An Analysis of Transformational Leadership Influence toward

Employee Performance by using Psychological Empowerment

Mediation in East Java Regional Office of the Ministry of Law and

Human Rights

Leorisia Hardika Putra

Master of Management, Faculty of Economics and Business, Airlangga University, Surabaya, Indonesia

Keywords: Transformational Leadership, Employee Performance, Psychological Empowerment

Abstract: The success of an organization can be seen from the performance of its employee. Therefore improving the

employee’s performance is the most important thing for the company. By performing transformational

leadership in the company, it is expected that psychological empowerment can be shown in four cognitions

as a connection mediating variable between the transformational leadership and employee performance. This

study aims to analyze and to prove how the transformational leadership influences employee performance

mediated by psychological empowerment at the East Java Regional Office of the Ministry of Law and Human

Rights. The approach in this study uses a quantitative approach. The sample in this study are JFU (General

Functional Position), JFT (Specific Functional Positions), and Administrator Officers (Structural Officers)

divided into by 109 employees spreading in four divisions that is carried out by using the Proportionate

Stratified Random Sampling technique. The analysis technique used in this study is the Structural Equation

Model (SEM) approach by Partial Least Square (PLS) method. Results of SmartPLS path model analysis

confirm that Transformational leadership has a significant effect on employee performance, Transformational

leadership has a significant effect on employee performance with psychological empowerment as a mediating

variable.

1 INTRODUCTION

The success of an organization can be seen from the

performance of the employees. Gomes (2003) states

that the performance of an employee is basically the

work result of an employee for a certain period that is

compared to the possibilities, for example standards,

targets or performances that have been determined

and agreed in advance. Organizational leaders are

very aware of the difference in performance between

one employee and another under their supervision.

Even though employees work in the same place but

their quality is not the same.

A similar thing happened to organizations or

public services (bureaucracy) in the government. In

required to be adaptive institutions for development,

because bureaucracy should not be at that one point,

after all. In order to accelerate the achievement of

good governance, on December 21, 2010 the

government established Presidential Regulation

Number 81 of 2010 on the Grand Design of 2010-

2025 Bureaucratic Reform. The regulation is the

operationalization of the Grand Design of

Bureaucratic Reform as outlined in the Bureaucratic

Reform Road Map. Regulations were then gradually

enacted as an effort to implement bureaucratic

reforms, including Government Regulation Number

46 of 2011 on Work Performance Assessment of

Civil Servants to substitute the Work Performance

Assessment List (DP-3). In that new regulation, the

quality of employees can be measured and assessed

from several aspects including service orientation,

integrity, commitment, discipline, cooperation and

leadership.

As an organization that has a lot of contact with

community service, the Ministry of Law and Human

Putra, L.

An Analysis of Transformational Leadership Inﬂuence toward Employee Performance by using Psychological Empowerment Mediation in East Java Regional Ofﬁce of the Ministry of Law and

Human Rights.

DOI: 10.5220/0009492206710677

In Proceedings of the 1st Unimed International Conference on Economics Education and Social Science (UNICEES 2018), pages 671-677

ISBN: 978-989-758-432-9

671

Rights is required to maintain service quality and

integrity in order to maintain the status of Corruption-

Free Zone (Wilayah Bebas Korupsi) and Clean and

Serving Bureaucracy Zone (Wilayah Birokrasi Bersih

dan Melayani) from the Ministry of Empowerment of

State Apparatus and Bureaucracy Reform, which has

been achieved since 2016. Several complaints in

public service must of course be minimized because

it can disrupt the objectives of the organization that is

oriented to excellent service. Since the existence of

“E-LAPOR” application in 2015, there were 242

complaints entered the system where the complaints

can also be seen and connected with the system

General Secretary of each Ministry. Meanwhile, for

the first semester of 2018 there have been 60

complaints, where Immigration service received the

most complaints, 55, then Correctional with 4

complaints, and legal services contribute to one

complaint. Moreover, according to recent data in the

third quarter, there were 8 complaints entering the

system (according to the office’s Public Relations

data ), and of course this is a boomerang if the report

/ public complaint is not immediately followed up.

In addition to service, accountability and

structuring HR is also a very important thing to assess

employee performance in supporting performance

achievements because inside of it there is a part of

employee performance targets that will support it,

including commitment, cooperation and leadership

factors. The work plan should be carried out

according to the schedule, that is, at the time of the

initial preparation of the activities, the

implementation must be given more attention,

because there are still many activities carried out after

the second semester. In fact, in evaluating the

achievement of good performance, the work calendar

that has been prepared is really in accordance with the

target to be achieved. The activities compiled in the

first semester should be carried out in the first

semester as well, otherwise they will reduce the

quality of output from the performance achievements

that has been prepared at the beginning of the year.

