Organisational culture mediates transformational leadership and organisational commitment in internationalised private universities

Abstract Internationalisation of higher education has a high priority; however, private universities encounter problems in synchronising their internal organisational factors with internationalisation. This study aimed to explore the effect of transformational leadership on organisational commitment with organisational culture as a mediating variable in the framework of internationalised higher education institutions. A cross-sectional quantitative design was utilised, whereby data were gathered from 388 academic and administrative staff of internationalised higher education institutions. Subsequently, the relationship between the variables was studied using SEM. It was found that transformational leadership is a significant positive influencing factor of organisational culture and organisational commitment. Besides, organisational culture is much influenced by organisational commitment, which also mediates the relationship between commitment and transformational leadership partially. It was also highlighted that transformational leadership had both indirect and direct impact on employee commitment through the organisational culture. Linking leadership practices to a culture that supports staff engagement and promotes the continuity and effectiveness of internationalisation efforts in HEIs is essential.