The Effect of Demographic Characteristics on Job Performance: An Empirical Study from Pakistan

Abstract

This holistic research focused on the interactive relationship of different factors with a unique relationship with the dependent variable. The first research objective of the study was to identify the most significant factor that has an impact on Job performance while being mediated. The second objective was to see the moderating effect of gender on the relationship between transformation leadership and innovation on job performance. This research followed a purely quantitative research paradigm with a structured questionnaire to quantify the information collected from 96 respondents for the empirical analysis. For testing the research hypotheses, IBM SPSS version 24 and SmartPLS version 3.2.8 softwares were used to run the structural equation modeling to establish the causal relationship between the study variables. Most of the variables were found with a significant impact on job performance. Further, the hypotheses H³, H⁶, and H¹⁰ were rejected as these contributed insignificant towards the research model. This research was limited to specific educational institutions and businesses, and the timeframe was restrictive. The findings of this research can benefit policymakers and the operational side of various industries. Future research may consider the difference in gender in predicting employee engagement through leadership and innovation.

1. Introduction

Study into gender motivation disparities in the leadership field generally focuses on the inspiration for leadership or desire for influence. New studies on motivation to lead usually use the measurements and conceptualizations of Zuraik (2019), whereby the willingness to lead is an overall structure composed of 3 elements: an affective identity (i.e., the inherent desire or ability to lead), a non-calculative one (i.e., foremost to non-selfish purposes) (i.e., a sensation of duty or responsibility to lead). However, women had less chance of achieving power-based life-zeal and were more likely to have adverse effects (i.e., tension and trade- offs) related to such powerful positions compared to men. In comparison, while the disparities between women and men in leadership conduct are still limited, they are usually in favor of women over men, since women appear to be more likely to participate in more productive leadership conduct (e.g., transformative leaders) (e.g., passive and destructive leadership). Generically, gender gaps in the immediate determinants of leadership are uncertain, while differences in leadership-related knowledge and abilities are shown to be certain. This pattern of results is further interpreted holistically in the next section to explain possible explanations or areas of study in the future for gender gaps discrepancies between management requirements and the entire leadership method.

The research focuses on studying several related factors but have not been studied together holistically. The research focused on the premise that the interactive relationship of the different factors being students have a unique and significant relationship with each other and the dependent variable. Even though extensive work has been done on performance and gender in leadership, not much has been done to see the moderating effect of leadership in reference to factors such as motivation, reward, task complexity, and culture. Additionally, not much work has been done regarding gender in studying and exploring the relationship of transformational leadership and innovation about job performance. In consideration of this gap in the literature, the study focuses on testing the unique relationship of motivation, reward, task complexity, and culture with job performance while being mediated by transformational leadership and innovation.

To explore this research, gap the study employs several research objectives.

1. To see which factors significantly impact job performance while being mediated.

2. To see the moderating impact of the variable gender on the relationship between Transformation leadership and Innovation on Job performance.

3. To see the direction of this relationship (direct or inverse) and compare it with the literature.

To explore this research, the gap the study employs, and the research objectives, the following research questions, were designed.

1. What is the relationship of Gender on leadership and job performance from the literature?

2. What is the impact of gender on the relationship of job performance with Transformational leadership and innovation as a moderator?

3. What is the mediating role of Transformation leadership and Innovation on Job performance in reference to the variables identified from the literature?

2. Literature Review

2.1. Innovative Concepts, Technologies, and Strategies

Innovative job activity refers to practices relating to employees’ growth, introduction, and overview of a new way to work to increase the effectiveness and performance of the initiative (Henseler et al., 2015). Ground-breaking work involves introducing innovative concepts, technologies, and strategies in the work that can be widely found in the industry. Organizations continue to develop technologies to be able to address new issues and threats (Muenjohn, 2021). The impending problems require workers to perform creative activities to enhance the existing situation. In the process of enhancing corporate efficiency, creativity plays a significant role. The perfect way to innovate is to ensure you keep those workers innovative; they are fantastic for long-lasting effects (Harman, 1976). By improving the artistic ability of workers, one may create more new ideas for greater workplace productivity (Hair, 2011). Organizations should consider the variables that affect how people innovate. Because of the difficulty of the problems, workers should collaborate and co-develop alternative options together. The study findings revealed a poor association between transformational leadership and staff inventions (Dierksmeier, 2010). It is uncertain if transformational leaders embrace innovative job practices.

