The Relationship Between Transformational Leadership, Public Service Motivation, Affective Commitment and Organizational Performance at the Public Service Employees Transport Service Enterprise (PSETSE) in Ethiopia

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SOCIAL SCIENCE HUMANITY & MANAGEMENT RESEARCH ISSN (print) 2833-2172, ISSN (online) 2833-2180 Volume 04 Issue 12 December 2025 DOI: 10.58806/ijsshmr.2025v4i12n03, Impact Factor: 6.79 Page No. 2215-2231 IJSSHMR, Volume 04 Issue 12 December 2025 www.ijsshmr.com Page 2215 The Relationship Between Transformational Leadership, Public Service Motivation, Affective Commitment and Organizational Performance at the Public Service Employees Transport Service Enterprise (PSETSE) in Ethiopia Tesfaye Molla Institute of Foreign Affairs, Ethiopia ABSTRACT: This paper examines the relationship between transformational leadership (TL), affective organizational commitment (AOC), public service motivation (PSM), and perceived organizational performance (POP). A structural equation modeling was used to examine the perceptions of 112 public employees in Ethiopian Public Service Employees Transport Service Enterprise (PSETSE). The result indicates that transformational leadership has a positive, significant but medium relationship with perceived organization performance, affective organizational commitment, and public service motivation. It is also found that TL has a positive effect on AOC, PSM and POP. However, the level of influence slightly differs. It is revealed that 29.6%, 41.6% and 23.5% of change on civil servant’s perceived organizational performance, affective organizational commitment, and public service motivation respectively is explained by the variation in the transformational leadership at the Enterprise. It is found that affective organizational commitment has significant contribution in the improvement of organizational performance at Enterprise. The result also indicated that public service motivation has a significantly positive relation with and influences on both perceived organizational performance and affective organizational commitment. AOC and PSM have mediating effect on perceived organizational performance albeit the indirect effect is weak. It is also found that none of the control variables (gender, age, marital status, educational background and work experience) has any significant effect on affective organizational commitment, public service motivation, and perceived organizational performance. It is possible to conclude that transformational leadership does play an important role in determining the levels of perceived organizational performance, both directly and indirectly, but only at medium level. KEYWORDS: Transformational Leadership, Affective Organizational Commitment, Public Service Motivation, Perceived Organizational Performance INTRODUCTION Improving the performance of government institutions is a vital concern of public administration (Brewer and Selden, 2000). Factors that affect organizational performance in public sector among others include transformational leadership, affective organizational commitment, and public service motivation. Transformational leadership in public organization has been found to directly influence organizational performance. Some scholars have developed and tested theories that acknowledged the imperative of transformational leadership’s for organizational performance improvements. Previous research indicates that transformation leadership has a direct, positive effect on the performance of the organization (Arif and Akram, 2018; Bass, Avolio, Jung, & Berson, 2003; Bellé, 2013; Imran, Zahoor, and Zaheer, 2012). Transformational leadership encourages followers to focus on a common goal or mission, generates intrinsic motivation and inspires them to ‘go the extra mile’ (Bass, 1985). Over the past three decades, accumulating research has indicated that transformational leadership is related to various important outcomes, such as performance (Arif and Akram, 2018; Bass 1985; Imran, et al, 2012; Meaza, 2018); job satisfaction, organizational commitment (Nyengane, 2007), willingness to put in extra effort on job and job performance (Caillier, 2015). In addition to transformational leadership, the effect of organizational commitment on performance has been well documented. Researchers have found that employees who are pleased with their supervisors/leaders, feel that they are being treated with respect and are valued by their management feel more attachment with their organizations (Wiza & Hlanganipal, 2014). There are three types of commitment in organizations namely, affective, continuance and normative (Hadi and Tentama, 2020). However, from these three types of commitment, affective commitment is typically used in transformational leadership theories (Caillier, 2015), The Relationship Between Transformational Leadership, Public Service Motivation, Affective Commitment and Organizational Performance at the Public Service Employees Transport Service Enterprise (PSETSE) in Ethiopia IJSSHMR, Volume 04 Issue 12 December 2025 www.ijsshmr.com Page 2216 and is more critical in public agencies and therefore has been used as a proxy for organizational commitment in government organizations (Kim, 2012), which also mediates the leadership-performance relationship, and thus this article focuses on affective commitment. Public service motivation is another factor that influences organizational performance. Management theorists have dedicated much attention to finding out which factors motivate public employees (Caillier , 2014) among which public service motivation is said to influence the attitudes and behaviors of employees (Kim, Henderson & Eom, 2015). Employees with greater public service motivation (PSM) are likely to perform better in public sector jobs (Perry & Wise, 1990). Hence, PSM is positively associated with public sector job choice, organizational commitment, individual and organizational performance, and low turnover (Ritz, Brewer, and Neumann, 2016). Besides, public service motivation (PSM) and affective organizational commitment are said to mediate the relationship between transformational leadership and organizational performance. Scholars designate that transformational leadership has an indirect influence on performance through such factors as affective commitment (Chen, 2004; Kumasey, Bawole, and Hossain, 2017; Peng, Liao, and Sun, 2020) and public service motivation (PSM) (Bellé, 2013; Khan, et at, 2020). However, few studies have examined the mediation role of affective organisational commitment on the relationship between transformational leadership and organizational performance in the public sector services in developing economies (Donkor and Zhou, 2020). Moreover, the evidence on the relationships between these variables is mixed. For example, even though some (Arif and Akram, 2018; Meaza, 2018; Bass 1985; Imran, et al, 2012; Yeh and Hong, 2012) reported that transformational leadership is positively correlated with performance, others (Dvir, Eden, Avolio, and Shamir 2002; Grant, 2012) have shown inconsistent evidence of the effectiveness of transformational leaders in motivating higher performance among their followers. In addition, few empirical studies have been made of organizational performance in the public sector from the perspective of public employees in Ethiopia (Aschalew and Pandian, 2020; Bekele, 2014; Meaza, 2018; Mekonnen, 2014; Mulu and Kuar, 2017; Tafesse A. B. and Mohammed, 2020; Temesgen, 2011); and almost all focus only a few factors that affect perceived organizational performance. All this calls for further studies to clarify the evidence from previous studies. This article, thus, seeks to fill this gap by examining the effect of three factors namely, transformational leadership, public service motivation, civil servants’ affective organizational commitment on perceived organizational performance at public institution; and investigating the mediation role of affective organisational commitment and public service motivation on the relationship between transformational leadership and organizational performance at the Public Service Employees Transport Service Enterprise of Ethiopia. Accordingly, this study aims at testing whether: a) transformational leadership positively relates to and effects on organizational performance at PSETSE; b) transformational leadership positively associated with and influences on affective organizational commitment; c) transformational leadership positively correlated with and effects on PSM; d) organizational commitment positively associated with and influences on organizational performance; e) PSM positively linked with and influences perceived organizational performance; f) PSM positively associated with and influences on affective organizational commitment; g) PSM mediates the relationship between transformational leadership and organizational performance; and h) affective organizational commitment mediates the relationship between transformational leadership and organizational performance at the Public Service Employee's Transport Service Enterprise (PSETSE) of Ethiopia Started with 55 buses to alleviate the transport problem of public servants, recently the Enterprise has 460 buses and serves more than 100,000 employees of federal government institutions and Addis Ababa City Administration employees. PSETSE is one of the public service institutions that provide service to the public and it is awarded the highest appreciate certificate for its better quality service in 2020 by the Ethiopian Quality Awards Organization(EQAO) in collaboration with the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (FDRE) Civil Service Commission. More recently, in 2021, another competition was held among private and public institutions organized by EQAO, and the Enterprise was also awarded a certificate of the third level prize of the Ethiopian Quality Awards for its quality service. Therefore, it is commanding to test the relationship between these variables at the Public Service Employee's Transport Service Enterprise of Ethiopia, which is regarded by the Ethiopian Quality Awards Organization as the best provider of public service. 1. LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK Several literatures indicate the imperative of transformational leadership’s for organizational performance improvements (Arif and Akram, 2018; Bass, 1985; Bass, et al., 2003; Bellé, 2013; Imran et al., 2012). Numerous previous works have also shown that transformational leadership has positive effect on PSM (Afjahi, Dehghanan, Kashei, Malmir, and Karbalaei, 2013; Bellé, 2013; Caillier, 2015; Caillier, 2014; Wright, Moynihan, & Pandey, 2012). There are abundant works that demonstrate the positive influence of PSM on perceived organizational performance (Alonso and Lewis, 2001; Camilleri and Van Der Heijden, 2007; Kim, et al, 2015; Kumar, 2021; Perry and Wise, 1990; Qi and Wang, 2018). Besides, certain previous works done designate that The Relationship Between Transformational Leadership, Public Service Motivation, Affective Commitment and Organizational Performance at the Public Service Employees Transport Service Enterprise (PSETSE) in Ethiopia IJSSHMR, Volume 04 Issue 12 December 2025 www.ijsshmr.com Page 2217 affective organizational commitment has contribution in the improvement of organizational performance (Camilleri et al, 2007; Yeh, and Hong, 2012). However, the evidence on the relationships between these variables is mixed. For example, even though some (Arif and Akram, 2018; Meaza, 2018; Bass, 1985; Imran, et al, 2012; Yeh and Hong, 2012) reported that transformational leadership is positively correlated with performance, others (Dvir, et al, 2002; Grant, 2012) have shown inconsistent evidence of the effectiveness of transformational leaders in motivating higher performance among their followers. Moreover, organizational commitment holds a partial mediating effect between the relationship of transformational leadership and job performance (Yeh and Hong, 2012), but few studies have examined the mediation role of organisational commitment on the relationship between transformational leadership and organizational performance in the public sector services in developing economies (Donkor and Zhou, 2020). Some have examined the effects demographic variables on these relationships, but inconsistent results. For example, according to Caillier (2016), age has a negative effect on organizational commitment and PSM whereas education level has a positive effect on these variables. Camilleri, et al, (2007) on the other hand, noted that organizational commitment is positively related to age, organizational and tenure, and women and married employees report higher organizational commitment scores. However, some like Ritz (2009) reported that gender, age and tenure do not show any significant effects. All this calls for further studies to clarify the evidence from previous studies. Besides, few empirical studies have been made of organizational performance in the public sector from the perspective of public employees; and most focus only a few factors that affect organizational performance. Moreover, organizational commitment holds a partial mediating effect between the relationship of transformational leadership and job performance (Yeh and Hong, 2012), but few studies have examined the mediation role of organisational commitment on the relationship between transformational leadership and organizational performance in the public sector services in developing economies (Donkor and Zhou, 2020). Furthermore, it is possible that PSM may mediate between transformational leadership style and organizational performance; but little considerations have been given to the mediation role of PSM on the relationship between transformational leadership and performance. The variances in the literatures cause one to contemplate the universality of the findings and also the influence of the demographic variables on relationship between transformational leadership, public servants’ affective commitment is little known at federal level with respect to PSETSE work context. This observation indicates that there is a need to reconsider the relationship between and among the four variables in Ethiopia at the Public Service Employee's Transport Service Enterprise of Ethiopia to confirm, reject, or modify existing claims by scholars. Along these lines, this study is an attempt to bridge this gap in the literature that affects the federal Enterprise’s work environment in Ethiopia. 