Abstract:
Today, the IT industry in Sri Lanka hiring cost of IT professionals is rising day by
day. Therefore, the problem is how employers could motivate IT professionals to achieve
organizational goals and how to lead employees to improve productivity. The leadership style
of a leader will not only effect on achieving organizational goals, but also employee
performance. But in management research area the Transformational Leadership had played
an extensive role and it influences on employee productivity. This study attempts to assess the
impact of perceived transformational leadership on productivity of IT professionals in Sri
Lanka with the mediating effect of organizational commitment. For the quantitative survey, a
total of 202 questionnaires were collected using simple random sampling technique and the
sample size of this research is based on Krejcie & Morgan’s (1970) formula. Sample size is
determined as 270 based on calculation for a general population and 90% confidence level
and 5% of standard margin error. The population of this study was IT Professionals in Sri
Lanka, who are directly working in ICT organizations. The effective response rate is 75% and
the results show that the productivity of IT professionals is moderate and positively influenced
by transformational leadership. In addition to that, organizational commitment was found to
be a partial mediator between transformational leadership and employee productivity. Thus,
research findings remind organizational mangers should work as leaders and explore the
transformational leadership styles to improve the productivity of employees and thereby it
will eventually improve employee’s organizational commitment. The results of this research
are thought to be very helpful in future studies and it can be conducted as a case study for
other organizations. Correspondingly, it can be conducted based on other leadership styles
with IT professionals and depending on the industry area leadership styles can be changed and
it will be beneficial for the development of employee productivity.
