Multilevel Model of Transformational Leadership and Service Quality: Testing Mediation Role of Psychological Empowerment

The current literatures seldom talk about the multilevel impact of transformational leadership (TFL) on employee service quality and the influence of mediation mechanism between transformational leadership and employee service quality. This study aims to discuss the impact of transformational leadership on employee service quality in terms of individual perspective and branch perspective respectively and to exam the mediation mechanism of psychological empowerment for transformational leadership and employee service quality. Data collected from multiple sources involving 142 managers, 1058 employees of 144 branch (chain restaurants). Through Hierarchical Linear Model (HLM), the results revealed: individual-level transformational leadership and branch-level transformational leadership can significantly improve employee service quality; employee psychological empowerment partially mediated the individual-level relationship between individual-level transformational leadership and employee service quality. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.