THE IMPACT OF TRANSACTIONAL LEADERSHIP ON EMPLOYEE MORALE: STRENGTHENING ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT AND PROMOTING WORK-LIFE BALANCE IN PAKISTAN'S TEXTILE INDUSTRY

Abstract

This study examines the effect of transactional leadership on employee morale in the textile industry of Pakistan, where organizational commitment is the mediator, and work-life balance is the moderator of the research. The paper is based on the Social Exchange Theory, Three-Component Model of commitment, and the Work-family Border Theory, which is a quantitative cross-sectional study design. Validated scales were used to gather data on 226 employees in textile and apparel plants. The results of the partial least squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) are that transactional leadership has a significant positive direct impact on employee morale (0.528, t = 6.41, p < 0.001) and organizational commitment (0.579, t = 3.93, p < 0.001). The relationship between organizational commitment and turnover is mediated by it (indirect effect 0.586, t = 1.93, p = 0.056). The connection between commitment and morale is mediated by work-life balance (0.477, t = 1.04, p = 0.030) and it works in the positive direction. The results have a contribution to the field of leadership and organizational psychology in the form of an integrated approach to labor-intensive sectors. In practice, they recommend implementation of equitable reward systems, supportive supervision and work-life initiatives to improve motivation and resiliency in the textile sector. There are limitations such as the cross-sectional design, which should be filled by future research on longitudinal designs and other mediators.