Robbins and Coulter (2018) explain leadership as an individual who can inspire and empower others. Whittington et al. (2009) views leadership as having “the capability to affect a group of people to achieve a shared objective.” Leadership theory can be identified via five groups (Wisner, 2003): I leadership trait theories, (ii) group and exchanges theories, (iii) path-goal leadership theories, (iv) charismatic leadership theories, and (v) contingency theory. The leadership style is again split into two major behavior types: transactional and transformative (Zuraik, 2019).

2.2. Leader’s Effect on Employees’ Creative Ideation

The prevailing literature in the area of creativity study has primarily focused on leaders’ effect on employees’ creative ideation rather than employee participation in the generation as well as the application of their ideas (Saki et al., 2015). Different researchers have tested and attempted to understand the connection between transformational leadership and creative job behavior (Raman, 2001). It has been focused on the “Interactionist Perspective of Creativity” paradigm. This course of action results from employees’ actions being affected by human, social, and other influences (Paulraj, 2012). Employees’ working styles that are observed as creative may be seen as experiences of person, unit, and organizational level influences that encouraged or hindered effort in organizational contexts (Reuvers, 2008). The employee’s ability to innovate would rely on his manager’s impact on him and the relationship between the manager and the job difficulty and innovation environment. Additionally, various constructs within organizations will be analyzed to establish the transformational leadership impact on job motivation. Transformational leadership relies on a leader’s individual activities such as “intellectual stimulation, ” “idealized influence, ” and “inspirational motivation” (Kumar, 2017). Leadership’s immense power is believed to be better in evaluating creative job habits (Kumar, 2017).

2.3. Organizational Culture

Organizational culture is how universal beliefs, ideals, and practices influence the actions of members of an organization and how organizations differentiate themselves along those dimensions. In this wisdom, ethos represents and is difficult to alter the history, traditions, and institutions formed by a community of persons forming the organization. The corporate culture is the standard behavior pattern in any company. Many people are influenced by such elements as cooperation, regulation, control, conflicts, cooperation, and respect for community standards, based on norms, values, beliefs, and people’s behaviors. Paulraj (2012) note that for a particular reason, all organizations are created, and their culture must be consistent with the situation and objectives of the organization. The right culture encourages participants to feel welcomed by their company and contribute to it. The organization’s culture is typically assessed, according to Rajaguru (2009), as the interpersonal expectations conveyed by the participants. It comprises (a) the scale and order of authority and (b) the philosophy of openness to change. The literature offers only three conceptualizations. The first is the total creative potential of an enterprise comprising 5 domains of market, process, product, strategic innovation and actions that are to be considered as innovative results. The second point of view is Whittington et al. (2009), who proposes an innovative approach that differentiates input and output-oriented directions from output-oriented . Even when this proposal supports the diverse views on the essence of creativity, it is not evaluated objectively. The third way in which innovation is observed as a multidimensional design representative of an organization’s environment, which encourages innovation and recognizes five dimensions, namely, imagination.

