Transformational Leadership and Job Performance: The Roles of Emotional Exhaustion and Work Engagement

Abstract

This paper attempts to provide a theoretical explanation of how the employee’s emotional exhaustion can alter the influence of transformational leadership on the employees’ work engagement, which subsequently determines their job performance. Emotional exhaustion is commonly reported by numerous employees in diverse industries and this concept has received greater attention among scholars. Similarly, transformational leadership is widely discussed through numerous aspects in the existing literature. However, the extant literature reveals that emotional exhaustion in the arena of transformational leadership remains understudied and needs further investigation. Hence, based a review of the literature, this conceptual paper proposes that the employee’s emotional exhaustion can increase or decrease the effect of transformational leadership on the employees’ work engagement. Additionally, this paper proposes that transformational leadership can derive high job performance from employees by improving the employees’ work engagement. This paper highlights addressing the gaps in the existing literature and contributing vastly to the literature and managerial practice.