The impact of leadership style, HR practices, and motivation skills on employees' performance: The mediating role of job satisfaction

Abstract

The study focuses on testing the impact of leaders’ styles, HR practices, and motivation skills on employees’ performance, of which job satisfaction acts as a mediator. The study has a quantitative research approach, using which a structured questionnaire gathers all the required information. The sample of employees studied through the purposive sampling technique comprises 500 employees. The independent variables are leaders' styles (authoritarian, democratic, and laissez- faire), HR practices, and motivation skills, while job satisfaction acts as a mediator, and finally, employees' performance. Furthermore, results indicate that leaders’ styles, HR practices, and motivation skills positively impact job satisfaction and employees’ performance. The mediation analysis reveals that job satisfaction partially mediates the relationship of leadership styles and HR practices with employee performance but at the same time it fully mediates the relationship of motivation skills with employee performance. The R² values show a strong explanatory model for employees' performance and moderate predictive power for job satisfaction. Generally, the findings recommend that influential leadership, unbiased HR practices, and strong motivational skills enhance employee performance mainly by boosting job satisfaction. This study provides meaningful results for managers and HR professionals aiming to empower employee performance and organizational effectiveness.