2.1 Conceptualizing TL, AOC, PSM and POP Transformational leadership (TL) is one of the various styles of leadership. Much of the literatures are devoted to describing transformational leaders as leaders that provide a vision and a sense of mission, inspire, pride and gain respect and trust through charisma. As Wright, et al note, “[g]iven both the public service orientation of public organization missions and the attractiveness of such goals to many public employees, public sector transformational leaders may be in a better position to activate the higherorder needs of their employees and encourage them to transcend their own self-interest for the sake of the organization and its clientele.” (Wright, et al., 2012, p212) Although the concept of transformational leadership created by Burns in 1978 as a description of political leaders who transform the values of their followers, it was Bass (1985) who expanded the scope to include leadership within organizational settings (Cailier, 2015; Sandell, 2012).Transformational leadership is about correlating needs of followers with the objectives and goals of the leader, the group and the organization and by providing an inspiring vision of the future (Bass, 1985; Meaza, 2018). There are three types of organizational commitment in organizations, namely, affective commitment (desire), continuance commitment (a need) and normative commitment (an obligation) (Meyer and Allen, 1991). Affective organizational Commitment (AOC) is an individual’s emotional attachment to the organization characterized by acceptance of the organization’s culture and primary values and by willingness to remain with the enterprise (Allen, Attoh and Gong, 2017; Park and Rainey, 2007). Unlike normative and continuance commitment, which target specific turnover-related behaviors, affective commitment is primarily an attitude held toward the organization, its values, and its mission, and underlies a general propensity to further the interests of the organization (Im, Campbel and Jeong, 2016). Among the three forms of commitment, affective commitment demonstrates the strongest positive correlation to desirable work behaviors (Allen et al, 2017). For the above reasons, affective commitment was the focus of this study. Public Service Motivation (PSM) is understood as “an individual’s predisposition to respond to motives grounded primarily or uniquely in public institutions and organizations” (Perry and Wise, 1990, p. 368), which is an intrinsic motive that induce individuals to serve their community, as well as the greater society (Caillier, 2015). PSM is fundamentally grounded in self- The Relationship Between Transformational Leadership, Public Service Motivation, Affective Commitment and Organizational Performance at the Public Service Employees Transport Service Enterprise (PSETSE) in Ethiopia IJSSHMR, Volume 04 Issue 12 December 2025 www.ijsshmr.com Page 2218 sacrifice (Kim, 2015). It refers to an individual’s orientation to delivering service to people with the purpose of doing good for others and society, which implies that individuals have a propensity to deliver public service in order to benefit others” (Perry and Hondeghem 2008). According to Perry (1996), the level and type of an individual's PSM and the motivational composition of a public service organization's workforce affect individual job choice, job performance, and organizational effectiveness. People with high public service motivation (PSM) are more likely than others to choose government jobs, to perform better on the job, and to respond more to non-utilitarian incentives once in government (Alonso and Lewis, 2001; Im, et al,, 2016; Perry and Wise, 1990). Organizational performance is a difficult concept to define and measure. Organizational performance is a socially constructed phenomenon that is subjective, complex, and particularly hard to measure in the public sector (Brewer and Selden 2000). It comprises internal and external dimensions of efficiency, effectiveness, and fairness. The variables that most affect organizational performance are efficacy, teamwork, building human capital, structure of task/work, protection of employees, concern for the public interest, and task motivation (Ibid.). It can also be understood as the employees’ perceptions about the organization, its ability to meet the overall goal of public interests. The perceived organizational performance (POP) measure involves some important issues such as an agency's contribution to society, internal productivity and quality, utilization of employee expertise, and organizational treatment of employees and client. According to Brewer and Selden (2000), in spite of measurement error and the potential for mono method bias, measures of perceived public organizational performance correlate positively with moderate to strong associations) with objective measures of public organizational performance. 2.2 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK AND HYPOTHESIS 2.2.1 The Link between Transformational Leadership and Organizational Performance Transformational leadership has often been considered as one of the most powerful factors motivating purposeful action and high public employee performance (Bellé, 2013; Park and Rainey 2008; Wright, et al., 2012). In their study, Bass and Riggio (2006) suggested that transformational leaders are able to increase performance because of their ability to set challenging and clear goals; a position that has received empirical support. Since Bass (1985) hypothesized the transformational leadership - performance relationship, there have been several scholars have developed and tested theories which acknowledged the imperative of transformational leadership’s for organizational performance improvements (Arif and Akram, 2018; Bass, et al., 2003; Bellé, 2013; Imran et al., 2012). These studies indicated that transformation leadership has a direct, positive effect on the performance of the organization. Hence, the following hypothesis was suggested. Hypothesis-1: TL positively related to and effects on POP 2.2.2 The Link between Transformational Leadership and Affective Organizational Commitment The relationship between commitment and leadership style has been reported in literatures. For example, Nyengane (2007) notes that transformational leaders are able to influence employees’ organizational commitment by promoting higher levels of intrinsic value associated with creating a higher level of personal commitment on the part of the leader and followers to a common