The effects of transformational leadership dimensions on employee performance in the hospitality industry in Malaysia

Brenda Ern Wei Teoh; Walton Wider; Abidah Saad; Toong Hai Sam; Asokan Vasudevan; Surianti Lajuma

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2022.913773

The effects of transformational leadership dimensions on employee performance in the hospitality industry in Malaysia

Front Psychol. 2022 Sep 16:13:913773. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.913773. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Brenda Ern Wei Teoh¹, Walton Wider¹, Abidah Saad², Toong Hai Sam¹, Asokan Vasudevan¹, Surianti Lajuma¹

Affiliations

¹ Faculty of Business and Communications, INTI International University, Nilai, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia.
² Faculty of Business Management, Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), Merbok, Kedah, Malaysia.

Abstract

Employee performance plays a crucial role in the productivity of organizations, especially in the hospitality industry in Malaysia. This work performance is influenced by leadership style, and finding the type of leadership style that is suitable to apply to employees is crucial, especially in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Transformational leadership theory is selected for this study in determining leadership styles. There are four dimensions under transformational leadership theory, namely idealized influence, individualized consideration, inspirational motivation and intellectual stimulation. Data were collected online from 400 employees working in the hospitality industry in Malaysia and analyzed using partial least square structure equation modeling (PLS-SEM). The findings show that only two dimensions of transformational leadership, namely idealized influence and inspirational motivation, have a significant positive influence on employee performance. Implications in the context of human resource management and recommendations to increase employee performance are also discussed.

Keywords: employee performance; hospitality industry; idealized influence; individualized consideration; inspirational motivation; intellectual stimulation; transformational leadership.