Abstract
Transformational leadership has drawn extensive attention in management research. In this field, the influence of transformational leadership on employee performance is an important branch. Recent research indicates that organizational citizenship behavior plays a mediating role between transformational leadership and employee performance. However, some of these findings contradict each other. Given the background where greater attention is being paid to transformational leadership in the construction industry, this research aims to find the degree of the influence of transformational leadership on employee sustainable performance, as well as the mediating role of organizational citizenship behavior. A total of 389 questionnaires were collected from contractors and analyzed via structural equation modeling. The findings reveal that employee sustainable performance is positively influenced by transformational leadership. In addition, more than half of that influence is mediated by their organizational citizenship behavior. These findings remind project managers of the need to pay close attention to transformational leadership, to cultivate organizational citizenship behavior, and thereby to eventually improve employee’s sustainable performance.
Highlights
A construction project has tasks with relatively high complexity and uncertainty
Based on a sample of project managers and their subordinates in China, our findings suggest that transformational leadership has a significant influence on employee sustainable performance, mainly through the mediation of organizational citizenship behavior
Transformational leadership has been proved to have a positive influence on employee sustainable performance, except for the influence of inspirational motivation on task sustainable performance
Summary
A construction project has tasks with relatively high complexity and uncertainty. These tasks are completed by project participants, who need to be coordinated [1,2,3]. Even if an employee chooses to stay on a project, he or she may work at only low levels of efficiency [7] In such circumstances, project managers are required to show personal charisma, and transformational leadership is a suitable means by which to do so [1]. Based on a literature review, Podsakoff and Mackezie [53] further summarized seven types of OCB, namely (1) helping behavior, (2) sportsmanship, (3) organizational loyalty, (4) organizational compliance, (5) individual initiative, (6) civic virtue, and (7) self-development. These types of OCB are still widely used in relevant and related studies
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