vision, mission, and organizational goals. In addition, most of the studies about the nexus between transformational leadership and employees’ commitment have shown that there is a positive relationship between them irrespective of the work settings. (Abasilim, et al., 2019; Awan and Mahmood, 2009; Nyengane 2007). Specifically, Keskes, Sallan, Simo, Fernandez (2018) contend that styles of leadership based on vision and intellectual stimulation can be antecedents of affective commitment. Numerous studies have found a positive and significant relationship between transformational leadership and affective commitment (Allen, et al 2017; Keskes, et al., 2018; Bass and Riggio, 2006; Wiza and Hlanganipai, 2014), which propose that leadership can enhance the development of an emotional attachment to the organization on followers. Accordingly, the second hypothesis is proposed: Hypothesis-2: TL positively associated with and influences on AOC. 2.2.3 Relationship between Transformational Leadership and Public Service Motivation Transformational leadership style requires close foresightedness on the part of leaders in order to identify and track the followers’ needs, values and assess suitable motivational interest (Akeel and Subramaniam, 2013). Leaders can influence public service motivation through several mechanisms, including engaging employees’ existing values, infusing jobs with meaning, and highlighting and rewarding public service values. Bottomley, Mostafa, Gould-Williams, and Leon-Cazares (2016) postulate that by emphasizing collective rather than individual goals, transformational leadership theory encourages followers to transcend their own self-interests for the sake of the team, organization and larger polity. Several works found that transformational leadership has positive effect on PSM (Afjahi, Dehghanan, Kashei, Malmir, and Karbalaei, 2013; Bellé, 2013; Caillier, 2015; Caillier, 2014; Wright, et al., 2012). The Relationship Between Transformational Leadership, Public Service Motivation, Affective Commitment and Organizational Performance at the Public Service Employees Transport Service Enterprise (PSETSE) in Ethiopia IJSSHMR, Volume 04 Issue 12 December 2025 www.ijsshmr.com Page 2219 Hypothesis-3: TL positively correlated with and effects on PSM. 2.2.4 Affective Organizational Commitment and Organizational Performance Researchers have found that employees who are pleased with their supervisors/leaders, feel that they are being treated with respect and are valued by their management feel more attachment with their organizations (Wiza and Hlanganipal, 2014). Specifically, affective commitment is more critical in public agencies and therefore has been used as a proxy for organizational commitment in government organizations (Kim, cited in Caillier, 2015). According to Qi and Wang (2018), affective commitment may contribute to organizational performance in two ways. First, it supports employees to internalize organizational goals and values to a system of personal goals and values; and secondly, employee turnover can be reduced, which may save training costs and retain productive workers. As Keskes, et al (2018) note “an employee with high affective commitment to the organization will be more likely to perform work beyond what is specified in the job description, developing a leader-member relationship based on contribution.” Similarly, Qi and Wang (2018) and Peng, et al. (2020) postulate that affective attachment toward organizations may affect job satisfaction and organizational performance in public organizations. Thus, hypothesis four is proposed. Hypothesis-4: AOC positively associated with and influences on POP 2.2.5 PSM and Organizational Performance The PSM–performance relationship is considered to be the cornerstone of PSM theory, which interests both scholars and practitioners (Qi and Wang, 2018). Perry and Wise (1990) also hypothesized that public agencies with many high-PSM employees would depend less on utilitarian incentives. In addition, Ritz, et al., (2016) note that PSM is positively associated with job satisfaction, public sector job choice, organizational and job commitment, individual and organizational performance, and low turnover. Brewer and Selden (2000) also presumed that PSM is positively related to federal agency performance. The positive relationship between public service motivation and organizational performance has been supported by a number of scholars (Alonso and Lewis, 2001; Camilleri et al, 2007; Kim, et al., 2015; Kumar, 2021; Qi and Wang, 2018). Therefore the following hypothesis was proposed. Hypothesis-5: PSM positively linked with and influences on perceived POP 2.2.6 PSM and Affective Organizational Commitment Affective organizational commitment defined as an individual’s identification with and involvement in their organization and characterized by an acceptance and affirmation of the organization’s goals and values is intuitively linked to PSM in public sector organizations (Im et al., 2016). PSM leads to higher affective commitment mainly for two reasons (Qi and Wang, 2018). The first one is high PSM may lead employees to internalize the values and goals of their agencies and to develop identification with and emotional attachment to their agencies; and the second reason related to the literature on person–organization fit, since public organizations better satisfy the needs of individuals with high PSM, these people are more likely to work for the government (Perry and Wise, 1990), and they may be more committed to their agencies (Qi and Wang 2018). Moreover, if the equity and procedural justice motivation theories are taken into consideration, the results indicate a significant relation among equity perceptions, affective OC, and performance (ibid). A number of studies in public sectors have confirmed empirically the link between PSM and affective organizational commitment (Camilleri et al, 2007; Montundu, Kamaluddin, Husin, 2020; Qi and Wang 2018; Sun, 2021; Wright et al., 2012). Based on strong precedence in the literature, this study also assumes a positive relationship between PSM and affective organizational commitment. Hypothesis-6: PSM is positively associated with and influences on AOC 2.2.7 PSM as Mediating the Relationship between Transformational Leadership and Organizational Performance In addition to having a direct influence on performance, transformational leadership’s influence on performance may be mediated through PSM. Quoting Gillet et al, Khan et at (2020, p4) put, “Transformational leaders may help to ensure individual’s inner motivation to perform a task efficiently which in turn increases their work performance .These leadership approaches are advantageous for both individual and organizational growth”. From this it can be inferred that public service motivation (individual internal motivation) can serve as a mediating role in the relationship between transformational leadership and performance. A study conducted by Caillier (2015) on transformational leadership further provided