Transformational leadership, corporate social responsibility, organizational innovation, and organizational performance: Symmetrical and asymmetrical analytical approaches

This study examines the relationship between transformational leadership and organizational performance by evaluating the mediatory role of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and organizational innovation which has received considerably less attention in the literature. This study introduces CSR and organizational innovation as potential mediators of relationships between the key constructs of transformational leadership and organizational performance. Sufficient direct and mediation effects of predictors were tested using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS‐SEM) with data from 396 French firms. Sufficient configurations of the predictors indicating high and low scores of performance were explored using fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA). The PLS‐SEM results show that both direct and indirect effects of transformational leadership on performance are significant. The fsQCA results reveal that a combination of CSR and transformational leadership leads to high performance. Alternately, high performance results from high innovation. This empirical study contributes to the current knowledge by applying both symmetrical and asymmetrical approaches to indicate performance at an organizational level. This study discusses the findings and provides theoretical, managerial, and research implications.