory that involves transforming theories and concepts into unmeasured variables (latent) and practical concepts into metrics, all of which are connected by a theory or hypothesis (). recommended that the PLS-SEM model should be assessed in three phases: identifying the global model assessment, checking the measurement model’s validity, and analyzing the relevance of the routes inside the structural equation model.

Measurement Model

To test the reliability of constructs the Cronbach’s alpha, composite reliability (CR) and average variance extracted (AVE) values were assessed. According to , the criterion for ensuring the CR is that all the values must be higher than 0.80. All the values of CR are given in Table 1 and lie between the ranges of 0.931–0.973, which confirms the CR of all of the constructs. Moreover, the Cronbach’s alpha for all he constructs was also above the threshold value of 0.70 suggested by . Furthermore, the AVE criterion allows its value to be greater than 0.50 (). Therefore, Table 1 shows that the AVE values of the constructs were ranged from 0.692 to 0.838 and met the criteria. Prior researchers argue that if the values of AVE are above than an acceptable level of 0.50, it indicates adequate convergent validity.

TABLE 1

Variable and constructsLoadingsαrho_ACRAVEVIF
Transformational leadership0.9600.9600.9670.784
TL10.9442.886
TL20.8152.450
TL30.9202.675
TL40.8593.426
TL50.8364.274
TL60.9273.160
TL70.9412.780
TL80.8323.550
Employee engagement0.9670.9680.9730.838
EE10.8174.412
EE20.9333.093
EE30.9452.566
EE40.9444.579
EE50.9563.468
EE60.9562.102
EE70.8462.742
Affective organizational commitment0.9110.9140.9310.692
AC10.8482.676
AC20.8492.573
AC30.8352.270
AC40.7982.175
AC50.8182.244
AC60.8432.756
Job performance0.9170.9200.9380.752
JP10.8502.473
JP20.8492.598
JP30.8642.854
JP40.8863.140
JP50.8843.039

Measurement model.

α, Cronbach’s alpha; CR, Composite Reliability; AVE, Average Variance Extracted; VIF, Variance inflation factor. TL, Transformational leadership; EE, Employee engagement; AC, Affective organizational commitment; JP, Job performance.

In addition, discriminant validity was calculated using the Fornell–Larcker criterion as findings are shown in Table 2. The findings show that constructs’ correlations with each other and below the square roots of their AVE (). Besides, the discriminant validity was also assessed using heterotrait-monotrait (HTMT) criteria (). Table 3 results indicate that HTMT values were satisfactory and below the threshold of 0.85 as suggested by . We also calculated the variance inflation factors (VIFs) for all constructs in our model to test for multicollinearity. All the VIF values were below 3.525, lower than the threshold of 5, indicating no concerns regarding multicollinearity issues in the data (). Finally, Harman’s single factor test was used to check for common method bias in the data. According to Harman’s technique, common method bias exists when one factor emerges from factor analysis and explains more than 50% of the variance (). We used the rotated solution to transfer all of the items into a one-factor analysis, yielding four factors; the first factor’s eigenvalue explains 30.61% of the variance (less than 50%). As a result, this study does not have an issue of common method bias.

TABLE 2

ACEEJPTL
AC0.832
EE0.3910.915
JP0.4910.3890.867
TL0.4080.4220.4650.886

Table Fornell–Larcker criterion.

TL, Transformational leadership; EE, Employee engagement; AC, Affective organizational commitment; JP, Job performance. Items with diagonals are the square root of the AVE. Items under diagonals are the correlations.

TABLE 3

ACEEJPTL
AC
EE0.413
JP0.5340.408
TL0.5430.4360.494

Heterotrait-monotrait (HTMT) criterion.

TL, Transformational leadership; EE, Employee engagement; AC, Affective organizational commitment; JP, Job performance.

Structural Model

The structural model was evaluated through the 5,000 bootstrap method with the help of Smart-PLS software. The fitness of the structural model was assessed by the standardized root mean squares residual (SRMR) value. According to , a good structural model should have below the 0.08 SRMR value. Therefore, the findings from the structural model show a (0.049) value of SRMR that was acceptable below the threshold. Moreover, to assess the value of R2, the structural model explained (17%) variance in employee engagement, (22%) variance in affective organizational commitment, and (26%) variance in job performance. As suggested by prior researchers, the value of R2 and Q2 should be > 0.10 or zero (). Furthermore, Figure 2 results indicate that the values of R2 and Q2 are greater than the threshold value. Hence, the structural model was acceptable and met the criteria for further analysis.