supporting evidence that it had a positive effect on PSM which in turn increased organizational commitment. Bellé (2013) contended that transformational leadership may represent a superior fit for a workforce in public organization with high levels of PSM because their employees tend to be motivated by a greater desire to serve others than private sector workers exhibit. Moreover, Khan et at. (2020) postulate that intrinsic motivation is one of the main mechanisms by which transformational leaders influence employees’ job performance. Based on these, this study proposes the following hypothesis: Hypothesis-7: PSM mediates the positive relationship between TL and POP. The Relationship Between Transformational Leadership, Public Service Motivation, Affective Commitment and Organizational Performance at the Public Service Employees Transport Service Enterprise (PSETSE) in Ethiopia IJSSHMR, Volume 04 Issue 12 December 2025 www.ijsshmr.com Page 2220 2.2.8 Affective Organizational Commitment as Mediating the Relationship between Transformational leadership and Organizational performance According to Peng, et al., (2020), transformational leaders shape employees’ affective commitment as well as the mechanisms that can strengthen or weaken such leadership influence. Transformational leaders clarify and champion organizational values, thereby allowing followers to embrace and internalize them and strengthen their affective bond with the organization (Im, et al., 2016). Moreover, Yeh and Hong (2012) found that organizational commitment partially mediates the relationship between leadership style and job performance. Similarly, Chen (2004) concluded that the organizational commitment will mediate the relationship between transformational leadership behaviors and job performance in supportive and bureaucratic culture. Furthermore, Yiing, et al. (2009) suggested that leadership style would affect organizational commitment and, in turns, organizational commitment will influence job performance and mediate the relationship between leadership style and job performance. Hence, the following hypothesis was constructed. Hypothesis-8: AOC mediates the positive relationship between TL and POP. 2.3 Conceptual Model Transformational leadership inspires employees to demonstrate and become committed. Employees’ affective organizational commitment is effective when the leaders’ practice a transformational leadership and when it brings the actual results in the organization. Therefore, the leaders/supervisors are assumed to use, practice or follow transformational leadership, in order to enhance employees’ affective organizational commitment and in order to reach organizational goals, which is reflected in both direct and indirect effects. Hence, in this study the independent variable is transformational leadership (TL) and the dependent variable is perceived organizational Performance (POP). As depicted in Figure 1, H1 transformational leadership style is positively associated with organizational performance (Qi and Wang, 2018). As Bass (1985) and Bottomley et al (2016) postulate transformational leadership encourages followers to focus on a common goal or mission, generates intrinsic motivation and inspires them to ‘go the extra mile’; and results in positive outcome on organization performance. Secondly, H2 transformational leadership is positively related to affective organizational commitment. The relationships between the two have been studied by many researchers in various theoretical contexts over the years (Abasilim, et al, 2019; Bass et al., 2003; Garg and Ramjee, 2013; Trottier et al., 2008). Hence, this study presumes that there is a positive relationship between transformational leadership style and employees’ affective commitment irrespective of the work settings. Thirdly, in addition to its positive association with organizational performance and affective commitment, transformational leadership is positively associated with PSM as shown in H3 which is supported by prior studies such as Wright, et al. (2012). Figure 1: Conceptual Model on the relations between Transformational Leadership, PSM, Affective Organizational Commitment, and Organizational Performance H1(TL - POP) H7 (TL-PSM – POP H8 (TL-AOC-POP) H5 (PSM POP) H3(TL-PSM) HH H4 (AOC POP) H2(TL-AOC) Figure 2-1: Conceptual Model of Association, Own design, 2022 Transformational Leadership Perceived Org. Performance H6 (PSM AOC) PSM AOC Control Variables - Age -Marital Status -Level of education - Work Experience The Relationship Between Transformational Leadership, Public Service Motivation, Affective Commitment and Organizational Performance at the Public Service Employees Transport Service Enterprise (PSETSE) in Ethiopia IJSSHMR, Volume 04 Issue 12 December 2025 www.ijsshmr.com Page 2221 Fourth, affective organisational commitment (AOC) may lead to performance of an employee (Yeh and Hong (2012:50) but also assumed to enhance perceived organizational performance which is reflected in H4. Fifth, PSM is a positively related to performance (Alonso and Lewis, 2001; Andriono and Nurkholis, 2018; Perry and Wise, 1990; Ritz, et al., 2016). Based on these theoretical and empirical evidences, this study assumes that PSM is positively linked to perceived organizational performance as shown in line H5 in the Figure. H6 shows the positive relationship between PSM and organizational commitment which is also supported by some studies such as Ritz, et al. (2016). Lastly, as shown in Figure 1, PSM as well as organizational commitment may mediate the relationship between Transformational leadership and performance as indicated in the Figure as H7 and H8, respectively. For example, Kumasey, et al. (2017) and Peng, et al. (2020) posit that leadership style influences on performance may depend on their organisational commitment. The conceptual framework is based on a mediating model that hypothesizes the independent variable causes the mediating variable, which in turn causes the dependent variable, keeping other things constant. Besides, personal characteristics like are age, marital status, tenure, gender, work experience, and level of education may affect employees’ public service motivation, organizational commitment, and perceived organizational performance (Qi and Wang, 2018). For example, some reported that organizational commitment is positively related to age and tenure; and women and married employees report higher OC scores (Camilleri.et al, 2007). Hence, this study controls the effect of age, marital status, tenure, gender, work experience and level of education assuming that affect organizational commitment and PSM. 3 RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY Since, the purpose of the research is to examine the relationships between transformational leadership, affective organizational commitment, public service motivation and organizational performance, correlation quantitative methods were used to test the four variables. It used both descriptive and causal research designs. The study is designed as