2.4. Achieving Goals by Interchange Relationships

The bureaucratic culture decreases brief profitability, impedes lengthy growth, and may impact the operation of an institution (Raman, 2001). Leadership of influential leaders plays a major part in accomplishing and improving results. Principally, transactional leadership is seen as achieving goals by interchange relationships, while transformation management reassures people to look at circumstances inversely than some other leadership styles and to respond promptly to the leaders’ alternate visions (Paulraj, 2012). This in effect influences the performance and the supporters. Lately, leadership is known as a significant understanding of the success variance in which multiple aspects of leadership are required to play a crucial role in the firm success (Nassir, 2016). In this report, the organizational achievement will be planned in addition to hitting the target standard, customer satisfaction, and new product creation, as an achievement of the organization’s objectives of effectiveness and development in the market and sales share. In order to this end, companies are under pressure to innovatively distinguish and enhance the performance of new goods, systems, concepts, and procedures. Multiple empirical studies investigate the important correlation between creativity and success. According to Hult et al. (2004), innovation is considered to be a significant determinant of organizational success, . This means that the effectiveness of an organization depends especially on creative activities. Creativity is key to value development and productivity sustainability. Innovation, in particular, is one of the main drivers for organizational progress. With constantly evolving conditions, companies need to innovate over time, which can impact performance and customer benefit (Paulraj, 2012). Culture is a set of basic misconceptions which describe how a group thinks and how they react to their surroundings. The organizational learning environment has a significant effect on job satisfaction, efficiency, and improved business results (Egan et al., 2004). A learning community in a company whose emphasis is focused on teaching enhances leadership efficiency. A learning culture from the mind of a corporation has a beneficial effect and affects favorable outcomes (Reuvers, 2008). Reuvers (2008) conducted a learning theory that included seven elements: (1) ongoing learning, (2) inquiry and conversation, (3) teamwork, (4) integrated structure, (5) motivation, (6) system connection, and (7) management planning. Their methodology incorporates the Interwoven Key Factors and the main concepts and sense of Corporate Teaching Style (Egan et al., 2004). Cultural Intelligence is a person’s managing facts, attitudes, and thinking, especially as it relates to culturally diverse populations (Whittington et al., 2009). There are traits and attributes of someone who can cope with conditions and function in dynamic environments.

Four facets of CQ (Cultural Quotient) include behavioral and cognitive CQ (consumers’ awareness), semantic CQ (associated with behavioral), behavioral and cognitive CQ (knowledge and awareness), and behavioral CQ (connected to actions) (Raman, 2001). Intellectual, psychological, and physiological CQ effectively influences the cultural interpretation and strategic thinking, intercultural sensitivity, and job performance. Thus, socio-cultural diversity is vital for a productive working climate. The primary responsibility for leadership style is to inspire staff beyond the agreed thresholds (Rajaguru, 2009). A transactional leader is both political and personal at the same time. It strengthens the political alignment of leaders and tends to reinforce their loyalty to their followers (Rajaguru, 2009). A shift in perspective leadership moves on cultivating followers and encouraging followers to feel optimistic. This tool has four main facets: (1) leading a great leader, (2) continuing motivation, (3) enlightenment and academic growth, and (4) commitment to personal needs (Straub, 1989).

Transformational leaders understand the ability to strengthen the organizations they work with. They are able to express a vision for improvement, strive to gain support from colleagues, and embrace the improvements they create—work performance. Job success is a wide selection of activities critical for a company’s objectives. According to Lambert (1998), job satisfaction is related to an organization’s work on a role specified by an employer. Job performance includes a range of ‘events, actions, and results’ jobs relate to the company’s objectives. In this study, work engagement applies to employees’ perceptions of their performance against the job criteria of the organization. Worker training, beliefs, and governance correlate with workplace efficiency substantially. We discussed the research around these intellectual property relationship arrangements—corporate structure and performance. Further, an organizational learning experience has a significant effect on various results involving achievement (Saki et al., 2015).

