Title: Analysing the mediating role of employee motivation in the relationship between leadership and organisational commitment

Authors: Swati Sisodia; Sumaira Jan

Addresses: GD Goenka University, GD Goenka Educational City, Sohna Gurgaon Rd., Sohna, Sohna Rural, Haryana 122103, India ' Humanities, Social Sciences and Management, National Institute of Technology Srinagar, Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India

Abstract: Employee commitment and effective leadership are critically important in all forms of organisations. Employees' organisational commitment will improve only if human resources are adequate and what is required is met. This organisational commitment is influenced by factors like leadership styles, employee behaviour, workplace culture, and motivation. This study endeavours to work in this domain of relating leadership style of transformational leadership, organisational commitment and employee motivation. The study was conducted among 430 employees of IT MSMEs in Delhi/NCR area using a structured questionnaire which was circulated via online and offline modes. The major outcome of this research is that transformational leadership (TL) is considerably linked with employee organisational commitment (OC) and employee motivation strongly mediates this relationship among employees of IT MSMEs in Delhi/NCR region. It means that effective transformative leaders can motivate and engage employees in achieving organisational goals effectively. This study further adds that individuals are more likely to contribute to organisational outcomes when they experience a high degree of motivation from their leaders who encourage them to take on more responsibility, provide rewards, appreciation and autonomy. This study has theoretical and practical implications for IT leaders, managers, academics and future researchers.

Keywords: transformational leadership; TL; organisational commitment; OC; employee motivation; EM; IT industry; mediation.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBPM.2026.156110

International Journal of Business Performance Management, 2026 Vol.27 No.5, pp.531 - 552

Received: 01 May 2023
Accepted: 09 Jan 2024

Published online: 04 Sep 2026 *

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