Dual Pathways to Subjective Well-Being in Japanese Employees: Transformational Leadership and Trait Intrinsic Motivation

This study examines employees’ subjective well-being (SWB) in large Japanese corporations using a single covariance-based SEM that integrates two sources of motivation: leadership and individual dispositions. We simultaneously test the indirect effects of transformational leadership (TFL) on SWB via three workplace resources—organizational esteem/recognition (OEM), decision-making discretion (DM), and workplace intrinsic motivation/meaning (WPIM)—and the direct effects of trait-level intrinsic motivation (TLIM). Survey data from 600 employees indicated good model fit. Mediation via OEM and DM (but not WPIM) was supported. Higher TLIM was associated with higher SWB even after accounting for leadership and mediators; TLIM was also positively related to OEM, DM, and WPIM. WPIM was negatively related to SWB, consistent with a suppression effect under concurrent controls. Practically, recognition and discretion are actionable levers, with OEM exerting larger effects than DM. Overall, leadership acts indirectly through resources, whereas dispositions act directly. Future work should employ longitudinal and multilevel designs to establish causal generalizability.