2.5. Cultural Quotient (CQ) as an Indicator

An enterprise-learning culture has a definite consequential impact on individual achievement, team efficiency, and organization performance, including finance development and innovation (Walters, 2008). The organization structure would promote workers’ understanding and dedication to the company’s objectives (Saki et al., 2015). Program that enables employee productivity. CQ has been shown to influence income, negotiation outcomes, job commitment, and process development (Rajaguru, 2009). Firms with high prestige are more likely to manufacture famous goods (Reuvers, 2008). The results show that real estate brokers with elevated levels of cultural knowledge could better appeal to multicultural prospects. This evidence supports Cultural Quotient (CQ) as an indicator of negotiated sales success, especially within multiethnic negotiations. The Cultural Quotient helps people adapt to new situations and people across different cultural contexts (Walters, 2008). The findings support the notion that CQ enhances productivity. Current leadership and job outcomes. Many findings indicate that transformational leadership is favorably associated with better performance (Whittington et al., 2009). According to several studies, transformational leadership is associated with improved market success. These workers claim that they are more effective because they recognize the traits of transformational leadership of their employers. There has been a significant connection between positive employee engagement and transformational leadership (Walters, 2008). This study suggests that where CQ is cultivated, organizational learning can affect job outputs directly and indirectly. Organizational preparation and leadership. There is a close connection between transformational leadership and corporate training culture (Paulraj, 2012).

Further, an important association has been found between leadership efficiency and the CQ Component. CQ will affect the careers of leaders of diverse cultures due to its potential to improve their psychological-behavioral needs (Reuvers, 2008). CQ allows transformational leaders to understand cultural complexities, perceive peculiar behaviors, and give appropriate answers when workers are engaged in new activities (Reuvers, 2008). This analysis assessed transformational leadership through means of employee responses. We suspected that employees’ civic orientation resulted from knowledge of transformational leadership. This shows that when workers have higher CQ levels, they tend to understand the representatives’ transformational practices, such as encouraging people to question them on issues and how they work.

3. Empirical Review and Hypothesis Development

Concerning the literature on leadership quite generally, the focus has been put so far on transformation leadership in exploring whether leading gender moderates’ ties between actions and outcomes. As a result, inspiring motivation has been listed as the principal activity for men, while inspired motivation and individualistic considerations have been classed as equally important for women’s promotion. The latter information is in line with previous studies, which show that women leaders must balance their skills and be pleased to be considered successful in a way not needed by men (Wisner, 2003). Several pieces of research subsequently investigated whether transformational management activity was directly connected to performance for men and women in a different way. Whittington et al. (2009) proposed individualized situations for senior officials and noticed males, but not females, compensated for that. Walters (2008) observed that, even though transformational governance was linked positively to the happiness of the leader’s followers, the relationship between males and women was substantially more substantial. In the hospital environment Straub, (1989) found that, while men follow the team innovation more strongly concerning female leaders, transformation leadership seemed to be motivated mainly by idealized power and individualizing considerations.

According to Saki et al. (2015) research, the opposite pattern of effects compared to the above three studies revealed that men tend to gain more significant results from transformative leadership than women. Further, Saki et al. (2015) found that transformative management is more likely to satisfy women than men.

But Reuvers, (2008) found the relationship between subordinate gender and subordinate pathological capacity to make the relationship between transition leadership by their managers greater for men than for women subordinates. Raman (2001) found a significant collaborative three-way interaction among transformational management, gender of actors, and presumed gender in estimating effective leaders in one uncommon research investigating the possible complex interrelationships of actors and perception of gender and leadership behaviors. Especially, transformational leadership wasn’t linked to the efficacy of male leaders (regardless of their subordinate gender); transformational leadership was unrelated to female leaders’ effectiveness in the classification of female subordinates. As a result, transformational activity by male followers is not successful when introduced by female leaders. The lack of relationships among other dyadic gender configurations between transformational leadership and leadership effectiveness is shocking and is different from the topic findings in the literature. It is essential to note. A few studies investigated whether leading gender moderates the relationship between other leading actions and results over and above transformational leadership. Many of these studies concentrate on conduct that is likely to be viewed in nature as gendered (i.e., agentic or communal). Refer to Annexure 3 for details of the literature summary on transformation leadership.

