Role of transformational leadership on employee productivity of teaching hospitals: using structural equation modeling.

BACKGROUND: In today's transforming world, increased productivity and efficient use of existing facilities are practically beyond a choice and become a necessity. In this line, attention to change and transformation is one of the affecting factors on the growth of productivity in organizations, especially in hospitals.

AIM: To examine the effect of transformational leadership on the productivity of employees in teaching hospitals affiliated to Iran University of Medical Sciences.

METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 254 participants from educational and medical centers affiliated to Iran University of Medical Sciences (Tehran, Iran) in 2016. The standard questionnaires of Bass & Avolio and of Hersi & Goldsmith were used to respectively assess transformational leadership and level of productivity. The research assumptions were tested in a significance level of 0.05 by applying descriptive statistics and structural equations modeling (SEM) using SPSS 19 and Amos 24.

RESULTS: Results of the fitting indicators of the assessing model after amending includes Chi-square two to degrees of freedom of 2.756, CFI indicator 0.95, IFI indicator 0.92, Root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) indicator 0.10. These results indicate that the assessing model is well fitting after the amendment. Also, analysis of the model's assumptions and the final model of the research reveals the effect of transformational leadership on employees' productivity with a significance level of 0.83 (p=0.001).

CONCLUSION: This research indicates that the more the leadership and decision-making style in hospitals lean towards transformational mode, the more positive outcomes it brings among employees and the organization due to increased productivity. Therefore, it is essential to pay focused attention to training/educational programs in organizations to create and encourage transformational leadership behaviors which hopefully lead to more productive employees.