The Effects of Leadership Styles on Job Performance of Experts through the Mediating Role of Psychological Empowerment (The Case of Agricultural Jihad Organization of Kerman Province)

Job performance is considered one of the most important criteria for developing and measuring the performance of organizations such as the Agricultural Jihad Organization (AJO). The main purpose of the present study was to study the effects of leadership styles on job performance through the mediating role of psychological empowerment. The statistical population was composed of the experts of AJO in Kerman province (N=1418). The sample size was estimated to be 306 experts according to Krejcie and Morgan’s sampling table. The stratified random sampling method was used to select the samples. The research instrument was a questionnaire whose validity was confirmed by a panel of experts in the field of agricultural extension, education, and management. Cronbach's alpha coefficient was employed to examine the reliability of the constructs (0.76≤α≤0.93). The results revealed that the psychological empowerment and the transformational, transactional, and laissez-faire leadership styles had significant effects on job performance. The transformational and transactional leadership styles also had positive and significant effects on psychological empowerment. On the other hand, the laissez-faire leadership style had a negative and significant effect on psychological empowerment. In the end, it should be noted that the independent variables could account for 63 percent of the variance in job performance.