Rajaguru (2009) found in an experiment in role-playing that women leaders were less successful when they used a more dominant conflict management style than men. They noticed that male leaders were less successful than female leaders who have used a similar style because they employed more obligatory conflict management styles. In two field research, the relationships between leadership skills and subordinate success both were relatively favorable for men and negligible for females, while the association between authoritarian leadership and subordinate efficiency was negative overall for females and positive for men. The relationship between the authorities and the subordinates was similarly positive. In comparison, Paulraj (2012) found that the moderating impact of leading sex on relationships between interpersonal ineffectiveness (e.g., not adaptable to various individuals, lacking respect for people) and leading judgments was observed only for certain findings and not others. Bono and colleagues also uncovered that female leaders had been deemed more likely to derail (i.e., when a boss fails to fulfill standards when shot, demoted, or platformed (Nassir, 2016). Senior colleagues who are not engaged in successful organizational conduct are less likely to provide a pursuit and mentoring approach. However, this effect has not been observed for performance reviews and promotion opportunities. In general, minimal research explored how the gender makeup of the group or background (for example, business or work) might affect the relationship between the leader’s behaviors.

However, a study by Muenjohn (2021) showed that gaps in the gender rating of leadership effectiveness in gender balancing groups compared to men-dominated groups disappeared because women leaders in these settings tend to be more prototypical. While a problem with this study was the inability of leadership conduct to be measured directly and therefore not balanced by men and women, it seems that the male and female leaders in this study were identical since they were chosen based on the same criterion. Furthermore, they were randomly assigned to lead newly created, sex-diverse, small learning teams.

Based on the above-stated literature review, Figure 1 shows the conceptual framework that consists of independent, mediator, moderator, and dependent variables.

Figure 1: Conceptual Framework

Keeping in mind the objective, the research problem, and the topic, the SEM on smart PLS was selected as the ideal testing method. For the test, several hypotheses were formed:

H1: Transformational leadership significantly mediates the relationship between motivation and job performance.

H2: Transformational leadership significantly mediates the relationship between reward and job performance.

H3: Transformational leadership significantly medi­ ates the relationship between task complexity and job performance.

H4: Transformational leadership significantly mediates the relationship between culture and job performance.

H5: Innovation significantly mediates the relationship between motivation and job performance.

H6: Innovation significantly mediates the relationship between reward and job performance.

H7: Innovation significantly mediates the relationship between task complexity and job performance.

H8: Innovation significantly mediates the relationship between culture and job performance.

H9: Gender significantly moderates the relationship between transformational leadership and job performance.

H10: Gender significantly moderates the relationship between innovation and job performance.

4. Methodology

4.1. Research Paradigm

The research follows a purely quantitative research paradigm in which an objective approach is followed. The quantitative design uses a semi-structured questionnaire that helps in quantifying the information collected for objective empirical analysis. The quantitative paradigm was followed so a causal relationship could be tested between the many variables identified during the initial phase of the research. When the study intended to establish a causal relationship between the independent variables, mediating variables, moderating variables, and the dependent variable, the structural equation modeling was used with the help of Smart PLS software (Hair, 2009). The study employed a cross-sectional design in which data was collected at one point in time through semi-structured questions during a survey. The survey was designed using multiple items for the selected variables from existing published papers, ensuring reliability and validity. Cross-sectional data is most effective in behavioral and social science studies and gives a snapshot of the participant’s perspective (Creswell, 2003).

4.2. Data Collection Instrument

The research used questions (items) from pre-existing research papers published in credible SCI or ESCI journals. The items for Transformational leadership were adopted from the work of Whittington (2009), while the items for motivation were adopted from the research of (Saki et al., 2015). Nassir’s (2016) work was adopted for the work items for job performance, while the items for reward, task complexity, culture, and Innovation were adopted from the work of (Nobile, 2017; Beyer, 2012; Aboyassin, 2013). The items consisted of semi-structured statements on the Likert Scale. Semi-structured questions are useful for quantitative research and provide the best of two worlds. The Likert scale used in the formation of the semi-structured questions provides freedom to maneuver between least likely options and most likely options while restricting the answer to 5 or 7 options making it visible for quantitative research.

