Leadership Integrity and Organizational Performance in the Indonesian Navy: A Multilevel Model of Change Capability and Change Cynicism

Abstract Naval units face a leadership challenge: maintaining credible commitments while changing established ways of working. Drawing on dynamic capabilities theory, this study examines whether organizational change capability (OCC) mediates the relationship between leadership integrity (LI) and organizational performance (OP), and whether cynicism toward change (CTC) weakens the LI–OCC relationship. A multisource, cross-sectional survey collected staff assessments of LI and CTC and leadership team assessments of OCC and OP within the Indonesian Navy. Responses were linked by organizational unit, and the hypothesized relationships were estimated at the between-unit level using robust maximum likelihood and bootstrap confidence intervals. LI was positively associated with OCC, which was positively associated with OP after accounting for LI. The indirect association between LI and OP through OCC was significant at the mean level of CTC. However, the proposed negative interaction between LI and CTC was not statistically supported. The model accounted for 45.6% of the variance in OCC and 41.5% in OP. These findings position change capability as a plausible organizational link between leadership credibility and performance, while leaving the proposed moderating role of cynicism unresolved. For naval management, the study highlights the value of embedding leadership commitments in collective practices that support coordinated implementation and continuity during change.