cross-sectional which relied on collecting data that present a population at a single point in time. 3.1 Measurements of Variables Measurements used in this study were drawn from scales established in the existing literature. It measured four main variables (transformational leadership, affective commitment, public service motivation, and organizational performance). Each construct has different dimensions, but ths paper considered a uni-dimensional construct. For example, transformational leadership has four dimensions, namely, idealized influence; inspirational motivation; intellectual stimulation; and individualized. Instead of several subdomains, a uni-dimensional factor construct is attempted for each construct. There are a total of 27 items in these constructs, and each measured on a 5 point Likert-type scales ranging from 1 to 5, where 1 indicated strong disagreement and 5 indicated strong agreement. Transformational leadership was measured using multi-item scale developed by Carless, Wearing, and Mann (2000), and used by Caillier (2015). MultiFactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) is common scale in measuring four facets of transformation leadership, namely idealized influence and inspirational motivation, individualized consideration and intellectual stimulation. However, similar to the MLQ, transformational leadership is best depicted as one variable (Wright and Pandey, 2010, cited in Caillier, 2015). This study adopts seven-item scale such as “My supervisor communicates a clear and positive vision of the future”; “My supervisor gives encouragement and recognition to staff”; “My supervisor encourages thinking about problems in new ways and questions assumptions”; and “My supervisor instills/inculcates pride and respect in others and inspires me by being highly competent’, used by Caillier (2015). These can be a common scale for transformational leadership because it contains fewer items, making it easier for respondents to complete the survey. The uni-dimensional construct was found to be acceptably consistent, with an alpha coefficient of 0.853. Affective organizational commitment measures the extent to which the values embodied by the organization and its activities are similar to those held by the employee, and how passionately employees feel about their work at the organization (Im et al, 2018). As the underlying theory of this study focuses on the affective and cognitive responses of employees to various organizational phenomena, the study focus exclusively on this dimension of organizational commitment. Thus affective organizational commitment was measured using three items taken from Caillier (2015) and Qi and Wang (2018) such as “I feel a strong sense of belonging to my organization”; “My organization has a great deal of personal meaning for me”; and “I feel like part of the family at this organization”. The three items mainly assessed the sense of belonging and affective attachment toward organizations, and they may also affect employees’ public service motivation, organizational commitment, job satisfaction and perceived organizational performance (Qi and Wang, 2018). Higher scores on the scales indicated that respondents are more emotionally attached to or involved in their organization. This affective commitment scale measurement used by Caillier (2015) and Qi and Wang (2018). Cronbach’s alpha for the scale was 0.831 and acceptable The Relationship Between Transformational Leadership, Public Service Motivation, Affective Commitment and Organizational Performance at the Public Service Employees Transport Service Enterprise (PSETSE) in Ethiopia IJSSHMR, Volume 04 Issue 12 December 2025 www.ijsshmr.com Page 2222 Perry (1996) considers PSM as multidimensional which consists of numerous motives such as strong desire to participate in the formulation of public policymaking; strong commitment to serve in the public interest; employee's strong desire for patriotism and benevolence (compassion). Instruments developed by Perry (1996) are often too long to be used due to space limits of questionnaires (Qi and Wang, 2018). Accordingly, PSM was measured using a popular five item questions in order to capture four dimensions: social justice, commitment to public interest, compassion, and self-sacrifice, adopted from Perry (1996) that have been previously used (Alonso and Lewis 2001; Wright, et al., 2012; Caillier, 2015; Qi and Wang 2018), which are validated as a global measure of PSM (Wright, et al, 2012). Although this scale is much shorter than the original, it has the same advantage as the modified version of transformational leadership (Caillier, 2015: 461). Hence, PSM was measured using a modified version of Perry’s (1996) original 24 item scale, using five items such as “Meaningful public service is important to me”; “Making a difference in society means more to me than personal achievements”; and “I am prepared to make sacrifices for the good of society”. Researchers generally use this shorter scale because it contains the normative and affective motives most consistent with public service values (Caillier, 2015: 461). The scale was also found to have an acceptable level of internal consistency with an alpha coefficient of 0.853. Perceived Public-organizational performance is complex but this study used a instruments developed by Brewer and Selden (2000). Perceived organizational performance was measured by twelve items scale which is related to productivity, service quality, goal achievement, customer satisfaction, commitment to cost reduction, prompt customer handling, and minimal mistake in conducting work. Accordingly, the perception of employees regarding the public organizational performance (POP) was measured based on items, developed by Brewer and Selden (2000), used and modified by Im, et al (2016); Qi and Wang (2016). The alpha level for the scale was 0.932, which indicates that the presence of high internal consistency. This article controlled for the effects of gender, age, marital status, educational background and work experience in the structural equation modeling. As previous research has suggested (Brewer and Selden, 2000), these individual-level variables may also affect employees’ public service motivation, organizational commitment, job satisfaction and perceived organizational performance. 