Transformational Leadership, Organizational Culture, Career Development, and Work Motivation as Determinants of Lecturer Performance in Private Universities
Abstract
This study examined the effects of transformational leadership, organizational culture, and career development on lecturer performance and tested work motivation as a mediating mechanism. A quantitative ex post facto survey design was applied to 227 lecturers drawn proportionally from a population of 526 lecturers at three private universities in Bireuen Regency, Aceh. Data were collected using five-point Likert questionnaires and analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) with reflective–reflective higher-order constructs. The results show that transformational leadership significantly predicted work motivation (β = 0.349, t = 6.306, p < 0.001), followed by organizational culture (β = 0.251, t = 4.082, p < 0.001) and career development (β = 0.239, t = 4.123, p < 0.001). All three organizational factors also had significant direct effects on lecturer performance, while work motivation was the strongest direct predictor (β = 0.318, t = 4.838, p < 0.001). Work motivation partially mediated the effects of transformational leadership (β = 0.111), organizational culture (β = 0.080), and career development (β = 0.076). The model explained 42.9% of the variance in work motivation and 50.7% of the variance in lecturer performance. The findings imply that sustainable lecturer performance requires an integrated strategy combining inspirational leadership, supportive organizational culture, structured career development, and deliberate strengthening of work motivation.
References
Akkermans, J., Le Blanc, P., Van der Heijden, B., & De Vos, A. (2024). Toward a contextualized perspective of employability development. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 33(1), 1–10.
Ariati, D., Hamid, N., & Kusumawati, A. (2023). Non-physical work environment, career development, and work motivation on employee performance. Ilomata International Journal of Management, 4(3), 356–367.
Atikah, K., & Qomariah, N. (2020). The effect of leadership style and organizational culture and work motivation on lecturer performance. Jurnal Manajemen dan Bisnis Indonesia, 6(2), 216–227. https://doi.org/10.32528/jmbi.v6i2.4088
Bakker, A. B., & Demerouti, E. (2007). The job demands–resources model: State of the art. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 22(3), 309–328.
Böyükaslan, A., & Aşıkoğlu, H. (2022). Does organizational culture impact on firm performance: Evidence from Turkey. Istanbul Business Research, 51(1), 149–174.
Chen, A., Treviño, L. K., & Humphrey, S. E. (2020). Ethical champions, emotions, framing, and team ethical decision making. Journal of Applied Psychology, 105(3), 245–260.
Dachner, A. M., Ellingson, J. E., Noe, R. A., & Saxton, B. M. (2021). The future of employee development. Human Resource Management Review, 31(2), 100732.
De Vos, A., Van der Heijden, B. I. J. M., & Akkermans, J. (2020). Sustainable careers: Towards a conceptual model. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 117, 103196.
Dirwan, D., Rajindra, R., Farid, F., Mande, H., Nursiah, N., & Supriadi, A. (2024). The influence of organizational culture, organizational commitment, on motivation and job satisfaction of employees and lecturers at Muhammadiyah University of Palu. International Journal of Health, Economics, and Social Sciences, 6(3), 904–918.
Eaton, L., Bridgman, T., & Cummings, S. (2024). Advancing the democratization of work: A new intellectual history of transformational leadership theory. Leadership, 20(3), 125–143.
Eliyana, A., & Ma’arif, S. (2019). Job satisfaction and organizational commitment effect in the transformational leadership towards employee performance. European Research on Management and Business Economics, 25(3), 144–150.
Ghasabeh, M. S., Soosay, C., & Reaiche, C. (2015). The emerging role of transformational leadership. The Journal of Developing Areas, 49(6), 459–467.
Hair, J. F., Risher, J. J., Sarstedt, M., & Ringle, C. M. (2019). When to use and how to report the results of PLS-SEM. European Business Review, 31(1), 2–24. https://doi.org/10.1108/EBR-11-2018-0203
Hall, D. T., Yip, J., & Doiron, K. (2018). Protean careers at work: Self-direction and values orientation in psychological success. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 5, 129–156.