4.3. Analysis Technique – SEM (Structural Equational Modeling)

The research used smart PLS software to run the structural equation modeling to establish the causal relationship between the independent, mediating, moderating, and dependent variables. The ideal data for this kind of analysis is Metric data that can be challenging to illicit (Hair, 2009). The smart PLS software was used due to a number of reasons. The first and most important is its simplicity and robustness of using the reference to the data provided to it. In addition to its simplicity, the PLS system uses a non-parametric structure that makes it less accurate but more robust compared to other parametric statistics-based software like AMOS in reference to data fluctuation and data characteristics. It is not only user-friendly but can also generate all relevant information in a very simple and user-friendly manner and is the first choice of analysis software of the newest researchers.

4.4. Data Type

Keeping this in mind, the data was collected using a Likert scale which generated a form of non-metric data called ordinal data, which was converted to metric data through aggregation (Hashmi et al., 2021; Kholis & Ratnawati, 2021; Farasat et al., 2021; Aslan et al., 2021). The research followed a probabilistic sampling method which is the most reliable and robust form of Sampling methods in research. The simple random sampling method of the probabilistic sampling method was used to collect data for the research (Creswell, 2003; Rashid et al., 2021; Khan et al., 2021; Agha et al., 2021; Haque et al., 2021). Preliminary analysis of all cases showed that the data were normally distributed and heterogeneous, making it fit for parametric analysis. Using the general average study approach, a sample size of 96 was established, which was received after averaging the sample size of three of similar types of studies. This sample size was also justified using the central tendency method, which shows a 90% confidence interval if a sample size of 96 is used. Even though the 90% confidence interval is low compared to the 95% confidence interval (which is the academic standard in the field), it is still acceptable in the social or management sciences study. Keeping in mind the limitation of access to professionals is acceptable due to the COVID-19 situation making it difficult to approach 384 respondents to reach the 95% confidence interval. Data was collected from professionals from educational institutions and businesses with strong work diversity so a relatively equal gender diversity can be reached (Creswell, 2003).

4.5. Sampling Method

The research follows the convenience form of sampling method, which is part of the non-probabilistic approach of sampling, which relies on the researcher’s convenience to approach the participants to respond to the research instrument or collect data. The objective of quantitative research is to have precise results and for that purpose, use of simple random sampling or purposive sampling methods are preferable. However, in most cases, it is very difficult to know the entire population of the target audience, making it impossible to conduct a probabilistic sampling approach. The research adopted a non-probabilistic convenience sampling approach because of the simple fact that approaching that entire population of the target audience using a simple random sampling was not practical during the COVID-19 lockdown. People from a number of different organizations in Karachi were approached based on their availability and on the basis of conveniently being able to approach them. Even though the non-probabilistic approach is not the most robust form of the Sampling method but it was one of the limitations of the research (Creswell, 2003).

4.6. Reliability and Validity

The reliability of the data and the instrument were properly tested. The instrument was borrowed from multiple pieces of research published in reputable SCI journals, making them credible and reliable. Additionally, the data collected was passed through several preliminary tests where its reliability and validity were tested in the smart PLS Software. Finally, keeping in mind the latest requirements of the research paradigms, the relevant values (HTMT) were checked and found acceptable in assuring that the relevant reliability and validity were met prior to the analysis and interpretation (Hair, 2009; Rashid et al., 2020: Alrazehi et al., 2021).

5. Results and Discussion

The data collected was tested in accordance with the hypotheses using the SEM through Smart – PLS. The details are given in Table 1 and discussed empirically below. In addition, to examine the appropriateness of this measurement model, construct reliability, discriminant reliability, and convergent reliability were measured.

Table 1: Measurement Model Result

Notes: Cult = culture, Gen = gender, Inn = innovation, JP = job performance,

Motiv = motivation, Rew = reward, TL = transformational leadership, TC = task complexity.

