The LEADERSHIP, MOTIVATION, AND AFFECTIVE COMMITMENT ON EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE IN NORTH MALUKU

Abstract

This study aims to analyze and explain the influence of leadership effectiveness and work motivation on employee performance, with affective commitment as a mediating variable at the Regency/City Branch Offices of the Education Department in North Maluku Province. The archipelagic nature of North Maluku Province poses unique challenges for the governance of educational bureaucracy, making adaptive leadership roles and the fulfillment of apparatus work motivation crucial factors in maintaining organizational performance stability. The research approach used is explanatory quantitative. The population in this study covers all employees at the Regency/City Branch Offices of the Education Department in North Maluku Province, with a sample size of 89 respondents determined using the proportional random sampling technique. Data collection was conducted through the distribution of structured questionnaires utilizing a Likert scale. The data analysis method employed is Path Analysis, processed through the SPSS version 27 program.The results indicate that: (1) Leadership effectiveness does not have a significant effect on employee performance; (2) Work motivation has a positive and significant effect on employee performance; (3) Leadership effectiveness does not have a significant effect on affective commitment; (4) Work motivation has a positive and significant effect on affective commitment; and (5) Affective commitment is proven to significantly mediate the influence of work motivation on improving employee performance, but fails to mediate the relationship between leadership effectiveness and employee performance. These findings imply that to boost the performance of educational services in island regions, policy interventions should not merely rely on the formal aspects of leadership, but must instead prioritize building employees' emotional attachment (affective commitment) and intrinsic motivation toward the organization.