Enhancing performance and commitment through leadership and empowerment: An emerging economy perspective

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of transformational leadership and employee empowerment on employee performance and organizational commitment through the mediational role of behavioral integrity (BI). Design/methodology/approach Data were collected through a self-administered questionnaire based on measurement of variables adopted from earlier studies. A total of 532 usable responses were collected through officer grade and executive level employees of selected banks from the Multan district, Pakistan. Confirmatory factor analysis was run using AMOS 23.0 whereas PROCESS macro in SPSS 23.0 was used for path analysis. Findings The study results revealed that transformational leadership and employee empowerment positively affect employee performance and organizational commitment through the mediational effect of BI. Originality/value The role of BI in enhancing employees’ performance and organizational commitment has been overlooked in the extant literature. Especially, in the emerging economies, where there is growing employer–employee trust deficit, this investigation brings in useful contribution.