Table 1 shows Cronbach’s alpha values of the variables, and all the values are greater than 0.7 and meet the standard criteria of Hair et al. (2011). To examine the composite reliability (construct reliability) of this model, 0.7 is the satisfactory criteria of Straub (1989); hence, all-composite reliability values are above 0.7 and meet the reliability criteria. The average variance extracted (AVE) measured convergent validity, as per Fornell and Larcker (1981), AVE values must be above or equal to 0.50. Thus, convergent validity is confirmed as AVE values are greater than 0.50 (Hair, 2009; Hashmi & Tawfiq, 2020; Das et al., 2021).

The diagonal values shown in Table 1 are the square root of average variance extracted (AVE) (Hashmi et al., 2020a; b; Hashmi et al., 2021). The values of AVE must be above than the correlation values of variables (Fornell & Larcker, 1981). Hence, the discriminant validity is confirmed as all the values of correlation are greater than the values of average variance extracted (AVE). The above table shows that the Fornell – Larcker criterion was met (Hair, 2009).

Table 1 also demonstrates the Heterotrait-Monotrait ratio (HTMT). It is used to examine the discriminant validity to reach the standard criteria of Henseler et al. (2015), the HTMT values must be below than 0.85. Thus, the result of HTMT shows that all the values are less than 0.85 and meet the satisfactory criteria (Hair, 2009).

The Variance Inflation Factors (VIF) statistics-VIF was used for CMB (common method biases) of the model. The values of VIF were not more than 3 (Harman, 1976). Therefore, the analysis of the measurement model confirms the discriminant validity, convergent validity, and construct reliability, and as per the analysis, this study is valid as well as reliable (Hair, 2009).

Figure 2 shows the structural model and is based on two major parts. The first part examines the mediating relationship of transformational leadership and innovation on motivation, reward, task complexity, and culture and job performance (Hair, 2009). The second part inspects the moderating relationship of gender on transformational leadership, innovation, and job performance. Table 2 represents the results of mediation and moderation analysis.

Figure 2: Structural Model

Table 2: Mediation and Moderation Analysis Results

Note: ***p < 0.01, **p > 0.01.

This study aims to examine the factors that influence job performance. The analysis depends on 10 hypotheses, in which 8 are the mediating hypotheses, and 2 are the moderating hypotheses. The mediating variables innovation and transformational leadership have been examined separately in previous studies; in some studies, one as an independent variable and the other one as mediating variable as the study of Muenjohn et al. (2021) and Reuvers et al. (2008) but, both variables (innovation and transformational leadership) has not been studied as a mediator at the same time.

The first hypothesis, H1 (Motiv → TL → JP), is accepted and verifies the positive relationship between motivation and job performance through the mediation of transformational leadership (β = 0.091, p > 0.01); transformational leadership has a significant impact on motivating the employees towards their organizational goal.

The hypothesis H2 (Rew → TL → JP) is accepted about the relationship of reward and job performance by the mediation of transformational leadership (β = 0.137, p < 0.01). The results indicate that if leadership follows the reward system for appreciating the good behaviors of employees, then it will boost their job performance level.

Furthermore, hypothesis H3 (TC → TL → JP) is rejected, and the results show that there is no indirect relationship between job performance and task complexity through transformational leadership (β = 0.080, p > 0.01). Therefore, as per the author’s understanding, this hypothesis is tested for the first time.

The hypothesis H4 (Cult → TL → JP) is accepted and confirms the positive association between transformational leadership, culture, and job performance (β = 0.067, p > 0.01). Furthermore, the results support the study of Zuraik and Kelly (2019) that company culture and positive practices of leaders influence the job performance in a positive way means, transformational leadership help to enhance the organizational culture where employees can share their innovative ideas that increases job performance.

The next hypothesis, H5 (Motiv → Inn → JP), is accepted, and the findings indicate that innovation is a significant mediating variable between motivation and job performance (β = 0.160, p > 0.01).