FIGURE 2

Furthermore, we tested hypotheses relationships and results are shown in Table 4 and Figure 3. To test H1, we found that transformational leadership had a positive and significant effect on affective organizational commitment (β = 0.296, t = 5.467, p = 0.001). Therefore, H1 was accepted. Meanwhile, we tested H2 and found that transformational leadership had a significant impact on job performance (β = 0.367, t = 7.149, p = 0.001). Consequently, H2 was supported. In addition, we hypothesized H3 and results indicate that transformational leadership had a positive influence on employee engagement (β = 0.422, t = 6.820, p = 0.001). Thus, H3 was accepted. Besides, we tested H4 and the results illustrate that employee engagement had a positive effect on affective organizational commitment (β = 0.266, t = 4.917, p = 0.001). So, H4 was supported. At last, H5 findings show that employee engagement had a significant impact on job performance (β = 0.234, t = 4.994, p = 0.001). Hence, H5 was also accepted.

TABLE 4

HypothesesRelationshipsβTpR2 = EE 0.178; AC = 0.225; JP = 0.261 Q2 = EE 0.145; AC = 0.151; JP = 0.191
H1TL—> AC0.2965.4670.001
H2TL—> JP0.3677.1490.001
H3TL—> EE0.4226.8200.001
H4EE—> AC0.2664.9170.001
H5EE—> JP0.2344.9940.001

Table Path coefficients (direct effects).

TL, Transformational leadership; EE, Employee engagement; AC, Affective organizational commitment; JP, Job performance.

FIGURE 3

Mediation Analysis

To test the indirect effect of employee engagement in the relationship between transformational leadership, affective organizational commitment, and job performance, the results of H6 and H7 are given in Table 5, which indicates that employee engagement had an indirect positive influence on the relationship between transformational leadership, affective organizational commitment, and job performance with standardized path coefficients (β = 0.112, t = 3.445, p = 0.001; β = 0.099, t = 3.399, p = 0.001). Likewise, to assess partial and full mediation effect, we followed the () approach using the variance accounted for (VAF) and analyzed the direct, indirect, and total effects. According to this method, if the value of VAF is between 20 and 80%, it presents partial mediation and if the value of VAF is more than 80%, there is full mediation that exists between the variables. Thus, Table 6 findings show that the value of VAF is below 80%, which presents partial mediation. Hence, H6 and H7 were accepted.

TABLE 5

HypothesesRelationshipβtp
H6TL- > EE- > AC0.1123.4450.001
H7TL- > EE- > JP0.0993.3990.000

Specific indirect effects.

TL, Transformational leadership; EE, Employee engagement; AC, Affective organizational commitment; JP, Job performance.

TABLE 6

Exogenous variableDirect effectIndirect effectTotal effectVAF (%)MediationEndogenous variable
TL0.2960.1120.40827.5%Partial mediationAC
TL0.3670.0990.46621.2%Partial mediationJP

Mediation analysis (employee engagement as a mediator).

TL, Transformational leadership; EE, Employee engagement; AC, Affective organizational commitment, JP, Job performance.

Discussion

This study attempts to identify the role of transformational leadership as a key variable along with two dependent variables affective organizational commitment and job performance with the mediating effect of employee engagement. All the hypotheses results were verified. Prior studies revealed that transformational leadership and job performance positively affect employee engagement and affective organizational commitment (; ). This result is also in line with prior researchers who argue that the transformational leaders help each other to advance a higher level of morale and motivation that engage employees in the organization (; ). This study finding demonstrated that employee engagement has an essential predictor and transformational leadership could improve employee affective organizational commitment and job performance if the intensity of employees’ engagement is higher in the organizations (). The findings of prior study found a partial mediating effect of employee engagement in the relationship between transformational leadership and job performance. A previous study found transformative leadership had no direct effect on job performance () it should be mentioned that to improve job performance more emphasis should be paid to supporting an engaged workforce. Results verify regarding employee engagement role is crucial for the transformational leadership behavior and performance outcome of employees, reliable with prior researcher’s findings (; ).

Theoretical Implications

Transformational leadership is influenced by numerous theoretical frameworks, such as leadership and followership and SET that focus on two-way communication among leaders and followers to build mutual respect. In this study, we have confirmed that employee engagement, their level of affective commitment, and job performance are related to supportive leadership, mutually respectful relationships, and positive group processes in organizations. Whereas previous studies investigated the positive relationship of transformational leadership with employee attitude and performance separately (; ), this study confirmed that transformational leadership is the key catalyst in both encouraging employee affective commitment and job performance throughout the mediator, employee engagement. Moreover, based on the job demand resources (JD-R), results also specify that transformational leadership is an imperative job resource that influences employee work-related behavior (). Furthermore, our results signify the action of a transformational leader is measured such as encouraging resources of job. Reciprocal positive relations among leaders and subordinates could bring constructive links in our structure of the model.

