Work Motivation as a Mediator of Distributed Leadership, Competence, and Job Satisfaction on Employee Productivity

Abstract

Employee productivity remains a key organizational challenge in manufacturing companies, particularly when leadership practices, employee competence, and job satisfaction do not consistently translate into productive work outcomes. This study examines the effects of distributed leadership, competence, and job satisfaction on employee productivity through work motivation at PT Kondobo Textindo. The study addresses the research gap by integrating these organizational and employee-related factors within a single framework, positioning work motivation as an intervening mechanism. A quantitative approach was employed using questionnaire data from 112 employees. Data were analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) with SPSS and LISREL. The results show that distributed leadership does not significantly affect employee productivity but positively and significantly affects work motivation. Competence and job satisfaction positively and significantly affect both employee productivity and work motivation, while work motivation positively and significantly affects employee productivity. The findings indicate that work motivation provides an important mechanism through which leadership practices, competence, and job satisfaction contribute to productivity. The study contributes to human resource management literature by integrating these variables into a unified productivity framework and provides managerial implications for strengthening collaborative leadership, developing employee competence, improving job satisfaction, and fostering work motivation to support productivity improvement.