3.2 Population and Sampling PSETSE has about 1,120 employees. However, most of them are drivers (461), cleaners, guards, etc. who did not assume management position and did not hold any diploma or degree. Out of the population, only 112 who were top management, middle management and support staff that forms the lower management who hold diploma and above. Hence, for the purpose of this research only those who exercised at least lower level of management and hold at least Diploma were selected by using purposive sampling techniques. These employees were selected for the reason that they have relatively potential and opportunities for understanding and/or practices leadership; and the relationship between transformational leadership, public service motivation, affective organizational commitment and organizational performance. Out of 112 target population, 101 reacted to the distributed questionnaire voluntarily, and so the respondent‘s rate was 90.2%. Questionnaire was prepared to distribute for civil servants at Pubic Service Employees Transport Service Enterprise, in order to gather quantitative data. A pilot study was conducted to test the validity and reliability of the research instrument. The pilot test was conducted with 15 individuals. They were requested to answer the questionnaire, and provide any comments and feedback, marking spelling errors, grammatical clarity, vague sentences, and any related suggestions to improve and enhance the quality of an instrument. Based on the feedback correction was made. The face validity of the research instrument was also improved by collecting comments from instructors of Public Administration and Development Management of Addis Ababa University and changed unclear and ambiguous questions. After getting permission and did pilot survey, a discussion with the Human Resource Head took place on how to distribute and collect the data. A brief orientation was given for respondents on how to complete the questionnaire for investigation. 3.3 Validity and Reliability This paper tried to address validity through the review of literature and adapting instruments used in previous research as well as by conducting pilot survey. As the current study used multiple items in all variables, internal consistency analysis was carried out through Cronbach alpha reliability tests. As shown in Table 1, the overall Cronbach’s alpha value was 0.94, which is very close to 1.00, and thereby having high reliability and considered as stable and consistent instrument, indicating the presence of excellent internal validity. Table 1: Reliability Statistics No Variable Name Cronbach's Alpha Value Cronbach's Alpha based on standardized items No of items (α) reliability ranges The Relationship Between Transformational Leadership, Public Service Motivation, Affective Commitment and Organizational Performance at the Public Service Employees Transport Service Enterprise (PSETSE) in Ethiopia IJSSHMR, Volume 04 Issue 12 December 2025 www.ijsshmr.com Page 2223 1 Transformational Leadership (TL) 0.853 0.852 7 Very good 2 Affective Organizational Commitment (AOC) 0.831 0.831 3 Very good 3 Public Service Motivation (PSM) 0.853 0.852 5 Very good 4 Public Organizational Performance (POP) 0.932 0.932 12 Very good 5 Overall 0.938 0.936 27 Excellent Source: Own Survey, 2021 N.B. The rules of thumb: “_ Within the Range of 0.9 to 1, Excellent; 8 to 9, V. Good; 7 to 8, Good; <7 –Unacceptable The value of Cronbach’s alpha test for transformational leadership equal 0.85, and is very good, indicating internal consistency. Cronbach’s alpha coefficient for affective organizational commitment is 0.83 which is also very good. Cronbach’s alpha coefficient for public service motivation is 0.85 which indicates internal consistency. Coefficient factor for POP equals 0.93; which is very close to 1.00 and thereby having high reliability and considered as stable and consistent instrument. In general, in this research the Cronbach's alpha for the data collected through questionnaire under each variable ranges from 0.83 to 0.94 which means the internal consistency of the data is acceptable 3.4 Method of Data Analysis A total of eight hypotheses were tested. Six of these hypotheses were designed to examine the direct relationship between transformational leadership, affective organizational commitment, public service motivation, and organizational performance. The rest two hypotheses were designed to test the indirect effect of the mediating variables (AOC and PSM) between transformation leadership and organizational performance. The appropriate way to deal with multiple variables is Structural Equation Model (SEM). Therefore, data were entered and analyzed using STATA 14 version and AMOS to support the use of Structural Equation Model. Both descriptive and inferential methods of data analysis were used for data analysis. Descriptive statistics such as frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, correlation, tables and bar graphs were employed. The inferential analysis was used to infer the relationships between the four constructs. Specifically multiple regressions were used to analyze how well one or more independent variables predict the value of dependent variable. In brief, a Two-tailed Pearson’s correlation and multiple regression analysis were used to assess the relationships as per the hypotheses of the study. 4 RESULT AND INTERPRETATION 4.1 Demographic Characteristics of Respondents As depicted in Table 2 below, 43(43.3%) of the total respondents were male while (58)57% were female. Hence, this indicates that the number of female respondents is greater than that of the male respondents. With respect to age distribution of the respondents, only 2(2 %) of the respondents are less than 25 years old and 70 (69.3%) fell in the 25-34, 16 (15.8%) of them fell in 35-44 age range. 6(5.9) fell in 45-54 and 7 (26.9%) of them fell in 55-64 age range respectively. From the data, it can be inferred that the majority (69.3 %) of the respondents are between the ages of 25 and 34 years, thus this means that the respondents are mostly young. However, the number of respondents below 25 years is low. There is no respondent whose age was above 65 year. Table 2: The demographic profiles of the respondents. No. Item Frequency Percent Cumulative Percent 1 Sex Male 58 57.4 57.4 Female 43 42.6 100.0 Total 101 100.0 2 Age Less than 25 2 2.0 2.0 25 – 34 70 69.3 71.3 35 – 44 16 15.8 87.1 45 – 54 6 5.9 93.1 55 – 64 7 6.9 100.0 Total 101 100.0 3 Marital Status Single 58 57.4 57.4 Married 42 41.6 99.0 Divorced 1 1.0 100.0 Total 101 100.0 The Relationship Between Transformational Leadership, Public Service Motivation, Affective Commitment and Organizational Performance at the Public Service Employees Transport Service Enterprise (PSETSE) in Ethiopia IJSSHMR, Volume 04 Issue 12 December 2025 www.ijsshmr.com Page 2230 25) Dvir, Taly, Eden, D. Avolio, B.J. and Shamir, B. (2002). Impact of transformational leadership on follower development and performance: A field experiment. Academy of Management Journal45:735–744 26) Hadi N. and Tentama, F. (2020). Affective Commitment, Continuance Commitment and Normative Commitment in Reflecting Organizational Commitment. American International Journal of Business Management (AIJBM), ISSN2379-106X, www.aijbm.com Volume 3, Issue 8 (August 2020), PP 148-156. 27) Im, T., Campbel, J. W. and Jeong, J. (2016). Commitment intensity in public organizations: Performance, innovation, leadership, and PSM, Review of Public Personnel Administration, 36(3) 219–239. 28) Imran, R., Zahoor, F., and Zaheer, A. (2012). Leadership and Performance Relationship: Culture Matters, International Journal of Innovation, Management and Technology, 3(6), 713-717. 