The Relationship Between Transformational Leadership, Prosocial Behavioral Intentions, and Organizational Performance

Abstract

This study examines the relationship between three major elements -Transformational leadership, Prosocial Behavioral Intentions, and Organizational Performance of full-time academics from different universities and colleges in Oman. A total of 322 full-time employees from different universities and technical colleges participated in an online survey and hardcopy survey. The data was collected using the primary data collection method. Structured scales were adopted for the study to include all the variables under study (Garcia-Morales et al., 2012; Baumsteiger et al., 2019). The adopted questionnaire was slightly modified to align with the circumstances of universities as well as colleges in Oman. A hypothesis is formed to find out the significant contributions among different sample categories. The correlation method was used to find out the relationship. It was evident from the result that there exists a significant relationship between major variables under study. This study reveals an important characteristic of transformational leadership towards prosocial behavioral intentions as it has a connection with organizational performance. There is limited research available to find out the relationship between prosocial behavioral intentions, transformational leadership, and organizational performance. This research focuses on identifying the antecedents and factors influencing organizations' performance efficiently and productively.

1. Introduction

The antecedents related to transformational leadership increase the understanding relating to working together in a group under different leadership. This will make the organization thrive towards its goals. Transformational leadership encourages, inspires, and motivates employees to innovate and create change that will help grow and shape the future success of the organization. Transformational leaders mainly focus on employees’ feelings and encourage their employees to do their best in the workplace. The leader’s influence is very essential for an organization to flourish. The leader is responsible to introduce goals for an organization (Noruzy et al., 2013). It is more connected with emotions and values people follow in their life. In transformational leadership, the leader appreciates and motivate their employees to come up with creative and innovative ideas. According to Khan et al. (2014), the performance of the organization is based on the leadership style.

Many studies examined the impact of transformational leadership on organizational performance using several mediating factors such as climate (Yasir, Imran, & Irshad, 2013), culture (Ogbonna & Harris, 2000), competitive strategies (Menguc, Auh, & Shih, 2007). Not much research has been conducted to clearly understand transformational leadership and its influences on organizational performance. This research study aims to analyze the relationship between transformational leadership, prosocial behavioral intentions, and organizational performance. The major objective of this research is first, to find out the association between transformational leadership, prosocial behavioral intentions, and organizational performance among full-time academics from different universities and colleges in Oman. Second, to understand the influencing factors related to the variables under study that have an impact on organizational performance and thereby impact society. According to Astuty and Udin (2020), perceived organizational support and transformational leadership made a great impact on the performance as well as the commitment of employees.

2. Literature Review

2.1. Transformational Leadership

According to Jalilian, Moradi, and Kamaei (2010) managers who use the transformational leadership style in an organization, motivate employees through dimensions of leadership. Pawar (2003) and Robbins (2002) stated transformational strategies are those techniques and patterns, which cause changes in various fields. Transformational leadership is the most basic element of a successful or failed transformation program (Pearce et al., 2003). Burns (1978) defined transformational leadership as: “Such leadership occurs when one or more persons engage with others in such a way that leaders and followers raise one another to higher levels of motivation and morality”. García-Morales et al. (2012) in their study found a positive and significant relationship between transformational leadership and organizational performance. Samad (2012) explained transformational leadership exercised an optimistic influence on organizational performance. Some studies that successfully conducted empirical tests on the relationship between transformational leadership and organizational performance, proved that there is a positive relationship between transformational leadership and organizational performance. Therefore, transformational leadership and its dimensions contribute to change readiness (Tse & Chiu, 2014). Planned changes and emergent changes are evaluated as a means of measuring the success or failure of an organization to achieve its goals. To achieve the goals of an organization strategically planned goals need to be effectively used. One of the factors, which can hinder the effectiveness of transformational leadership is the structure of government organizations. Kittikunchotiwut (2020) in his study found a positive relationship between transformational leadership and the financial performance of a firm when a firm initiates innovativeness.

2.2. Prosocial Behavioral Intentions

In simple language, when people voluntarily or intentionally help others, it is termed as prosocial behavior (Batson & Powell, 2003). Prosocial behavior is a social behavior that benefits other people or society as a whole. Prosocial behavioral intention is used to avoid many problems and is associated with the willingness to help others without any personal benefit. This behavior widely varies from person to person based on their background and way of life. This is directly connected to the socio-economic living conditions of people. This behavior allows people to stay together from different communities and age groups. People consider prosocial behavior as a type of voluntary behavior designed to help others and which brings a positive outcome to others. Prosocial behavioral intention is referred to as altruism, which involves unselfishness with no expectation or desire for personal gain; that is, it refers to any action that benefits other people without any hidden agenda or expectations (Feigin, Owens, & Goodyear-Smith, 2014)

2.3. Organizational Performance

According to Randeree and Al-Youha (2009), the achievement of a goal depends on its organizational performance, that is, the ability of an organization to strategically implement and effectively manage the goals of an organization. Also, organizational performance is the actual results or output of an organization as measured against that organization’s intended outputs (Tomal & Jones, 2015). Organizational performance refers to the achievement of an organization’s objectives and aims (Cho & Dansereau, 2010). Several studies have been conducted in the past to identify the relationship between the competencies of the leader and organizational performance. According to Sekakubo et al. (2014), the leader’s ability influences employee performance and thereby improves organizational performance. Also in their study, they examined the relevance of leadership and found an improved organizational performance as the result. 