Hatidja, S., Syahribulan, S., Thaha, S., Jamaluddin, J., & Azizurrohman, M. (2024). Fostering employee job satisfaction in the hospitality industry: The role of organizational culture, motivation, and appraisals mediated by service innovations. STI Policy and Management Journal, 9(2).
Henseler, J., Ringle, C. M., & Sarstedt, M. (2015). A new criterion for assessing discriminant validity in variance-based structural equation modeling. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 43, 115–135.
Hosen, S., Hamzah, S. R., Ismail, I. A., Alias, S. N., Abd Aziz, M. F., & Rahman, M. M. (2024). Training & development, career development, and organizational commitment as the predictor of work performance. Heliyon, 10(1), e23424.
Huang, Y.-T., Liu, H., & Huang, L. (2021). How transformational and contingent reward leaderships influence university faculty's organizational commitment: The mediating effect of psychological empowerment. Studies in Higher Education, 46(11), 2473–2490. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2020.1723534
Hudrea, A., & Andrianu, B. (2024). Denison’s Culture Model in the context of Romanian prefectures: Is there room for improvement? Transylvanian Review of Administrative Sciences, 20(73), 94–114.
Irfan, S., Ali, W., Memon, M. A. B., & Younis, S. (2021). The relationship between emotional intelligence and work commitment: The moderating role of organizational culture. Journal of Accounting and Finance in Emerging Economies, 7(2), 393–408.
Khan, I. U., Idris, M., & Amin, R. U. (2023). Leadership style and performance in higher education: The role of organizational justice. International Journal of Leadership in Education, 26(6), 1111–1125. https://doi.org/10.1080/13603124.2020.1854868
Lei, H., Khamkhoutlavong, M., & Le, P. B. (2021). Fostering exploitative and exploratory innovation through HRM practices and knowledge management capability: The moderating effect of knowledge-centered culture. Journal of Knowledge Management, 25(8), 1926–1946.
Luthans, F., & Youssef-Morgan, C. M. (2017). Psychological capital: An evidence-based positive approach. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 4, 339–366.
Marginson, S. (2019). Limitations of human capital theory. Studies in Higher Education, 44(2), 287–301.
Ng, T. W. H., Yim, F. H. K., Chen, H., & Zou, Y. (2024). Employer-sponsored career development practices and employee performance and turnover: A meta-analysis. Journal of Applied Psychology, 109(2), 251–276. https://doi.org/10.1177/01492063221125143
Putra, D. M. (2024). The role of organizational culture on employee performance through job satisfaction and work motivation. Journal of Entrepreneurship & Business, 5(1), 55–68.
Purwanto, A., & Sudargini, Y. (2021). Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) analysis for social and management research: A literature review. Journal of Industrial Engineering & Management Research, 2(4), 114–123.
Riza, M. F., Hutahayana, B., & Chong, H. Y. (2025). Fostering high-performing organizations in higher education: The effect of participative leadership, organizational culture, and innovation on organizational performance and commitment. Cogent Business & Management, 12(1), 2448884. https://doi.org/10.1080/2331186X.2024.2448884
Rosalina, K., & Jusoh, R. (2024). Levers of control, counterproductive work behavior, and work performance: Evidence from Indonesian higher education institutions. SAGE Open, 14(3), 21582440241278455. https://doi.org/10.1177/21582440241278455
Sarstedt, M., Hair, J. F., Cheah, J.-H., Becker, J.-M., & Ringle, C. M. (2019). How to specify, estimate, and validate higher-order constructs in PLS-SEM. Australasian Marketing Journal, 27(3), 197–211. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ausmj.2019.05.003
Setyawati, N. W., Woelandari, D. S., & Rianto, M. R. (2022). Career development, motivation and promotion on employee performance. East Asian Journal of Multidisciplinary Research, 1(9), 1957–1970.
Shmueli, G., Sarstedt, M., Hair, J. F., Cheah, J.-H., Ting, H., Vaithilingam, S., & Ringle, C. M. (2019). Predictive model assessment in PLS-SEM: Guidelines for using PLSpredict. European Journal of Marketing, 53(11), 2322–2347.
