Leading for Service Excellence: Organizational Identification Mediates The Transformational Leadership--Service Quality Relatonship In Saudi Hotels

Abstract

Purpose: This study analysed how transformational leadership drives service quality in the hotel industry. We proposed that organizational identification an employee's psychological oneness with their workplace serves as the key mechanism explaining this relationship.

Methodology: Data were collected from 320 frontline employees across 22 four- and five-star hotels located in Riyadh, Jeddah, and Dammam, Saudi Arabia. We used Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) with a second-order SERVQUAL specification to test our hypotheses. A priori power analysis confirmed that our sample size (N=320) exceeds the minimum required (N=160) to detect a medium effect (β=0.20) at 80% power.

Findings: Transformational leadership strongly predicted both organizational identification (β = 0.727, p < 0.001) and service quality (β = 0.475, p < 0.001). Organizational identification directly enhanced service quality (β = 0.404, p < 0.001) and partially mediated the leadership–quality link (indirect effect β = 0.294, p < 0.001). This model demonstrated 66.8% of the variance in service quality. Model fitness was acceptable (SRMR = 0.068, NFI = 0.912).

Originality of the research: While previous research has treated the link between transformational leadership and service quality as direct, we demonstrated mediation effects of organizational identification laying critical role on relationship between transformational leadership and service quality. In our sample of Saudi hotels, organizational identification had 38% of the total effect of transformational leadership on service quality. The finding is particularly relevant in the collectivist cultural contexts, where an employee's sense of organizational belonging carries more weight than in individualist settings.