The Mediating Role of Work Environment in the Relationship between Visionary Leadership and Employee Performance: Evidence from Public Health Offices in West Java, Indonesia
Abstract
Background: Digital transformation in Indonesian public health governance has placed new demands on employee performance at District/City Health Offices. Despite growing evidence on leadership-performance linkages, the specific mechanism through which visionary leadership shapes employee performance via work environment in Indonesian public health organizations remains empirically underexplored. This study investigates the mediating role of work environment in the relationship between visionary leadership and employee performance.
Method: This quantitative cross-sectional study surveyed 180 Standard Minimum Service program managers across 27 District/City Health Offices in West Java Province using proportionate stratified random sampling. Data were collected through structured questionnaires and analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling-Partial Least Squares (SEM-PLS) with SmartPLS 3.0, testing three hypotheses regarding visionary leadership, work environment, and employee performance relationships.
Results: All three hypotheses were supported. Visionary leadership demonstrated a very strong direct effect on work environment (β=0.916, t=43.512, p=0.000), and work environment significantly influenced employee performance (β=0.439, t=2.854, p=0.016). The indirect mediation path was significant (β=0.402, t=2.798, p=0.005), confirming full mediation. The direct effect of visionary leadership on performance was not significant (β=0.183, p=0.239), establishing that work environment is the necessary conduit for leadership's performance impact.
Conclusion: Visionary leadership increases employee performance exclusively through the creation of a conducive work environment, not through direct supervision. Health office leaders should prioritize investments in technology infrastructure, collaborative organizational climate, and supervisor support systems. These findings align with Islamic management principles of amanah (trustworthiness), tabligh (communicative vision), and ta'awun (mutual cooperation).
References
Alobeidli, S. Y., Ahmad, S. Z., & Jabeen, F. (2024). Mediating effects of knowledge sharing and employee creativity on the relationship between visionary leadership and innovative work behavior. Management Research Review, 47(6), 883–903. https://doi.org/10.1108/MRR-05-2023-0341
Almuqrin, A., Mutambik, I., Alomran, A., & Alojail, M. (2024). How do digital capabilities affect organizational performance in the public sector? The mediating role of organizational agility. Administrative Sciences, 14(2), 37. https://doi.org/10.3390/admsci14020037
Antonio, M. S. (2007). Muhammad SAW: The Super Leader Super Manager. ProLM Centre & Tazkia Publishing.
Armstrong, M., & Taylor, S. (2020). Armstrong's Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice (15th ed.). Kogan Page.
Badroen, F., Suhendra, S., Mufraeni, M. A., & Bashori, A. D. (2006). Etika Bisnis dalam Islam. Kencana Prenada Media Group.
Baron, R. M., & Kenny, D. A. (1986). The moderator–mediator variable distinction in social psychological research. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51(6), 1173–1182. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.51.6.1173
Cheng, Z., Jin, X., & Kwak, W. J. (2025). Using the new positive aspect of digital leadership to improve organizational sustainability: Testing moderated mediation model. Acta Psychologica, 255, 104963. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actpsy.2025.104963
Creswell, J. W., & Creswell, J. D. (2018). Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches (5th ed.). Sage Publications.
Denison, D. R. (1990). Corporate Culture and Organizational Effectiveness. John Wiley & Sons.
Ferdinand, A. (2014). Metode Penelitian Manajemen. Badan Penerbit Universitas Diponegoro.
Hair, J. F., Hult, G. T. M., Ringle, C. M., & Sarstedt, M. (2019). A Primer on Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) (2nd ed.). Sage Publications.
Hayes, A. F. (2013). Introduction to Mediation, Moderation, and Conditional Process Analysis: A Regression-Based Approach. Guilford Press.
He, H., Sogan, C., & Van der Voet, J. (2022). Enabling digital transformation in public organizations: The role of organizational context. Public Management Review, 24(8), 1298–1319. https://doi.org/10.1080/14719037.2021.1912145
Kementerian Kesehatan Republik Indonesia. (2023). Laporan Nasional Transformasi Kesehatan Digital. Kemenkes RI.
Kim, S., & Jang, S. (2020). Visionary leadership and employee outcomes in the private sector: A meta-analysis. Journal of Business Research, 118, 403–413. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.07.013
Mangkunegara, A. A. P. (2017). Manajemen Sumber Daya Manusia Perusahaan. PT Remaja Rosdakarya.
Mollah, M. A., Al Masud, A., & Chowdhury, M. S. (2024). How does digital leadership boost competitive performance? The role of digital culture, affective commitment, and strategic agility. Heliyon, 10(23), e40839. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e40839
Nuryadin, R., Sobandi, A., & Santoso, B. (2023). Digital leadership in the Indonesian public sector: A systematic literature review. Jurnal Ilmu Administrasi, 20(1), 90–106. https://doi.org/10.31113/jia.v20i1.934
Nusraningrum, D., Rahmawati, A., Wider, W., Jiang, L., & Udang, L. N. (2024). Enhancing employee performance through motivation: the mediating roles of green work environments and engagement in Jakarta's logistics sector. Frontiers in Sociology, 9, 1392229. https://doi.org/10.3389/fsoc.2024.1392229
Pandey, S., & Gupta, R. (2023). Linking work environment, engagement, and performance: A meta-analysis. International Journal of Management Reviews, 25(2), 245–265. https://doi.org/10.1111/ijmr.12299
Plimmer, G., Bryson, J., & Teo, S. T. T. (2024). Leadership and performance in public service organizations: Mediating mechanisms. Public Administration, 102(1), 78–96. https://doi.org/10.1111/padm.12882
Robbins, S. P. (2006). Organizational Behavior (12th ed.). Pearson/Prentice Hall.
Robbins, S. P., & Judge, T. A. (2019). Organizational Behavior (18th ed.). Pearson.
Schermerhorn, J. R. (1999). Management (6th ed.). John Wiley & Sons.
Surianto, & Nurfahira. (2024). The role of work environment and leadership in enhancing employee performance. Economics and Digital Business Review, 5(2), 1054–1070. https://doi.org/10.37531/ecotal.v5i2.1054
Tiwari, B., & Lenka, U. (2015). Visionary leadership and employee engagement: Empirical evidence. Industrial and Commercial Training, 47(7), 393–399. https://doi.org/10.1108/ICT-04-2014-0030
Van der Voet, J., & Steijn, B. (2021). Leadership and innovation in public sector organizations. Public Administration, 99(2), 385–402. https://doi.org/10.1111/padm.12694
Wright, B. E., & McMahan, G. C. (2011). Exploring human capital: Putting 'human' back into strategic human resource management. Human Resource Management Journal, 21(2), 93–104. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1748-8583.2010.00165.x
Zhenjing, G., Chupradit, S., Ku, K. Y., Nassani, A. A., & Haffar, M. (2022). Impact of employees' workplace environment on employees' performance: A multi-mediation model. Frontiers in Public Health, 10, 890400. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2022.890400
Copyright (c) 2026 Abdulah Mubarok
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
The authors who publish in the journal agree to the following terms:
- The authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- The authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgment of its initial publication in this journal.
- The authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work.
- The authors warrant that the article is original, written by stated author(s), has not been published before, contains no unlawful statements, does not infringe the rights of others, is subject to copyright that is vested exclusively in the author and free of any third-party rights, and that any necessary written permissions to quote from other sources have been obtained by the author(s).
Jurnal Ekonomi dan Bisnis Manajemen Syariah (SEMB-J), Yayasan Darussalam Bengkulu is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Based on a work at https://siducat.org/index.php/sembj/.
