Title: Women leadership styles on manufacturing industry employees' job performance: evidence from Sarawak, Malaysia

Authors: Pan Wen Ting; May Chiun Lo; Abang Azlan Mohamad; Jun Zhou Thong

Addresses: Faculty of Economics and Business, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, 94300 Kota Samarahan, Sarawak, Malaysia ' Faculty of Economics and Business, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, 94300 Kota Samarahan, Sarawak, Malaysia ' Faculty of Economics and Business, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, 94300 Kota Samarahan, Sarawak, Malaysia ' Faculty of Industrial Management, Universiti Malaysia Pahang Al-Sultan Abdullah, 26300 Kuantan, Pahang, Malaysia

Abstract: The under-representation of women in top management is due to various factors, including discriminatory attitudes and family responsibilities. Despite progress, there is still a substantial gap to close, and Malaysia aims to involve 30% of women in top management. The study aims to investigate women's leadership in enhancing employees' job performance. The research aims to examine the relationship between transformational and transactional leadership styles and their effect on job performance in the manufacturing industry of Sarawak. The researchers used Smart PLS 3.0 to analyse the variables of transformational and transactional leadership (idealised influence, inspiration motivation, intellectual stimulation, individual consideration, contingency reward, active and passive management by exception) on job performance. The study revealed that idealised influence and individualised consideration did not have a significant impact on employee performance. However, other dimensions of transformational and transactional leadership had a positive association with job performance.

Keywords: transformational leadership; transactional leadership; job performance; manufacturing industry; Sarawak; Malaysia.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSOM.2025.150654

International Journal of Services and Operations Management, 2025 Vol.52 No.4, pp.484 - 502

Received: 14 Mar 2023
Accepted: 11 Jul 2023
Published online: 19 Dec 2025 *

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