Transformational Leadership and Employee Performance in Indonesian Public-Sector Organisations: The Sequential Mediating Roles of Work Motivation and Job Satisfaction
Abstract
This study examines the influence of transformational leadership on employee performance, with work motivation and job satisfaction serving as sequential mediators, using data from 145 civil servant respondents employed at the Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) Agency of West Sumatra Province, Indonesia. The research adopts a quantitative causal design grounded in Porter and Lawler's (1968) Expectancy Theory and employs Partial Least Squares–Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) via SmartPLS 4.0. The findings reveal that transformational leadership exerts a positive and significant direct effect on work motivation (β = 0.652, p < 0.001), job satisfaction (β = 0.681, p < 0.001), and employee performance (β = 0.268, p = 0.003). Work motivation (β = 0.312, p < 0.001) and job satisfaction (β = 0.356, p < 0.001) each independently and significantly predict employee performance. Mediation analyses confirm that work motivation mediates the leadership–performance relationship (indirect β = 0.259, p < 0.001) and job satisfaction mediates the same relationship (indirect β = 0.270, p < 0.001). Crucially, a significant sequential mediation path through work motivation followed by job satisfaction is established (indirect β = 0.189, p < 0.001), offering the strongest mechanistic account of the indirect effect. The model explains 68.2% of the variance in employee performance (R² = 0.682). These findings extend Expectancy Theory to a public-sector bureaucratic context and provide actionable guidance for human resource practitioners seeking to enhance civil servant performance through transformational leadership development, equitable reward systems, and targeted motivational interventions. employee performance · Expectancy Theory · job satisfaction · public sector · sequential mediation · transformational leadership · work motivation