29) İşcan, Ö. F., Ersarı, G and Naktiyok, A. (2014). Effect of Leadership Style on Perceived Organizational Performance and Innovation: The Role of Transformational Leadership beyond the Impact of Transactional Leadership -An Application among Turkish SME’s. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 150 (2014) 881 – 889 Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 150 (2014 ) 881 – 889 30) Keskes, I, Sallan, J. M., Simo. P., Fernandez, V. (2018). Transformational leadership and organizational commitment Mediating role of leader-member exchange, Journal of Management Development, 37(3), 271-284. © Emerald Publishing Limited, 0262-1711, DOI 10.1108/JMD-04-2017-0132 31) Khan, H, Rehmat, M Butt, T. H. Farooqi, S. and Asim, J. (2020). Impact of transformational leadership on work performance, burnout and social loafing: a mediation model, Future Business Journal, 6(1):40. 32) Kim, H. (2012). Transformational leadership and organizational citizenship behavior in the public sector in South Korea: The mediating role of affective commitment. Local Government Studies, 38, 867-892 33) Kim, T, Henderson, A.C. and Eom, T. H. (2015). At the front line: examining the effects of perceived job significance, employee commitment, and job involvement on public service motivation, International Review of Administrative Sciences, 81(4), 713–733. 34) Kumar, I. R. (2021). Public Service Motivation: A Meta-Analysis of its Antecedents and Consequences. Unpublished M.A. Thesis: 35) Kumasey, A. S., Bawole, J. N., and Hossain, F. (2017). Organizational commitment of public service employees in Ghana: Do codes of ethics matter? International Review of Administrative Sciences, 83(1), 59–77. 36) Leedy P. D. and Ormrod, J. E. (2016). Practical Research Planning and design, eleventh edition Boston: Pearson 37) Lewin, C. (2005). An Introduction to Inferential Statistics: Testing for Differences and Relationships, in Somekh B. and Lewin C. (Eds.). Research Methods in Social Sciences (215-225). London: Sage Publications. Thosusand Oaks. . 38) Meaza T. (2018). The impact of transformational leadership on organizational effectiveness: The case of Debre Berhan City Administration (Public sectors). Unpublished MA Thesis: Debere Berhan University. 39) Mekonnen, T. (2014). The Relationship between Employees’ Perceptions of their Immediate Supervisors’ Leadership Styles and their Organizational Commitments. Unpublished Master’s thesis: Addis Ababa University. 40) Meyer, J.P., and Allen, N.J. (1991). A three-component conceptualization of organizational commitment. Human Resource Management Review, 7(1), 61-89. 41) Montundu, Y. Kamaluddin, H. M., Husin, H. S. (2020), The Influence Of Public Service Motivation On The Civil Servant Work Commitment, International Journal of Scientific and Technology Research 9(03), 881-887. 42) Mulu A. A. and Kuar, N. (2017). The relationship between leadership styles and organizational commitment: empirical review, Zenith International Journal of Business Economics and Management Research, 7, 47-58. 43) Nurung, J,. Rakhmat, Asang, S., and Hamsinah (2019). Analysis of leadership effect and public service motivation on work satisfaction (ASN) in the District Bantaeng, International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, 9(1), 928-935. 44) Nyengane, M. (2007). The relationship between leadership style and employee commitment: an exploratory study in an electricity utility of South Africa. Unpublished MBA: Rhodes University, South Africa. 45) Park, S. M., and Rainey, H. G. (2008). Leadership and public service motivation in U.S. federal agencies. International Public Management Journal, 11, 109-142. 46) Peng, S., Liao, Y., and Sun, R. (2020). The influence of transformational leadership on employees’ affective organizational commitment in public and nonprofit organizations: A moderated mediation model. Public Personnel Management. Advance online publication: https:// doi.org/10.1177/0091026019835233 47) Perry, J. L. (1996). Measuring public service motivation: an assessment of construct reliability and validity, Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 6(1), 5-22. The Relationship Between Transformational Leadership, Public Service Motivation, Affective Commitment and Organizational Performance at the Public Service Employees Transport Service Enterprise (PSETSE) in Ethiopia IJSSHMR, Volume 04 Issue 12 December 2025 www.ijsshmr.com Page 2231 48) Perry, J. L. (2000). Bringing society in: Toward a theory of public-service motivation. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 10, 471-488. 49) Perry, J. L., and Hondeghem, A. (Eds.). (2008). Motivation in public management: The call of public service. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. 50) Perry, J.L. and Wise, L.R. (1990). Motivation bases of public service. Public Administration Review, 50(3), 367–373. 51) Qi, F. and Wang, W. (2018). Employee involvement, public service motivation, and perceived organizational performance: testing a new model International Review of Administrative Sciences, 84(4), 746–764. 52) Ritz, A. (2009). Public service motivation and organizational performance in Swiss federal government, International Review of Administrative Sciences, 75(1), 53–78. 53) Ritz, A., Brewer, G. and Neumann, O. (2016). Public Service Motivation: A Systematic Literature Review and Outlook. Public Administration Review, 76(3), 414–426. 54) Sandell, K. (2012). Transformational leadership, engagement, and performance: a new Perspective. Unpublished M.A. Thesis, Colorado State University, Colorado. 55) Solomon A. (2019). The effect of leadership style on employees’ organizational commitment in Commercial Bank of Ethiopia. Unpublished MBA Thesis: St. Mary’s University, Addis Ababa. 56) Sun S (2021). The Relationship between Public Service Motivation and Affective Commitment in the Public Sector Change: A Moderated Mediation Model. Frontiers in Psychology, 12 12:631948. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.631948, Frontiers in Psychology 57) Tafesse A. B. and Mohammed H. M. (2020). The impact of leadership styles on employee commitment in Madda Walabu University, African Journal of Business Management Academicjournals.org/journal/AJBM/article (Accessed on 02/02/2020) 58) Temesgen T. (2011). The relationship between leadership styles and employee commitment in private higher education institutions at Addis Ababa City. Unpublished MBA Thesis: Addis Ababa University. 59) Wiza, M. & Hlanganipal, N. (2014). The impact of leadership styles on employee organizational commitment in higher learning institutions, Mediterranean Journal of Sciences, 5(4), 24-37. 60) Wright, B. E., Moynihan, D. P., & Pandey, S. K. (2012). Rutgers University at Nwark pulling the levers: Transformational leadership, public service motivation, and mission Valence, Public Administration Review, 72(2), 206– 215. 61) Yeh, H. & Hong, D. (2012). The mediating effect of organizational commitment on leadership type and job performance, The Journal of Human Resource and Adult Learning, 8(2), 50-59.