Work Attitude and Employee Performance: Evaluating the Mediating Effect of Work Discipline at the Tebing Tinggi District Attorney’s Office

Abstract

This study analyzes the effect of work attitude on employee performance, with work discipline as a mediating variable, at the Tebing Tinggi District Attorney’s Office. Empirical evidence suggests that civil servants in the public prosecution service have positive self-perceptions about their roles, viewing themselves as highly compliant with bureaucratic regulations and able of maintain strong work discipline to sustain overall organizational performance. This quantitative study adopted a Structural Equation Modeling based on Partial Least Squares (SEM-PLS) approach, utilizing a sample of 55 civil servants at the Tebing Tinggi District Attorney’s Office. The study collected data through structured questionnaires and analyzed them using SmartPLS. The findings show that work attitude positively and significantly affects both employee performance and work discipline. Furthermore, work discipline significantly enhances employee performance. The mediation analysis confirms that work discipline significantly mediates the relationship between work attitude and employee performance. These findings emphasize that a positive work attitude rooted in rule compliance and self-belief can optimize employee performance only when consistently translated into disciplined daily behaviors. This study offers practical insights for prosecutorial leadership in formulating civil servant coaching and discipline management strategies to sustain high-quality public service performance.