Inclusive Leadership and Employee Performance in the Public Sector: A Dual-Mediation Model of Organizational Culture and Affective Commitment

Abstract

This study examines how inclusive leadership translates into civil-servant performance through two complementary mechanisms: organizational culture and affective commitment. A quantitative explanatory survey was conducted among 113 civil servants at the Department of Cipta Karya, Construction Development and Spatial Planning of Southeast Sulawesi Province, Indonesia. Data were collected using a five-point Likert questionnaire and analyzed with partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) in SmartPLS 4.1.3. The measurement model demonstrated satisfactory convergent validity and composite reliability. Inclusive leadership had no significant direct effect on employee performance (β = −0.017, p = 0.762), but significantly predicted the BerAKHLAK organizational culture (β = 0.629, p < 0.001) and affective commitment (β = 0.207, p = 0.032). Organizational culture significantly predicted affective commitment (β = 0.656, p < 0.001) and employee performance (β = 0.547, p < 0.001), while affective commitment also improved performance (β = 0.421, p < 0.001). Mediation tests show that organizational culture significantly transmits the effect of inclusive leadership to performance (β = 0.344, p < 0.001), whereas affective commitment does not mediate that direct leadership–performance relationship (β = 0.087, p = 0.055). However, affective commitment significantly mediates the effect of organizational culture on performance (β = 0.276, p < 0.001). The findings reveal that, in a rule-bound public-sector setting, inclusive leadership becomes performance-relevant primarily when relational leadership practices are institutionalized as shared organizational values. The study extends inclusive-leadership research by distinguishing organizational and psychological mediation mechanisms in the Indonesian civil-service context.