The hypothesis H6 (Rew → Inn → JP) is rejected and represents that there is no association between reward and job performance through the mediation of innovation (β = 0.076, p > 0.01), and to the best of the author’s know- ledge, this hypothesis has not been examined previously.

The hypothesis H7 (TC → Inn → JP) is accepted and indicates the positive correlation among task complexity, innovation, and job performance (β = 0.192, p < 0.01), which means task complexity increases job performance when there is a mediation of innovation.

The following hypothesis, H8 (Cult → Inn → JP), is accepted and demonstrates that culture positively influences job performance when there is a mediation effect of innovation (β = 0.117, p > 0.01).

The hypothesis H9 (TL → Gen → JP) is accepted, and it is about the moderating role of gender between transfor mational leadership and job performance (β = 0.188, p > 0.01).

The last hypothesis, H10 (Inn → Gen → JP), is rejected, and the result shows that gender is not a significant moderating variable between innovation and job performance (β = -0.148, p > 0.01). Therefore, according to the analysis of the findings, there is no influence of gender over innovation and job performance.

6. Conclusion

It is noted that most of the variables that were studied had a significant impact on job performance. Focusing on the factors which did not significantly contribute to improvement in job performance, we can identify three relationships. It is noted that task complexity being mediated by transactional leadership did not considerably contribute to job performance; this is in line with the literature and is logically meaningful, showing that transactional leadership is no replacement for skills and technical knowledge and training. Task complexity did not contribute to improving job performance simply in the presence of transactional leadership because it is possible that there would be a need for Technical training and workshops which court improve the employee skills and ability to handle the complex task in a more efficient way which would improve their overall job performance.

Additionally, it was also noted that the reward did not significantly contribute to job performance while being mediated by innovation. Considering the literature, the main reason behind this is that reward does not necessarily promote or encourage innovation in such an innovative mindset, or renovation practices would not be responsible for better job performance with or without reward. Although, theoretically, reward plays an essential role in improving job performance, it can be concluded that innovation does not necessarily time out of the reward. These variables do not interlink or relate to each other to improve job performance. The final hypothesis that was rejected shows that innovation did not improve job performance while being moderated by gender. Even though the sig. value showed that this relationship was not significant. The beta value was negative, which implied that Gender would directly or indirectly have an inverse moderating relationship on the impact of innovation on job performance. Even though this inverse contribution is not statistically significant, the idea that gender does not significantly moderate innovation in the presence of job performance would be justified in that sense that it might be possible that innovation leading towards better job performance May don’t necessarily have anything to do with a persons or leaders gender.

One of the major limitations in the research work is the sample size and the sampling methodology. The sample size was limited to 96, which focused on a confidence interval of roughly 90%, which is ok for political Sciences and be deemed acceptable for management and Social Sciences. To have a higher confidence level, we need a sample size of 384, which was not possible due to the COVID. The second limitation was a sampling methodology that the research adopted as convenience sampling based on the researcher’s convenience. The ideal sampling method would be random sampling or systematic random sampling, which relied on knowing the entire population and having the ability to reach them. However, this was not possible keeping the topic in mind, and the situation because of a COVID-19. The robust methodology for collecting sample could not have been selected. Some of the suggestions which the researcher made for this research are the use of a larger sample size which could improve the confidence interval and the reliability of the entire study to 384.

Additionally, a more started sample would further help to have a more detailed understanding of the country and the people who reside in different parts of the country. A larger sample would make the study more diverse and more easily generalizable to the entire population. The recommendation of the study is to use descriptive statistics and statistical analysis for the comparative or comparison of means. This would help understand the variation between different variables that are being studied and better understand the more significant contribution of gender in this entire conceptual model. The study shows that gender does play a significant role as a moderator in at least one of the variables but to which degree is still to be known. A comparative means analysis using a simple test like a T-test or a further analysis using the ANOVA test can help to understand and evaluate the role of gender in this situation.