The fact is that there are still many activities that have

been boosted at the end of the year with the aim that

the budget absorption achieved gets good percentage

in accordance with the performance target. This must

be evaluated so that the work plan and work calendar

are in accordance with the performance targets so that

the output produced in the performance achievement

is truly high quality.

To realize the quality of public services and the

achievement of performance in accordance with the

target and work calendar and HR arrangement in an

organization contained in 8 (eight) areas of change,

surely the role of the leader has a considerable

contribution. The role of leadership is very strategic

and important in an organization as one of the success

determinants to achieve the mission, vision and goals

of an organization. Therefore, the challenge in

developing a clear organizational strategy mainly lies

in the organization on the one hand and depends on

leadership (Porter, 1996).

The right leadership style in moving and directing

all potential employees to realize organizational

stability and increasing productivity oriented to

organizational goals is transformational leadership

because it describes a process where leaders bring

significant positive changes to individuals, groups,

teams and organizations (Avolio, et al., 1990).

Transformational leadership is described as a

leadership style that motivates employees by giving

individual attention to each follower (Bass, 1985).

Transformational leadership is also able to provide a

positive example to subordinates. Positive behavior

can be in the form of taking risks together and

instilling a sense of pride in their subordinates and

always motivating their employees to perform higher

than the expected.

However, the goal or success of an organization

is not only from a transformational leader, it also

requires employees as driving forces as well as targets

for change. Transformational leadership must be able

to give more freedom to employees who lack the

freedom to be more creative and innovative and to be

involved in making organizational decisions.

Previously, creative and proactive culture in

bureaucratic organizations was less developed and

employees were merely technical implementers who

were in the lowest structure of bureaucracy and

worked after orders/dispositions from superiors.

To realize competency, employees need to be

more empowered to develop their existing potential

and provide other ways of working, which is by

giving empowerment to employees (Lovelock and

Wirtz, 2010). Empowerment is a time when

organizations equip employees with autonomy or

power to make decisions when they face everyday’s

life in the work environment (Haas, 2010). With the

provision of empowerment, of course, employees are

expected to be able to improve their abilities,

knowledge, creativity and quality of work.

Employees can be motivated, motivated to believe in

their ability to do the tasks given to succeed.

Employees must be able to make decisions and

employees must be able to think correctly and quickly

when facing problems that occur right away.

Empowerment is part of the process and also the

organizational context. Empowerment not only

UNICEES 2018 - Unimed International Conference on Economics Education and Social Science

672

includes increasing individual motivation and

delegation from top to bottom. Liden and Wayne

Sparrowe, 2010) describes empowerment as intrinsic

motivation, job design, collaborative decision

making, social learning theory, and self management.

Empowerment is referred to as psychological

empowerment. Itself is a state of mind where an

employee can master his feelings for the work done,

must be aware of the tasks of the work being done,

with a large level of responsibility for both work

results for the individual and the overall progress of

the organization and perceived justice in terms of

wages based on individual and group performance

(Melhem, 2006). Psychological empowerment is

divided into four variables, namely, competence,

meaningfulness, self-determination, and impact

(Spreitzer, 1995).

Consequently, the existence of psychological

empowerment driven by a transformational

leadership is expected to produce performance

accountability implemented in the employee

performance and improve the quality of public

services oriented to excellent service so that the goals

of an organization towards change can be realized,

especially in East Java Regional Office of Law and

Human Rights Ministry.

2 THEORICAL FRAMEWORK

2.1 Analysis Model

Figure 1: Analysis Model

2.2 Transformational Leadership

According to Yammarino and Bass (1990),

transformational leaders must be able to persuade

their subordinates to carry out their duties beyond

their own interests for a larger organization interest.

Yammarino and Bass (1990) also state that

transformational leaders articulate a realistic vision of

the organization's future, stimulate subordinates in an

intellectual manner, and pay attention to the

differences possessed by their subordinates. Tichy

and Devanna (1990) state that the existence of

transformational leaders has a transformation effect

both at the organizational level and at the individual

level.

Bass and Avolio (1994) suggest that

transformational leadership has four dimensions.