Many researchers tried to study transformational leadership, job performance, and different demographics but there is a dearth of such studies in the context of Oman or the Middle-east. There have been limited studies that have made attempts to find out the relationship between transformational leadership and many variables that are related to organizational behavior. Also, a very limited number of studies tried to identify the dimensions which are related to the present study. The present research intends to fill the gap found in the literature review

The major objectives identified in the proposed research based on the literature review are as follows:

1. To study the relationship between transformational leadership and prosocial behavioral intentions among full-time academics from different universities and colleges in Oman.

2. To study the relationship between transformational leadership and organizational performance among full-time academics from different universities and colleges in Oman

3. To study the relationship between prosocial behavioral intentions and organizational performance among full-time academics from different universities and colleges in Oman

4. To study the relationship between transformational leadership, prosocial behavioral intentions, and organizational performance among different demographic factors of full-time academics from different universities and colleges in Oman

The hypothesis made for this research is as follows:

H1: There transformational Intentions is no significant contribution to leadership and prosocial behavioral

H2: There is no significant contribution to transformational leadership and organizational performance 

H3: There is no significant contribution to prosocial behavioral intentions and organizational performance

3. Methodology

This part of the study describes the methodology which includes tools for data collection, measures, and sampling.

3.1. Tools for Data Collection

Three sets of structured questionnaires were used for the study. The questionnaire was adopted from three different studies and was used for data collection. The questionnaire was translated into the vernacular language ‘Arabic’ before distributing it to the respondents. Again the ‘Arabic’ version questionnaire was translated to English by an expert in the language to ensure fewer mistakes in the questionnaire. The particulars of the questionnaire and sample items are explained below,

3.1.1. Transformational Leadership

Transformational leadership was measured using a construct with three items developed by Garcia-Morales et al. (2012) in their research. A slight modification was made to match with the context of Oman. The three-item construct that was used to measure transformational leadership had a 0.722 reliability. The sample items on the scale are: “My leader transmits the organization’s mission, the reason, and purpose to all employees”. “He/she increases employees’ level of enthusiasm”.

3.1.2. Prosocial Behavioral Intentions Scale (PBIS)

The prosocial behavioral intention was measured using Prosocial Behavioural Intention Scale (PBIS) developed by Baumsteiger and Jason (2019) in their study. This construct was measured using four items and had an alpha value of a = 0.83 (Mutahar, Rasli, & Al-Ghazali, 2015). The sample items on the scale are: “Comfort someone I know after they experience a hardship”. “Help a stranger find something they lost, like their key or a pet”.

3.1.3. Organizational Performance

To measure organizational performance a ten-item questionnaire developed by García-Morales et al. (2012) was used, however, it was shortened to a six-item questionnaire that was used by Mutahar et al. (2015) in their study and it had an alpha value of 0.84 with a factor loading between 0.64-0.80. The sample items on the scale are: “Economic profitability or Return on Assets has increased during the last 3 years”. “Financial profitability or Return on Equity has considerably increased during the last 3 years”. According to Hair et al. (1995), factor loading which is above 0.50 shows the fitness of the item.

3.2. Sampling

Three different questionnaires were adopted from three different studies to measure the variables under study. A multi-stage sampling technique was used to gain a fair representation of respondents across the country. For this, the country was categorized based on geography as three different zones from eleven governorates, and divided into Central, North, and South Governorates. This was followed by a minimum of one Wilayat (provinces) of each governorate. Kerlinger and Lee (2000) methodology was closely followed for the collection of data.

The data for the study was collected from a sample of 322 respondents who were working as academics in different universities and technical colleges in Oman. The respondents participated in an online survey as well as a hardcopy survey. This study adopted an exploratory research design. An in-depth review of the literature was conducted to find out the research gap. Valid and appropriate instruments were used to identify variables. The online survey using a questionnaire was sent to the email address of respondents using Google forms.

4. Results

The results of the study are explained in detail in Table 1. Among the sample, 60.3 percent are female employees and 30.7 percent are male employees. 34 percent of the respondents are married, 33 percent of the respondents are single, 17 percent of the respondents are divorced and 16 percent of the respondents are widowed. 35 percent of the respondents are Omani citizens and 65 percent belong to the expatriate category. The educational background of the respondents includes 61 percent of the respondents who have completed their Masters and 39 percent of the respondents are Ph.D. holders. Concerning the type of organization, 34 percent of the respondents are working in the private sector while 66 percent of the respondents work in the public sector. 

