The Effect of Transformation Leadership on Learning Organization in Tourism Business Corporations

Abstract

The objectives of this research were 1) to develop the transformation leadership causal model of the firms in tourism business, 2) to study the influence of the antecedents, transformational leadership on the characteristic of learning organization of employees in tourism business corporations, and 3) to validate the developing structural equation modeling with empirical data. The target population was employees who worked in tourism and guide business. The questionnaire was used as a research instrument. A total of 476 completed questionnaires were returned (67.04% response rate). Structural Equation Model (SEM) by LISREL was used to analyze the data. The results of this study shows that: the measurement model is valid and well fit to empirical data ( = 58.41, df = 48, p = 0.11, RMSEA = 0.020, GFI = 0.98, AGFI = 0.97). This model exhibits acceptable levels of fit suggested by Byrne (1998), In addition it was found that the antecedents had positive effects on the transformation leadership. In this regard, when comparing these three influencing factors, it was further found that job motivation had higher positive effect on the transformation leadership than job satisfaction and organization commitment. Furthermore, the transformation leadership was found to have positive effect on the perceptions of employees in tourism business corporations regarding the characteristic of learning organization. The causal model of transformation leadership indicated invariance of the model formation and all parameters.