The link between transformational leadership and work-related performance: moderated-mediating roles of meaningfulness and job characteristics

Abstract

Purpose

Based on the job characteristics theory (Oldham and Hackman, 2010), the authors highlighted the mediating role of job meaningfulness as a critical psychological state. Employees' positive perception of job meaningfulness could maximize organizational positive outcomes based on task orientation and trustful relationship-based satisfying behaviors. The purpose of this paper is to examine the structural relations among transformational leadership, job characteristics, job meaningfulness and task-related job performance. The conceptual model of this paper is developed based on the theoretical foundations for assessing mediating and moderating path relations among the exogenous and endogenous variables.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on the research questions with literature review, the research framework was developed to show the moderated mediating mechanism of the link between transformational leadership and in-role performance. Data analyses for hypothesis testing were conducted by Hayes' PROCESS macro-based hierarchical regression.

Findings

Understanding how organizations can optimally design a job based on job characteristics and helping employees maintain psychological states having meaningfulness and responsibility for outcomes are critical. This paper calls attention to how job characteristics and an individual's meaningfulness of work embedded in a given job play a role in influencing job performance.

Originality/value

This study provides a snapshot for examining the job characteristic model on the link between leadership and job performance. By using process analysis (Hayes, 2013), this study examined the moderating role of job characteristics and mediating role of meaningfulness at work in the link of leadership–performance.

Citation

Han, S.-H., Oh, E.G. and Kang, S.“. (2020), "The link between transformational leadership and work-related performance: moderated-mediating roles of meaningfulness and job characteristics", Leadership & Organization Development Journal, Vol. 41 No. 4, pp. 519-533. https://doi.org/10.1108/LODJ-04-2019-0181