The Impact of Transformational Leadership on the Development of Human Resources: Mediating Role of Entrepreneurship Orientation

Abstract

A large part of leadership research has been conducted to have a greater impact on the development of human resources. This research aims to investigate the mediating role of entrepreneurial orientation on the relationship between transformational leadership and human resource development. For this purpose, 259 completed questionnaires from government employees in the Agricultural Jihad Organization (Ministry of Agriculture in Iran) were collected and analyzed using the maximum likelihood method and based on Baron and Kenny’s four-step analysis; the adequacy of the model and its indicators were confirmed (RMSEA=0.073). Structural equation modeling with Baron and Kenny’s four-step method showed that transformational leadership has a positive and significant impact on human resource development and entrepreneurial orientation, and entrepreneurial orientation significantly mediates the effect of transformational leadership on human resource development. The results of this research can help managers to consider the entrepreneurial orientation in organizational management even in government and public institutions; furthermore, they can benefit from it as a variable in facilitating the development of human resources. It can also be considered as one of the predictor variables of individual growth in the organization with regard to other organizational and individual variables.