Transformational Leadership and Employee Satisfaction: Testing a Moderated-Mediation Model of Perceived Organizational Support, Workload, and Work Engagement

Although the effects of transformational leadership (TL) on employee satisfaction are well-researched, empirical evidence on the mechanisms that explain these effects is still scarce. Therefore, this study proposes a “moderated mediation model” to examine the effects of TL on satisfaction. Based on a sample of 615 employees, the author tested the study's hypotheses using a two-stage structural equation modeling. The results show that the mediating effects—through workload and work engagement—are confirmed by the direct effect of TL on satisfaction. Further analyses reveal that the correlation between TL and satisfaction is significantly stronger for employees with high levels of perceived organizational support (POS). The proposed model provides multiple perspectives to understand the importance of stimulating employees' work engagement without turning their engagement into a type of workload, and on how decision makers should consider a degree of POS that is suitable for easing workload levels, as well as effectively increase work engagement.