Transformational Leadership and Faculty Achievement: The Mediating Role of Job Satisfaction and Organizational Commitment

Abstract

This study examines how transformational leadership enhances faculty achievement in public sector universities by exploring the mediating roles of job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Grounded in Full Range Leadership Theory, Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory, and Meyer and Allen’s commitment framework, the study proposes a dual-mediation model to explain the psychological mechanisms linking leadership with academic outcomes. Data were collected from 314 faculty members working in public universities in Islamabad and analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM). The findings reveal that transformational leadership has a significant direct effect on faculty achievement and also produces meaningful indirect effects through attitudinal factors. Job satisfaction emerges as the strongest mediating pathway, showing a greater indirect effect than organizational commitment. Although organizational commitment also significantly mediates the relationship, its influence is comparatively weaker. Overall, the results suggest that leadership effectiveness in higher education largely operates by strengthening faculty motivation and positive work attitudes, thereby improving academic performance.