The effects of transformational leadership and organizational commitment on hotel departmental performance

Purpose – This paper aims to examine the effects of hotel general managers’ transformational leadership (TLS) and department managers (DMs)’ organizational commitment (OC) on their department’s performance in upscale hotels in Australia. Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected by surveying DMs in four- and five-star hotels. The survey instrument included measures of comprehensive sustainable performance, TLS and OC adapted from the literature. The data were analyzed through factor analysis and regression with a resampling method of bootstrapping. Findings – The findings indicated that TLS influenced hotel departments’ non-financial as well as social and environmental performance dimensions directly and indirectly through OC. However, the mediation effect of OC did not exist for financial performance. Research limitations/implications – The key theoretical contribution is the use of performance assessment based on critical success factors of hotel businesses and the bootstrapping regression model. Practical implications – Senior managers should pay attention to TLS qualities when appointing core managers, provide on-going structured TLS training and concentrate on leading performance dimensions for performance assessment. Originality/value – This study responds to the call for leadership research to move beyond its emphasis on individual performance and to address performance more holistically by considering its multidimensionality and the processes underlying effective performance.