The empirical relationship between transformational leadership and job attitudes: mediating role of psychological capital – a study of healthcare in India

PurposeThe goal of this research is to investigate the association between transformational leadership style, psychological capital and job attitude (job satisfaction and organization commitment). Transformational leadership's effects on these job attitudes were also analysed in terms of the mediating effects of psychological capital.Design/methodology/approachThe authors received 296 authentic questionnaires from the para-medical staff working in different public and private healthcare institutes in Jammu and Kashmir, India, and these were then analysed by using SEM with SPSS 25.0 and AMOS 19.FindingsResults implied that transformational leadership increased the levels of employees' job attitudes. The results further displayed that transformational leadership and psychological capital in the workplace are positively associated. The results also showed that psychological capital was positively linked with job attitudes. Moreover, psychological capital serves as a mediating construct between transformational leadership and job attitudes.Practical implicationsThe outcomes of this research will help in comprehending the significance of transformational leadership and psychological capital. Further, these research findings affirm the effectiveness of transformational leadership and psychological capital in forecasting positive job attitudes in the Indian work context. The administrators and policymakers in the healthcare sector can implement these concepts to reduce negative job outcomes.Originality/valueThis study expanded on Deci et al.’s (2017) existing self-determination theory model by incorporating leadership style and psychological capital as workplace context and autonomous intrinsic factors, respectively, into the self-determination theory model to study work behaviours of job satisfaction and commitment. This study contributes to existing self-determination theory knowledge by proposing and testing psychological capital as a mechanism for determining the effect of transformational leadership on job attitudes (job satisfaction and organizational commitment).