They called it "the Four I's". They are:

1. Idealized Influence or Charisma

2. Inspirational Motivation

3. Intellectual Stimulation

4. Individualized Consideration

2.3 Psychological Empowerment

According to Yukl (2005, 129), empowerment is

very important in the context of leadership because

delegating responsibility for more important tasks

will not give authority if people lack the skills and

knowledge needed to successfully carry out the task

and feel worried about failure. Therefore, in each

empowerment there must be an understanding of

psychological empowerment, which according to

Spreitzer (in Yukl, 2005: 129) includes four elements,

including:

1. Meaning. The content and the consequences of

work are consistent with one's values and

idealism.

2. Self determination. The person has the ability

to determine how and when the work is

completed.

3. Competence. The person has high confidence

about being able to do the job effectively.

4. Impact. The person believes that it is very

possible to have an important impact on the

work and work environment.

2.4 Employee Performance

According to Gibson et al. (1996) employee

performance is a measure that can be used to

determine the comparison of task implementation

result, responsibilities given by the organization in a

certain period and relatively can be used to measure

work performance or organizational performance.

Mathis and Jackson (2006) define that performance is

basically what employees do and do not do.

Employee performance influences how much they

contribute to the organization, including output

quantity, output quality, output period, workplace

attendance, and cooperative attitude.

Based on Government Regulation Number 46 of

2011 on the Assessment of Civil Servants, there are

several aspects to assess employee performance

behavior, which are:

1. Service orientation

2. Integrity

3. Commitment

4. Discipline

Transformational

Leadership (X)

Employee

Performance (Y)

Psychological

Empowerment (Z)

An Analysis of Transformational Leadership Inﬂuence toward Employee Performance by using Psychological Empowerment Mediation in

East Java Regional Ofﬁce of the Ministry of Law and Human Rights

673

5. Cooperation

6. Quantity (target output)

7. Quality (target quality)

8. Time (target time)

9. Cost (target cost)

3 RESEARCH METHOD

Population is a generalization area consisting of

objects or subjects that have certain quantities and

characteristics set by researchers to be studied and

then drawn a conclusion (Sugiyono, 2009).T he

population of the object of this research are all

employees of East Java Regional Office of Ministry

of Law and Human Rights, amounting to 150 people.

Samples are part of the number and characteristics

possessed by the population (Sugiyono, 2009). In this

study the samples were employees of East Java

Regional Office of Ministry of Law and Human

Rights with the sampling technique uses the Slovin

formula result is 109 people.

This research was conducted by randomly

distributing questionnaires on JFU (General

Functional Position), JFT (Specific Functional

Position), and Administrator Officers (Structural

Officers) which is divided into 4 (four) different

divisions, so that in taking samples from each division

it is carried out by using Proportionate Stratified

Random Sampling technique. According to Sugiyono

(2009) Proportionate Stratified Random Sampling is

taking sample from members of the population

randomly and proportionally structured. This

sampling is carried out if the members of the

population are heterogeneous and divided into groups

according to similar characteristics or certain

conditions.

Table 1: Samples by Division

No. Division Σ

Employee

Sample

1 Administratio

48 35

2 Legal and Human Rights

Services

59 43

3 Immigratio

18 13

4 Correctional 25 18

Total 150 109

Source : HRD

Table 2: Samples by Position

No. Position Σ Officer Σ Sample

Structural Position (administrator/Supervisory)

1. Echelon II.b 4 2

2. Echelon III 9 7

3. Echelon IV 18 13

Functional Position

1. Specific Functional 42 31

2. General Functional 77 56

Total 150 109

Source : HRD

4 RESULT AND DISCUSSION

Table 3 shows that the number of 109 respondents

who are Administrator/Supervisory officials is 20.18

percent, JFT are 28.44 percent and JFU or commonly

called dominating staff is 51.37 percent with 60

respondents or as many as 55, 1 percent of male have

a little more than female 49 respondents or 44.9

percent. For ages, respondents were in the range of 24

years to 58 years, which was dominated by

respondents aged between 36 years and 45 years

(40.36 percent). For the education taken by

respondents, doctor is 1.83 percent, as many as 74

respondents who dominated the most undergraduate

education with a percentage of 67.88 percent, then

master's program 27.52 percent and diploma

education at 1.83 percent.

