Transformational Leadership Style and Organizational Learning: The Mediate Effect of Organizational Culture

Abstract

Purpose: The present study aims to investigate the influence of transformational leadership style (TFL) on organizational learning (OL). More specifically, it aims to examine the mediating effect of organizational culture (OC) on this relationship, in the context of ministries operating in Palestine. Design/methodology/approach: The present study utilized the hypothesis–deductive testing approach. Two hypotheses were proposed for testing. The data were collected from 475 managers at 23 ministries in Gaza by using self adminstarted questionniers and the data aggregated by individual level. Findings: The results demonstrated that organizational culture was a significant predictor of organizational learning and functioned as a fully mediator between the transformational leadership style and organizational learning. Research limitations/implications: A key limitation of this study is its cross-sectional nature. It is possible that at least certain aspects of transformational leadership and its impact on organizational culture and organizational learning emerge with some kind of time lag. This study also used the perceptions of leader-self report as its data source, which may cause potential common source bias. Practical implications: The findings of this research will assist policy makers of Palestinian ministries to optimize the allocations of resources in its hiring, rewarded, training and other functions of human resource management to have the right leaders for building a learning organization. Originality/value: The results of this study provide evidence in support the mediating effect of organizational culture on the relationship between transformational leadership style and organizational learning, which represents a response to many calls to conduct further research in this area, and will be of interest to those in the field.