Effect of Transformational Leadership on Frontline Employee Performance in Hefei Real Estate: The Mediating Role of Employee Engagement

Abstract

This study examines how transformational leadership influences employee work performance in a highly volatile, target-driven frontline context and tests career adaptability as a mediating mechanism. Using a cross-sectional survey of 500 frontline employees in Hefei's real estate industry, the study applies covariance-based structural equation modelling in AMOS to assess the measurement and structural models, and uses bootstrapping to evaluate indirect effects. The results show that transformational leadership has a significant positive effect on career adaptability (β = 0.418, p < 0.001) and employee work performance (β = 0.250, p < 0.001), while career adaptability also has a significant positive effect on employee work performance (β = 0.289, p < 0.001). The bootstrap analysis indicates a significant indirect effect of transformational leadership on employee work performance through career adaptability (indirect effect = 0.125, 95% CI [0.078, 0.184]), while the direct effect remains significant, suggesting partial mediation. These findings imply that, under heightened uncertainty, leadership affects performance not only through motivational influence but also by strengthening employees' adaptive resources, including concern, control, curiosity, and confidence. Beyond the Hefei real estate context, the study contributes to leadership and career construction research by showing how a contextual leadership resource can be translated into individual adaptive capacity and, in turn, performance.