Table 3: Profile of the Respondent

Profile Total Percentage

Number of Samples 109 100%

Position :

Supervisory Officer

Specific Functional

General Functional

20,18 %

28,44 %

51,37 %

Gender :

Male

Female

55,1 %

44,9 %

Age :

≤ 25 year

26 – 35 year

36 – 45 year

> 45 yea

6,42 %

29,35 %

40,36 %

23,85 %

Education :

Diploma

Bachelor

Master

Doctor

2,75 %

67,88 %

27,52 %

1,83 %

Source : Data processed, 2018

Figure 2 below, Inner model testing done to see

the coefficient of determination, predictive relevance,

UNICEES 2018 - Unimed International Conference on Economics Education and Social Science

674

goodness of fit, estimation of path coefficients and

parameter coefficients. After knowing the significant

relationship between variables, it can be concluded

the hypothesis related to transformational leadership,

psychological empowerment, and employee

performance in East Java Regional Office of Law and

Human Rights Ministry. Hypothesis testing is done

by bootstrapping method.

Figure 2: Inner Model

Source : Data processed, PLS 3

Table 4: R Square

Square

R Square

Adjusted

Employee Performance 0.357 0.345

Psychological

Empowermen

0.404 0.398

Source : Data processed, PLS 3

The R-Square value above, each of which has

been multiplied by 100 percent, produces a

coefficient of determination from employee

performance of 35.7 percent. This value indicates that

employee performance can be explained by

transformational leadership, while the remaining 64.3

percent is explained by other variables outside the

analysis model. The coefficient of determination from

psychological empowerment produces a value of 40.4

percent, where the value shows that psychological

empowerment can be explained by transformational

leadership, employee performance, while the

remaining 59.6 percent is explained by other

variables outside the analysis model.

Table 5: Test the Direct Hypothesis

Orgnl

Sample

(O)

Sample

Mean

(M)

St.

dev

stat

value

Psychological

Empowerment



Employee

Performance

0.315 0.293 0.130 2.424 0.016

Transformationa

l Leadeship 

Employee

Performance

0.345 0.357 0.093 3.699 0.000

Transformationa

l Leadeship 

Psychological

Empowerment

0.635 0.639 0.129 4.924 0.000

Source : Data processed, PLS 3

Hypothesis 1 states that Transformational

Leadership has significant effect on Employee

Performance.

An Analysis of Transformational Leadership Inﬂuence toward Employee Performance by using Psychological Empowerment Mediation in

East Java Regional Ofﬁce of the Ministry of Law and Human Rights

675

The calculation resulted from SMARTPLS 3.0

software shows the path coefficient value of

Transformational Leadership on Employee

Performance has significant influence with T-

Statistics more than 1.96, which is 3.699. This means

that hypothesis 1 suggesting that Transformational

Leadership has significant effect on Employee

Performance in East Java Regional Office of

Kemenkumham is supported.

Hypothesis 2 states Transformational Leadership

has significant effect on Employee Performance with

Psychological Empowerment as mediating variable.

The calculation resulted from SMARTPLS 3.0

software shows the path coefficient value of

Transformational Leadership on Employee

Performance has significant influence with T-

Statistics more than 1.96, which is 3.699. The path

variable of Transformational Leadership with

Psychological Empowerment has significant

influence with T-Statistics more than 1.96, which is

4.924. Meanwhile the Psychological Empowerment

variable with Employee Performance has a

significant influence with T-Statistics more than 1.96,

which is 2.424. Thus it can be said that

Transformational Leadership has a significant effect

on Employee Performance and also when

Transformational Leadership towards Employee

Performance through Psychological Empowerment

produces significant value because the T-Statistics

value is more than 1.96. Because all variables have a

significant influence both Transformational

Leadership on Employee Performance,

Transformational Leadership has a significant effect

on Psycchological Empowerment and Psychological

Empowerment has a significant effect on Employee

Performance. It is concluded that the hypothesis is

proven or the second hypothesis is supported.

5 CONCLUSIONS

Based on the analysis and the discussion, it can be

concluded that:

1. Transformational leadership has significant

influence on employee performance.

2. Transformational leadership has significant

influence on employee performance with

psychological empowerment as a mediating

variable.

The result of this study indicates that the

Transformational Leadership variable with the

mediation of Psychological Empowerment has

significantly influenced the performance of

employees and therefore suggests the government

especially the East Java Regional Office of Law and

Human Rights Ministry:

1. To pay special attention to the

Transformational Leadership applied so far, as

well as the Psychological Empowerment

factors. If the two variables are noticed, it will

improve Employee Performance.

2. As government employees who serve to

provide services to the community, it is

necessary to devote their performance to the

maximum extent possible so public can be

served.

3. For future research, this research can be used

as an idea for future research development.

For another development, it is recommended

to add other variables that can affect employee

performance.

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An Analysis of Transformational Leadership Inﬂuence toward Employee Performance by using Psychological Empowerment Mediation in

East Java Regional Ofﬁce of the Ministry of Law and Human Rights

677