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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal – Vol. 9, No. 6
Publication Date: June 25, 2022
DOI:10.14738/assrj.96.12298. Koomson, G. A., Tetteh, E. S., & Bosamtwi, E. B. (2022). The Impact of Transformational Leadership on Motivation and Performance
in Selected Public Sector Organizations. Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 9(6). 68-89.
Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom
The Impact of Transformational Leadership on Motivation and
Performance in Selected Public Sector Organizations
Gifty Ahwireng Koomson
Accra Technical University, Ghana
Elizabeth Sonia Tetteh
Accra Technical University, Ghana
Evelyn Boadiwaa Bosamtwi
Accra Technical University, Ghana
ABSTRACT
Effective Transformational leadership drives an organization’s members to achieve
a common purpose. Leaders must influence followers to work to achieve a common
vision. Leaders understand their values and the values of their followers. In other
to guide and direct behavior. Motivation skills required by managers to impact
positively on the performance of employees. This study assesses the impact of
Transformational leadership on employee motivation and performance. The scope
of the study is limited to selected public sector organizations; organizations as;
Ghana Standard Authority (GSA), Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) and
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The sample consisted of employees of the
above-mentioned organizations. A total of 69 questionnaires were used for the
analysis. The study found that two of the variables of Transformational leadership
that is, inspirational leadership and intellectual stimulation have a strong positive
and significant impact on employee motivation whiles the other two variables
which are charismatic leadership and individualized consideration have a negative
impact on employee motivation. Simply put, fifty percent (50%) of
Transformational leadership have a positive impact on employee motivation. The
study also found that charismatic leadership is the best predictor of employee
performance than employee motivation. For public sector organizations to obtain
highest employee performance and motivation, managers should use inspirational,
intellectual stimulation and charismatic leadership styles of transformational
leadership. For an organization to gain the competitive edge in its respective
industry, needs among other things transformational leaders who would use their
charisma, inspirational abilities and intellectual stimulation to motive their
followers to obtain employee highest performance for the enhancement of a high
productivity to achieve the organizational goals.
INTRODUCTION
In recent times organizations are focusing on how to conduct good leadership motivation
programmes that would address strategies to improve employee productivity and turnover.
But many institutions have still not been able to develop and maintain a long-lasting
programme to achieve that objective. The result is high employee turnover as a result of job
dissatisfaction, initial struggles, poor performance and disappointment.
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Koomson, G. A., Tetteh, E. S., & Bosamtwi, E. B. (2022). The Impact of Transformational Leadership on Motivation and Performance in Selected
Public Sector Organizations. Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 9(6). 68-89.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/assrj.96.12298
Leadership is one of the most pressing issues and one of the least understood concepts in
management and administration today. The study of leadership has gone through several
paradigm shifts and now encompasses a voluminous body of knowledge. As a universal activity,
leadership is fundamental for effective organizational and social functioning. The very nature
of leadership is its influencing process and its resultant outcomes. Such a process is determined
by the leaders and followers’ characteristics, dispositions, behavior, perceptions, attributions
and the context wherein the process of influencing occurs. The moral purpose of leadership is
to create an empowered follower with a performance that leads to moral outcomes that are
achieved through moral means [3].
In defining leadership, we must take into consideration its distinctness from power and
management. Power refers to the potential of any leader to influence others and includes
referent power, expertise, the ability to reward or punish and others. Management refers to
objective-driven approaches in acquiring stability based on rationality, bureaucratic means and
the fulfillment of contractual obligations. Whereas, leadership refers to purpose-driven activity
that results in changes that are based on values, ideals, visions, symbols and emotional
exchanges. Based on these definitions, we can say that leadership and management both
requires power, however, management implicates the cognitive domain of employees
compared to leadership that has direct effect on affective domain [3].
Since leadership relies on providing directions that satisfy the motivational needs of others,
there is a relationship between leadership and motivation. As an individual power, motivation
can stand on its own. Leaders, on the other hand, act to provide satisfaction. Consequently,
successful leaders are required to understand the needs of others and subsequently apply
perception and influence to show others that effective satisfaction is achieved when following
the leader's view. Leadership cannot succeed without motivation [9].
Leadership is not just a position, “it is a moral relationship between people, held together by
loyalty and trust, and rooted in the leader’s commitment to values and accountability when
exercising power and authority” [16]. Various researchers, practitioners and policymakers now
acknowledge that motivation can be conceptualized from a functional perspective and that
appropriate interventions involve the development of alternative measures to cope up. It was
also noted that the establishment of a conducive environment for learning and leadership
training have served effectively in lowering the prevalence of underachievement among
individuals.
The term motivation has both psychological and managerial connotations. The psychological
meaning of behavior refers to the internal mental state of a person that relates to the initiation,
direction, persistence, intensity and termination of behavior. The managerial meaning of
motivation deals with the activity of managers and leaders to induce others in order to produce
results desired or outlined by the organization or by the manager. The managerial concept of
motivation conforms to a relationship between motivation, ability and performance [1], [12],
[41]. The main purpose of motivation in a workplace is to minimize dissatisfaction and to keep
people within the organization. There are so many factors that may motivate an individual
employee. Examples of this are technical supervision, interpersonal relations, salary, working
conditions, status, company policy and job security [49].
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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal (ASSRJ) Vol. 9, Issue 6, June-2022
Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
The achievement of organizational objectives rests largely on the effective leadership and
motivation of the human resources at the disposal of the organization. However, most top
management or the leadership in many organizations is unable to lead and motivate their
subordinates to be able to achieve organizational objectives, a tendency which affects the Ghana
Standard Authority (GSA), Food Drugs Authority (FDA) and Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) in Ghana. Organizations are managed and staffed by people and without people,
organizations cannot exist or function effectively. A very low or ineffective leadership and
motivation significantly affects the financial performance of any organization. Particularly, it
affects the provision of quality work and output in the GSA, FDA and EPA.
Ineffective leadership and motivation could be very costly to an organization and ultimately
takes its toll on the organizational performance, productivity and profit. There are direct and
indirect costs associated with low employee performance stemming from ineffective leadership
and motivation. The direct cost includes the time involved in recruiting, selecting, and training
new personnel to replace dismissed employees who may be deemed non-performing as well as
the cost associated with advertising and manpower. The time managers spend in the selection
process of new employees could otherwise be devoted to other management responsibilities.
This research therefore assesses the impact of transformational leadership on motivation and
performance.
Research Question
The study understands the impact of transformation leadership on motivation and
performance in selected public sector organizations. Therefore, the following research
questions were used to guide the investigation:
• Is there a relationship between transformational leadership and motivation?
• Is there a relationship between transformational leadership and employee
performance?
• Is there a relationship between motivation and employee performance?
Research Hypotheses
• H1: Charismatic Leadership will significantly impact on employee motivation
• H2: Inspirational Leadership will significantly impact on employee motivation
• H3: Intellectual Stimulation will significantly impact on employee motivation
• H4: Individualized Consideration will significantly impact on employee motivation
• H5: Charismatic Leadership will significantly impact on employee performance
• H6: Inspirational Leadership will significantly impact on employee performance
• H7: Intellectual Stimulation will significantly impact on employee performance
• H8: Individualized Consideration will significantly impact on employee performance
Objectives of the study
It is expected that the study will inform the selected public sector organizations the relevance
and impact that transformational leadership have on motivation and employee performance as
stated in the following:
1. To assess the impact of Transformational leadership on employee Motivation
2. To assess the impact of Transformational leadership on employee performance