The Influence of Leadership Challenges on Employee Retention: The Mediating Role of Organizational Commitment
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21889903Keywords:
Employee retention, employee turnover, leadership challenges, organizational commitment, PLS-SEMAbstract
Despite the rising cost of turnover, recruitment and training, the issue of employee retention continues to be one of the crucial challenges that all organizations have to address, whether they are publicly or privately held. Leaders are responsible for shaping up employees’ working experience and making them decide to stay in the organizations. At the same time, various challenges that leadership faces, including poor communication, inconsistent decision-making, and lack of sufficient support from leaders to employees, as well as lack of employee recognition, continue to impact the organizational performance. This study analyzed the impact of leadership challenges on employee retention and the mediating effect of organizational commitment in this relationship. Based on social exchange theory, organizational commitment theory, and transformational leadership theory, the study suggested that leadership challenges negatively impact the commitment of employees to the organizations, which influences their desire to continue employment in the organizations. A quantitative cross-sectional research design employing Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) applied to test the suggested hypotheses. It is expected that the results will add more evidence to the existing literature on leadership and retention.
References
Abu Orabi, T., Almasarweh, M. S., Qteishat, M. K., Al-Qudah, H. A., & Alqudah, M. Z. (2024). Mapping leadership and organizational commitment trends: A bibliometric review. Administrative Sciences, 14(8), 171. https://doi.org/10.3390/admsci14080171
Elshaer, I. A., Azazz, A. M. S., & Fayyad, S. (2025). Green transformational leadership's impact on employee retention: Does job satisfaction and green support bridge the gap? Administrative Sciences, 15(5), 177. https://doi.org/10.3390/admsci15050177
Gelencsér, M., Kőmüves, Z. S., Hollósy-Vadász, G., & Szabó-Szentgróti, G. (2023). The holistic model of labour retention: The impact of workplace wellbeing factors on employee retention. Administrative Sciences, 13(5), 121. https://doi.org/10.3390/admsci13050121
Gelencsér, M., Kőmüves, Z. S., Hollósy-Vadász, G., & Szabó-Szentgróti, G. (2025). Modelling employee retention in small and medium-sized enterprises and large enterprises in a dynamically changing business environment. International Journal of Organizational Analysis, 33(5), 1006–1038. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJOA-09-2023-3961
Hair, J. F., Jr., Hult, G. T. M., Ringle, C. M., & Sarstedt, M. (2022). A primer on partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) (3rd ed.). SAGE Publications.
Hair, J. F., Howard, M. C., & Nitzl, C. (2019). Assessing measurement model quality in PLS-SEM using confirmatory composite analysis. Journal of Business Research, 109, 101–110. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2019.11.069
Iqbal, S., Akhtar, S., Qalati, S. A., Anwar, F., & Khan, M. A. S. (2020). The impact of transformational leadership on employee retention: Mediation and moderation through organizational citizenship behavior and communication. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, 314. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00314
Jiatong, W., Wang, Z., Alam, M., Murad, M., Gul, F., & Gill, S. A. (2022). The impact of transformational leadership on affective organizational commitment and job performance: The mediating role of employee engagement. Frontiers in Psychology, 13, 831060. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.831060
Jun, K., Hu, Z., & Sun, Y. (2023). Impact of authentic leadership on employee turnover intention: Perceived supervisor support as mediator and organizational identification as moderator. Frontiers in Psychology, 14, 1009639. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1009639
Jung, M. K., Jung, T. G., Jeon, M. W., & Lee, J. H. (2024). The structural relationship of job stress, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and turnover intention among youth sports education leaders in Korea. Frontiers in Psychology, 15, 1385993. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1385993
Menezes, D. B. S., Rocha, J. M., & Silva, R. (2025). The role of talent management in enhancing employee retention: Mediating the influence of psychological empowerment. Sustainability, 17(7), 3277. https://doi.org/10.3390/su17073277
Mokoena, W., Schultz, C. M., & Dachapalli, L.-A. P. (2022). A talent management, organisational commitment and employee turnover intention framework for a government department in South Africa. SA Journal of Human Resource Management, 20, a1920. https://doi.org/10.4102/sajhrm.v20i0.1920
Rawashdeh, A. M., Elayan, M. B., Shamout, M. D., & Hamouche, S. (2022). Human resource development and turnover intention: Organizational commitment's role as a mediating variable. European Journal of Management and Business Economics, 31(4), 469–484. https://doi.org/10.1108/EJMBE-12-2021-0343
Sarstedt, M., Ringle, C. M., Cheah, J.-H., Ting, H., Moisescu, O. I., & Radomir, L. (2020). Structural model robustness checks in PLS-SEM. Tourism Economics, 26(4), 531–554. https://doi.org/10.1177/1354816618823921
Xia, D., Sun, J., Zhang, C., & Zhang, Y. (2022). The relationship between organizational commitment and turnover intention among temporary employees in the local government: Mediating role of perceived insider status and moderating role of gender. Frontiers in Psychology, 13, 1024139. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1024139
Xiong, B., Wu, X., & Sui, Q. (2023). The impact of transformational leadership on the turnover intention of the new generation of knowledgeable employees: A moderated mediation model. Frontiers in Psychology, 13, 1090987. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1090987
Xuecheng, W., Iqbal, Q., Saina, B., & Mubarak, M. S. (2022). Factors affecting employee's retention: Integration of situational leadership with social exchange theory. Frontiers in Psychology, 13, 872105. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.872105
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 International Journal of Research on Multidisciplinary Studies

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.







