The Role of Job Satisfaction in Improving the Relationship Between Leadership and Organizational Culture on Employee Performance in Denpasar, Bali-Indonesia

This study examines the problem of declining employee performance in several government agencies, which is characterized by work results that are not on target, lack of contribution, innovation, discipline, coordination, and the existence of job dissatisfaction and a suboptimal organizational culture. The existence of a gap in the results of previous research on the influence of servant leadership and organizational culture on employee performance, as well as the mediating role of job satisfaction, prompted this research. The purpose of this study is to analyze the influence of service leadership and organizational culture on employee performance, as well as on job satisfaction, and the mediating role of job satisfaction in these relationships. The research method uses a causal associative approach which was carried out at the Denpasar City Public Works and Spatial Planning Office (PUPR) from December 2024 to June 2025. With the entire employee population, 58 respondents were selected through the random sampling method. Data was collected using a questionnaire and analyzed with Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) based on Partial Least Square (PLS). The results show that servant leadership and organizational culture positively and significantly affect employee performance, either directly or indirectly through partial mediation of job satisfaction. Job satisfaction also positively and significantly affects employee performance. Overall, the research model shows strong and acceptable predictiveness. The contribution of this research is to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the mechanism of influencing the variables of leadership serving, organizational culture, and job satisfaction on employee performance in specific government agency environments, as well as filling in the gaps of previous research.