TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP, POLITICAL SKILL, ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE, AND EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE: A CASE FROM TOURISM COMPANY IN INDONESIA

Abstract

Tourism industry has occupied a strategic position in the country's economic growth. The factors that trigger the high performance of companies engaged in this industry are very crucial. The purpose of this study is to test the correlation of transformational leadership (TL), political skill (PS), organizational culture (OC), and employee performance (EP), and to investigate the role of OC as a mediation variable. The samples consisted of 110 respondents from Tourism Company in Indonesia. The sample was determined by Slovin formula. The data were collected through questionnaire instruments. The current study employed quantitative method. To test the hypotheses, PLS (Partial Least Square) was applied in analyzing the data. This study found that TL and OC, PS and OC and EP were positive and significance. The mediation test also justified that OC could mediate TL on EP and PS on EP. However, it is also indicated that TL did not affect EP. This study has the important implications for managers such as encouraging high EP in the tourism sector by strengthening OC (such as adaptive, collaborative, flexible, and team oriented), by enhancing the PS (such as understanding others, having high social skill, and increasing an ability to influence others). These findings confirmed and contrasted to the previous studies conducted.