Transformational leadership, proactive personality and service performance

Purpose: This paper aims to examine the impacts of transformational leadership and employee proactive personality on service performance, the mediation role of organizational embeddedness and the synergies of transformational leadership and proactive personality within the proposed framework. Design/methodology/approach: Data was collected following a time-lagged research approach. The study sample included 218 frontline employees and their supervisors from ten carefully selected five-star hotels in China. Structural equation modeling was employed for the data analysis. Findings: Transformational leadership and proactive personality had positive effects on task performance and contextual performance via organizational embeddedness. The interactive influences of transformational leadership and proactive personality on task performance and contextual performance were found significant and negative. Originality/value: Transformational leaders and proactive employees have been shown to exert a strong influence on excellent service performance, with organizational embeddedness playing a critical role.