Siahaan, A., Rafida, T., & Batubara, K. (2020). Influence of madrasah head leadership, motivation and madrasah culture on teacher performance in Madrasah Aliyah Model 2 Medan. Budapest International Research and Critics Institute-Journal, 3(3), 2174–2182.
Siangchokyoo, N., Klinger, R. L., & Campion, E. D. (2020). Follower transformation as the linchpin of transformational leadership theory: A systematic review and future research agenda. The Leadership Quarterly, 31(1), 101341.
Tan, E. (2014). Human capital theory: A holistic criticism. Review of Educational Research, 84(3), 411–445.
Van Iddekinge, C. H., Aguinis, H., Mackey, J. D., & DeOrtentiis, P. S. (2018). A meta-analysis of the interactive, additive, and relative effects of cognitive ability and motivation on performance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 103(7), 749–773. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206317702220
Wahab, F. A., Subramaniam, A., Ho, J. A., & Mahomed, A. S. B. (2024). Augmenting effect of inclusive and ambidextrous leadership on public university academic staffs’ innovative performance: The mediating role of innovative work behavior. SAGE Open, 14(1), 21582440241232761. https://doi.org/10.1177/21582440241232761
Wang, G., Oh, I.-S., Courtright, S. H., & Colbert, A. E. (2011). Transformational leadership and performance across criteria and levels: A meta-analytic review of 25 years of research. Group & Organization Management, 36(2), 223–270. https://doi.org/10.1177/1059601111401017
Wang, N., Luan, Y., & Ma, R. (2024). Detecting causal relationships between work motivation and job performance: A meta-analytic review of cross-lagged studies. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 11, 595. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-024-03038-w
Warrick, D. D. (2017). What leaders need to know about organizational culture. Business Horizons, 60(3), 395–404.
Wau, J., & Purwanto. (2021). The effect of career development, work motivation, and job satisfaction on employee performance. Jurnal Aplikasi Bisnis dan Manajemen, 7(2), 262. https://doi.org/10.17358/jabm.7.2.262
Widi, Y. L., & Kusuma, K. A. (2024). Employee performance: Career development, motivation, and workplace environment impact. Academia Open, 9(1). https://doi.org/10.21070/acopen.9.2024.5706
Wu, J., Huang, Y., & Zhou, X. (2024). Leading to enhance university faculty members’ positive working attitudes: The mediating roles of research self-efficacy and job stress. Asia Pacific Journal of Education, 44(2), 444–459. https://doi.org/10.1080/02188791.2022.2113762
Zhang, W., Zeng, X., Liang, H., Xue, Y., & Cao, X. (2023). Understanding how organizational culture affects innovation performance: A management context perspective. Sustainability, 15(8), 6644.
Campbell, J. P. (1990). Modeling the performance prediction problem in industrial and organizational psychology. In M. D. Dunnette & L. M. Hough (Eds.), Handbook of industrial and organizational psychology (2nd ed., Vol. 1, pp. 687–732). Consulting Psychologists Press.
Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (2012). Self-determination theory. In P. A. M. Van Lange, A. W. Kruglanski, & E. T. Higgins (Eds.), Handbook of theories of social psychology: Vol. 1 (pp. 416–437). SAGE Publications. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781446249215.n21
Suyitno. (2024). Lecturer’s performance: The effect of leadership communication, organizational culture and achievement motivation by mediating variables. Ilomata International Journal of Social Science, 5(1), 33–59. https://doi.org/10.52728/ijss.v5i1.1055
Wang, H., & Li, J. (2023). The different effects of organizational culture on firm and individual performance: A meta-analysis. Academy of Management Proceedings, 2023(1), 14276. https://doi.org/10.5465/AMPROC.2023.14276abstract
Copyright (c) 2026 Zukfikar, Tien Rafida, Muhammad Fadhli
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with JPI: Jurnal Pustaka Indonesia journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the JPI: Jurnal Pustaka Indonesia journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0) that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors can enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or edit it in a book), with an acknowledgment of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) before and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work.
1.png)
_(3).png){kind=small}
