Effect of Transformational and Transactional Leadership and Emotional Intelligence on Employee Productivity: The Mediating Role of Employee Motivation

This study examines the impact of transformational and transactional leadership styles and emotional intelligence on employee productivity, with an emphasis on the mediating role of employee motivation in service-sector businesses in Afghanistan. Effective leadership and emotional intelligence are increasingly seen as crucial factors influencing employee performance in emerging nations, although employees’ motivational moods heavily influence their performance. Using a quantitative research approach, data were collected through a structured questionnaire from employees across various organizations. Regression and mediation analyses were employed to assess the direct and indirect effects of transformational leadership, transactional leadership, and emotional intelligence on employee productivity. The findings revealed that transformational leadership (β = 0.418, p < 0.001), transactional leadership (β = 0.362, p < 0.001), and emotional intelligence (β = 0.401, p < 0.001) each had a significant positive effect on employee productivity. Further results indicated that employee motivation played a critical mediating role in these relationships. Employee motivation fully mediated the effects of transformational leadership and emotional intelligence on employee productivity, while partially mediating the relationship between transactional leadership and productivity. These findings suggest that transformational leadership and emotional intelligence primarily enhance productivity by strengthening employee motivation, whereas transactional leadership influences productivity through both motivational and reward-based mechanisms. The study highlights the importance of adopting a motivation-centered leadership approach to enhance employee productivity in developing organizational contexts and recommends future research to incorporate additional contextual variables and longitudinal designs.