Leadership Dynamics and Organizational Performance: The Critical Role of Employee Motivation in SMEs

The purpose of this research is to analyze the impact of leadership as a management strategy on motivation and organizational performance in SMEs. Employing a quantitative research approach under the overall umbrellaof positivism, the study aimed at reaching managerial employees working in SMEs, despite their significance for the economy and constant management and motivation issues. The participants were 350 managerial professionals, forming a growing population to maximize statistical reliability. The primary method of data collection involved Likert scales in questionnaire surveys, while for the analysis (PLS-SEM), Smart PLS was used. This research established that there is a positive correlation between leadership behavior, organizational commitment, and organizational output in SMEs. The results of this study, therefore, stress the importance of leadership and motivation in boosting organizational performance and make a strong call to SMEs to track their efforts towards bettering these elements intheir operations to gain better performance results.