Commitment is the key: A moderated mediation model linking leaders' resources, work engagement, and transformational leadership behavior.

This study investigates how leaders’ personal and job resources—specifically self-efficacy and role clarity—contribute to their transformational leadership behavior through the mediating role of work engagement, based on the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) theory. Additionally, it examines how leaders’ affective commitment, defined as an emotional attachment to their organization, moderates the relationship between work engagement and transformational leadership, drawing on Social Identity Theory (SIT). Data from 216 German leaders collected via an online survey in 2020 support a moderated mediation model showing that higher self-efficacy and role clarity increase work engagement, which in turn enhances transformational leadership, with this effect being stronger when leaders exhibit high affective commitment. The findings highlight the importance of fostering leaders’ resources and organizational commitment to promote transformational leadership, which is linked to improved employee performance and organizational change.