Managerial Implications

This study provides practical contributions for policymakers, researchers, and hospitality managers. At first, it is concluded that leaders in an organization exhibit transformational leadership, which affects the perception of the employee to their responsibility and work resultantly direct to high-affective organizational commitment and job performance. So, hospitality managers require multilevel intervention leadership sessions or programs, one on one instruction for the establishment of required skills of transformational leadership for supporting workforce motivation, out-of-the-box thinking, and employee’s well-being. Being the holder of such kind of association, leaders improve skills of the transformational leadership that might expect to enhance motivation, engagement, and performance level of employees.

Second, various studies illustrated many factors that could develop employee engagement; this study attempt centered explicitly behavior and attitude of a leader that could support employees to be engaged in their work. To build transformational leadership associations, the organization will be able to establish significant results out as engaged employees. To develop better supervisory relations, staff connections help to support commitment toward the organization. For an instant, when employee and leader coach conferences create, it could bring trust and motivation among employees to achieve competitive advantage.

Third, this study results revealed the mediating role of employee engagement as crucial to support leader and employee outcome. So, it is an organizational requirement to establish a conducive atmosphere for work that upholds employee engagement. Specifically, practitioners of the hospitality industry could contribute to a constructive work environment to support employees, trust, and honor. Besides this, organizations can offer numerous resources of the job such as support from supervisor, the autonomy of the job, and positive feedback which could advance employee engagement. Hospitality industry managers could be helpful for the organizations to identify job resource value and discover for management to enhance job autonomy and meeting regarding employee successful performance.

Limitations and Future Research Directions

This study argued that proper leadership could support and guide employees to engage in work; however, we do not know what kinds of other leadership behaviors are appropriate to facilitate employee engagement, commitment, and performance. Future researchers can examine other leadership styles (e.g., empowering leadership) that may impact employee engagement by adding those into the structural model. In addition, this study was conducted with organizations in China. The effects of differences in practice, organizational culture, and national culture may impact the results accordingly. Moreover, future research could explore other factors as turnover intention, conflict, and stress to investigate their effect on the relationship between transformational leadership and employee engagement.

Furthermore, this study result is based on the cross-sectional data and data were gathered from the two provinces of China, future research could use a method of longitudinal design to conduct a study among transformational leadership and insight of subordinate attitude, the performance of job, and engagement with large sample size. The relationship between affective organizational commitment and job performance was not tested in this study. A future study could test this relationship with the different samples. In addition, this study examined only the affective organizational commitment element and did not cover the other two factors of organizational commitment, e.g., continuance and normative commitment. Each factor could have a dissimilar influence on employee job-related behavior and performance. The addition of the other two components might have different results. According to , future researchers could examine a comparison of ethical, transactional, and transformational leadership regarding job performance and employee engagement.

Publisher’s Note

All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Statements

Data availability statement

The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be made available by the authors, without undue reservation.

Ethics statement

The studies involving human participants were reviewed and approved by the Jiangsu University, China. The patients/participants provided their written informed consent to participate in this study.

Author contributions

MM and MA proposed the research, analyzed the experimental results, and wrote the manuscript. ZW and FG designed and carried out the experiments. WJ and SG extensively edited and revised the manuscript. All authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version of the manuscript.

Funding

This study was supported by the Major Planning Program of the National Social Science Foundation (Grant No. 21ZDA019) and the Beijing Universities’ Collaborative Innovation Centre of Socialist Theory with Chinese Characteristics Research (The China University of Political Science and Law).

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

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Summary

Keywords

transformational leadership, employee engagement, affective organizational commitment, job performance, hospitality sector, China

Citation

Jiatong W, Wang Z, Alam M, Murad M, Gul F and Gill SA (2022) The Impact of Transformational Leadership on Affective Organizational Commitment and Job Performance: The Mediating Role of Employee Engagement. Front. Psychol. 13:831060. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.831060

Received

07 December 2021

Accepted

22 February 2022

Published

06 April 2022

Volume

13 - 2022

Edited by

Tahir Islam, Mohammad Ali Jinnah University, Pakistan

Reviewed by

Pouya Zargar, Girne American University, Cyprus; Ana Moreira, University Institute of Psychological, Social and Life Sciences (ISPA), Portugal

Updates

Copyright

*Correspondence: Zheng Wang,

This article was submitted to Organizational Psychology, a section of the journal Frontiers in Psychology

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All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

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