Validating Indirect Effect of Transformational Leadership on Work Engagement through Trust: Evidence from Call Center Employees in Pakistan’s Telecom Sector.

Purpose—The study aims to examine the influence of transformational leadership on employee work engagement. It analyzes whether trust in the leader mediates this relationship within the context of the telecom call center sector in Pakistan. Design/methodology/approach—A quantitative, survey-based research design was employed, and data were collected from 165 call center employees through a structured questionnaire. Hierarchical component modelling, a disjoint two-stage approach in Smart PLS 4, was employed. Reliability, validity, and common method bias were assessed to ensure methodological rigor. Findings—Transformational leadership significantly augments work engagement (β = 0.509***, p < 0.001) and strongly predicts trust in the leader (β = 0.668***, p < 0.001). Trust in the leader also shows a mediating effect VAF of more than 20%, indicating partial mediation between transformational leadership and work engagement. It offers transformational leaders the influence to engage employees both directly and indirectly by enabling trust. Research limitations/implications—Cross-sectional design, sample size, single-source data, and single-sector selection were the limitations of the study. Future research could examine designing a longitudinal design, a large sample size, different organizational settings, and various contexts to enhance generalizability. Practical Implications—HR departments should invest in transformational leadership development programs to strengthen trust in leaders, which can enhance employee engagement, reduce turnover, and improve organizational performance. Originality/value—The study adds to the leadership and engagement literature by validating hierarchical modeling components of both transformational leadership and work engagement and investigating the mediating role of trust in the South Asian telecom sector, a context where empirical evidence remains limited.