Transformational Leadership, Digital Human Capital, and Academic Entrepreneurship: Testing the Mediating Role of Organizational Commitment

Abstract

Introduction: Private higher education institutions face pressure to transform leadership quality and digital capability into academic entrepreneurship, but the motivational pathway remains unclear. This study examines whether Organizational Commitment mediates the associations of Transformational Leadership and Digital Human Capital with Academic Entrepreneurship among permanent lecturers in two Schools of Economics in Bekasi, Indonesia. Novelty: Previous Indonesian studies have not examined these resources, Organizational Commitment, and Academic Entrepreneurship within a single mediation model. This study compares the measurement specification with an item-dropped sensitivity model to evaluate measurement quality effects on conclusions. Methods: A quantitative cross-sectional census involved 79 permanent lecturers from two institutions (37 from STIE A and 42 from STIE B). Data from a Likert questionnaire were analyzed using SEM-PLS in SmartPLS 4, including measurement assessment, R², f², inner VIF, and 5,000-resample BCa bootstrapping for direct and indirect effects. Results: In the model, Transformational Leadership and Digital Human Capital were positively associated with Academic Entrepreneurship and Organizational Commitment, while Organizational Commitment and indirect effects were not significant. After removing four indicators, reliability and collinearity improved. Transformational Leadership paths and Digital Human Capital–Organizational Commitment remained significant, whereas Digital Human Capital–Academic Entrepreneurship effects became non-significant. Conclusion: Organizational Commitment was not supported as a mediator. Institutions should connect leadership and digital capability development with innovation opportunities, infrastructure, incentives, and collaboration while interpreting findings cautiously due to cross-sectional design, self-reported data, and construct overlap.