Teachers performance in technical and vocational institutions influenced by leadership and mediated by organizational culture in the Amhara Region of Ethiopia

This study examines how deans’ relation-oriented leadership (ROL) and task-oriented leadership (TOL) behaviors influence teachers’ job performance (TJP) in Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Colleges in Amhara Region. The study specifically examine the mediating role of organizational culture (OC) in leadership-performance relationship. A quantitative cross-sectional correlational design was employed. Survey data were collected from 694 randomly selected academic staff and analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM) in AMOS software. Results show that ROL (β = 0.48, p < 0.001) and TOL (β = 0.35, p < 0.01) positively predict OC, and OC exerts a strong positive influence on TJP (β = 0.62, p < 0.001). OC fully mediates both relationships (indirect effects: ROL = 0.30, 95% CI [0.21, 0.39], p < 0.001; TOL = 0.22, 95% CI [0.14, 0.30], p < 0.001). The structural model demonstrated good fit (χ2/df = 2.18, CFI = 0.96, TLI = 0.95, RMSEA = 0.058, SRMR = 0.042). Findings indicate that TVET deans enhance sustainable TJP primarily by cultivating a supportive, performance-oriented organizational culture rather than exerting direct influence. This study is novel in being the first to empirically confirm full mediation of OC in the ROL/TOL–TJP relationship within Ethiopian TVET colleges, highlighting culture’s central role in resource-constrained educational contexts.