From Table 2, among the respondents, thirty-nine percent of the respondents belong to the age group of 36 to 45 years old, and thirty-two percent of the respondents belong to the age group of 46 to 55 years. Twenty-one percent belong to the age group of 26 to 35 years old, and eight percent of the respondents belong to the age group above 56.

From Table 3, Among the respondents, thirty-four percent belong to the married category whereas thirty-three percent of the respondents belong to the single or unmarried category. Seventeen percent of the respondents are divorced, while sixty percent of the respondents are widowed.

From Table 4, among the respondents, thirty-five percent of the respondents are Omani Nationals while sixty-five percent of the respondents belong to the expatriate category. 

From Table 5, among the respondents, sixty-one percent of the respondents have completed their Masters while thirty- nine percent of the respondents are Ph.D. holders, Table 5.

From Table 6, among the respondents, 34 percent of the respondents are working in the private sector while 66 percent of the respondents work in the public sector. To find the relationship among variables, Correlation analysis was used in this research. Table 7 present the result of the analysis.

Table 1: Gender 

Table 2: Age

The collected data using questionnaires were analyzed to find out the relationship between different variables in the study with the help of statistical package for social science (SPSS) software. Karl Pearson correlation method was used to find out the contribution of each variable under study. It was found from the analysis that there exists a positive correlation between transformational leadership, prosocial behavioral intentions(r= 0.850), and organizational performance(r=0.737), which is significant at a 0.01 level. A less positive correlation was found between prosocial behavioral intentions and organizational performance.

There was a significant positive correlation between the demographic variable age and all three variables (transformational leadership (r=0.875), prosocial behavioral intentions(r=0.857), and organizational performance (r=0.625)). A less significant positive correlation was found between the demographic variable gender and all variables under study. This result is significant at a 0.01 level.

The remaining demographic variables such as marital status, education, and experience have no significant positive correlation between the variables under study. Also, the analysis revealed organizational level and prosocial behavioral intentions have a significant positive correlation. Whereas a less significant positive correlation was found between organizational level, organizational performance, and the demographic variable gender. A significant positive correlation was found between the organizational level and the demographic variable education (r=569). All variables are significant at a 0.01 level. Transformational leadership and prosocial behavioral intentions are positively correlated with organizational performance. This result of the analysis is significant.

Table 3: Marital Status 

Table 4: Nationality

Table 5: Qualification 

Table 6: Types of Organization 

Table 7: Correlation

N: 322, ** Correlation is significant at 0.01 level

5. Discussion

The result of this research is based on the study of the relationship between three major elements -transformational leadership, prosocial behavioral intentions, and organizational performance of full-time academics from different universities and colleges in Oman. The data was collected using a structured questionnaire and then analyzed to reach the results. 322 academics across the country participated in the survey. The questionnaire was separated into two major sections, section one comprised demographic factors, and section two comprised the three variables (transformational leadership, pro-social behavioral intentions, and organizational performance). The result of the study revealed a significant positive correlation between the variables. Thus, all three null hypotheses set for the study were rejected and three alternate hypotheses were accepted. This is similar to the findings of Mutahar et al. (2015). The psychological aspects enable all business people to succeed (Salim, Mohiya, & Sulphey, 2020) especially the orientation is positively correlated towards prosocial behavior, collectivism, and organizational performance and success.

6. Conclusion

This study revealed the relationship between three major elements -transformational leadership, pro-social behavioral intentions, and organizational performance of full-time academics from different universities and colleges in Oman. which is a significant positive correlation and it is similar to the findings of García-Morales et al. (2012). Factors of transformational leadership and organizational performance are highly significant as it impacts the success or failure of an organization which is directly connected with the economic growth of a nation. Sulphey and Salim (2020), in their study also explained the importance of finding specific solutions for achieving the objectives of organizations. This study provides an insight into the framing of different rules and regulations by policymakers for the appointment of an academic in a college or a university (Dew, 2007). This study points to the age, gender, and organizational level and relationship between the variables under study. The marital status and education level show no significant correlation between the variables under study. The finding of this study is highly relevant in the context of academic leadership and organizational performance. Nguyen, Mai, and Huynh (2019) stated that leaders with transformational leadership are interested in the feelings and needs of the employees, and guide them to achieve their goals. This creates the meaning, commitment, and engagement of employees, thereby creating job performance. Transformational leadership has a positive impact on employees’ motivation and makes employees work more efficiently, thereby positively affecting work and organizational performance. Thus this research explored to fill the research gap which is not being researched by the previous researchers and the found out a significant result that is useful for the nation.