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Transformational leadership refers to a leadership style that aims to inspire and motivate followers to exceed their own self-interests for the sake of the organization and achieve exceptional outcomes. In the context of increasing demands for improved faculty performance in higher education, the relationship between transformational leadership, psychological contract, and faculty performance in higher education institutions remains an active area of academic research. This study focuses on the mediating role of the psychological contract among faculty members in higher education institutions in Shandong Province, exploring the impact of transformational leadership on faculty performance. This study is a quantitative study that used a convenience sampling method to conduct a survey, recruiting 755 faculty members from various higher education institutions across Shandong, China. Data analysis was conducted using SPSS, and the results indicated that transformational leadership significantly enhances faculty members’ psychological contract, consequently improving their performance levels. Moreover, the study revealed that the psychological contract is a key mechanism through which transformational leadership enhances faculty performance, primarily by fostering a higher sense of psychological contract fulfillment among educators. These insights underscore the crucial role of transformational leadership practices and the cultivation of a strong psychological contract in enhancing faculty performance in the higher education sector. The study advocates for the adoption of transformational leadership strategies by higher education administrators, coupled with concerted efforts to forge and sustain a meaningful psychological contract within faculties, as a means to bolster faculty performance.
Kou et al. (Sun,) studied this question.