Transformational leadership, perceived organizational support, and self-reported lecturer performance: Mediation by interpersonal collaboration skills

Type of the article: Research ArticleLecturer performance in geographically dispersed higher education institutions depends on more than individual expertise; it also requires the coordinated use of academic knowledge. This study aims to examine how transformational leadership and perceived organizational support explain self-reported lecturer performance and whether interpersonal collaboration skills mediate these relationships in higher education institutions in the Nias Archipelago. Survey data from 217 permanent lecturers were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling. Transformational leadership was positively associated with interpersonal collaboration skills (β = .340, p = .003) and self-reported lecturer performance (β = .226, p = .010). Perceived organizational support was positively associated with collaboration skills (β = .387, p < .001) and performance (β = .267, p = .003). Interpersonal collaboration skills had the strongest direct association with performance (β = .401, p < .001). The indirect effects of transformational leadership (β = .136, 95% CI [.039, .263]) and perceived organizational support (β = .156, 95% CI [.077, .244]) were significant, indicating complementary partial mediation. The model explained 46.6% of the variance in collaboration skills and 62.8% in self-reported lecturer performance. The findings show that leadership and organizational support contribute to perceived academic accomplishment partly by enabling lecturers to communicate, coordinate responsibilities, build trust, manage disagreement constructively, make joint decisions, and collaborate across units.Acknowledgment The authors thank the participating lecturers and the institutional contacts who supported the survey distribution. The authors also appreciate the editor and reviewers whose comments improved the methodological transparency and focus of the manuscript.