Transformational leadership and job performance of Maldives Civil Service employees, mediated by organisational commitment

• Date: 08 May 2023
• Pages: 271-287
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/IJPSM-09-2022-0198
• Published date: 08 May 2023
• Subject Matter: Public policy & environmental management,Politics,Public adminstration & management
• Author: Aminath Sudha,S.M. Ferdous Azam,Jacquline Tham

Transformational leadership and

job performance of Maldives Civil

Service employees, mediated by

organisational commitment

Aminath Sudha

MNU Business School, The Maldives National University, Male’, Maldives and

Postgraduate Centre, Management and Science University, Shah Alam,

Malaysia, and

S.M. Ferdous Azam and Jacquline Tham

Postgraduate Centre, Management and Science University, Shah Alam, Malaysia

Abstract

Purpose –Emerging research on public administration theory has highlighted the need for public sector

managers to become better leaders by inspiring andmo tivatingthem to align themselves with their organisation’s

mission and vision. Therefore, transformational leadership has become increasingly appealing in public

administration. This study investigates how transformationalleadershipaffectsthejobperformanceofthoseinthe

Maldives’civil service. Furthermore, it tests the mediation effect of organisational commitment on the relationship

between transformational leadership and the job performance of those workingin the Maldives’civilservice.

Design/methodology/approach –This study adopted a quantitative and cross-sectional design to collect

data from 370 employees from different Maldives civil service offices. Data were collected through an online

questionnaire, and structural equation modelling was used to test the hypotheses. The mediating effect was

tested using bootstrapping.

Findings –The results reveal that transformational leadership did not significantly affect job performance.

While a mediation effect was present, the effect size was within a small range.

Originality/value –The results of this study has important implications for the Maldives’civil service from a

human resource management perspectiveand provides insights to policymakers on how to improve leadership

in Maldives’civil service institutions. Furthermore, this study contributes significantly to the existing research

in understanding the effect of transformational leadership on public sector organisations in Asia and from a

developing country’s perspective.

Keywords Transformational leadership, Task performance, Adaptive performance, Commitment

Paper type Research paper

Introduction

Leadership is an essential element vis-

a-vis influencing employee attitude and behaviour and

plays a significant role in achieving a competitive edge and organisational goals (Park et al.,

2021). In this regard, transformational leadership has emerged as a dominant leadership

theory (Peng et al., 2020) and is considered an important determinant of job performance

(S€

ur€

uc€

uet al., 2022). Therefore, research on public administration has presented critical

empirical findings on how transformational leadership affects employee motives, attitudes

and behaviours, especially how it can improve job performance (Bell

e, 2013;Caillier, 2014;

Moynihan et al., 2014;Fan et al., 2023;Wright et al., 2012).

Although the impact of transformational leadership on employee attitude and

performance has been explored, limited research has been conducted in different

contextual settings, especially in Asia (Fan et al., 2023). Additionally, the public sector in a

small island nation faces challenges, such as a lack of resources, bureaucracy and frustrated

employees. Furthermore, the state of democracy observed in the context of the Maldives has

created a more politicised environment, resulting in appointing political appointees to the

ministerial hierarchy to oversee the job functions of civil service employees (Faizal and

Maldives Civil

Service

Employees

271

The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:

https://www.emerald.com/insight/0951-3558.htm

Received 14 September 2022

Revised 22 February 2023

22 March 2023

Accepted 13 April 2023

International Journal of Public

Sector Management

Vol. 36 No. 3, 2023

pp. 271-287

© Emerald Publishing Limited

0951-3558

DOI 10.1108/IJPSM-09-2022-0198

Laking, 2019). This creates an interesting scenario unique to the context of the Maldives to

understand the impact of transformational leadership on performance dimensions in the

context of the Maldives Civil Service, where both civil service and political managers exist in

the hierarchy of the Maldives Civil Service. Therefore, examining the direct effect of

transformational leadership on the job performance of Maldives’civil service employees will

address the research gap in a different context, in which the public sector is apparently more

politically charged. The boundaries between politics and administration seem blurred,

particularly when Senior civil ser vice officials may lack the authority in personal

management functions such as recruitment, promotion and termination, as this is subject

to political influence, as argued by Faizal and Laking (2019).

Additionally, researchers in the public administration literature call for more empirical

research on leadership in a different cultural context (Lauritzen et al., 2022) and from a South

Asian perspective (Hameduddin and Engbers, 2021), which is more diverse. However, most

South Asian Nations follow the Westminster Model of Government. When most countries in

South Asia often emphasise that collectivism and neutrality are compromised, although they

want to make public administration efficient (Jamil et al., 2019), it raises an important research

question of whether transformational leadership will be effective in this particular context,

which is apparently very different from Western developed countries. Thus, this study is an

important breakthrough in analysing this relationship in the context of a South Asian

country with a small island economy.

On the other hand, although previous research has explored the relationship between

transformational leadership and job performance/organisationalcommitment, limited research

has examined how these three variables jointly affect one another (Park et al.,2021).

Accordingly, this research addresses this limitation from the perspective of a South Asian

country and small island economy to analyse how transformational leadership affects

organisationalcommitment andthe job performance of civilservice employees in the Maldives.

Literature review and hypothesis development

Transformational leadership has become necessary in the public sector due to the emergence

of new public management practices and the complexity of public institutions. Therefore, it is

vital to understand how transformational leadership can be used as an effective tool to align

public sector employees’behaviours with the mission and vision of these public institutions.

A comprehensive analysis of the development of the transformational leadership theory is

presented, and the use of job performance in the specific context of this study is discussed.

The hypotheses of this study are as follows.

Transformational leadership and job performance

Burns (1978) claims, as stated in Bass et al. (1987), that the leadership process is either

transactional or transformational. Transactional leadership is contingent on rewards,

whereby the leader promises employees rewards based on their performance, provided that

they meet their performance targets (Bass et al., 1987). However, transformational leadership

focuses on increasing employee morale by intimating employees their value and significance

to the organisation. When long-term employment diminishes, work values shift towards

short-term employment and job shifts are expected. Transformational leadership is vital in

engendering responsible individuals who know their organisational role.

Bass (1999) made an interesting claim that transformational leadership enables employees

to move beyond the point of self-actualisation, which is to know the larger cause of one’s

existence. The claim that leadership can create a lasting impact on employees is debatable

(Gang et al., 2011). The theory of transformational leadership by Bass (1985), presented in his

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