Economic Effects of Leadership on Employee Commitment in Dubai Public Sector: Communication as Mediator

Employee commitment is pivotal to the economic performance and service efficiency of government agencies, yet its antecedents remain under-examined in the UAE context. This study investigates how transformational and transactional leadership styles affect employee commitment at the Dubai Immigration Department, with communication serving as a mediating mechanism. Using a quantitative survey of department staff and Smart-PLS analysis, results indicate that both leadership styles significantly enhance commitment and foster more effective communication. Moreover, communication fully mediates the relationship between each leadership style and employee commitment. These findings underscore the economic benefits of investing in leadership development and transparent information flows to strengthen workforce dedication, reduce turnover costs, and improve public-sector delivery. The study contributes by illuminating the communication-driven pathway linking leadership to commitment and offers targeted policy and managerial recommendations for optimizing human capital in Dubai government entities, while charting directions for future research on public-sector economic outcomes.