🧠 Journal Summary: The Role of Social Skills in Enhancing Managerial Performance Through Transformational Leadership Characteristics: A Developing Country Perspective
Authors: Alisa Mujkić, Amra Kapo, Jasna Kovačević, Benina Veledar
Published In: South East European Journal of Economics and Business, Volume 20 (1) 2025
🔍 Study Summary
This study looked at how social skills help managers do better at their jobs. It specifically checked if a certain type of leadership, called transformational leadership, acts as a go-between in this process. The main goal was to fill a gap in research about how transformational leadership affects a manager’s work, especially when personal interaction skills are involved. The research happened in a developing country, offering a new viewpoint compared to earlier studies mostly done in Western places.
💡 Key Concepts
- Social Skills (SS): This means being good at behaving in ways that people accept and appreciate. In this paper, social skills are broken down into social presentation (being able to clearly share ideas and thoughts) and social flexibility (being able to adjust to unexpected situations). These skills help people talk and work well with others, reach their own goals, and manage relationships without ignoring what others need.
- Transformational Leadership (TL): This is a leadership style known for being good at managing in changing environments. It involves leaders inspiring their team and using special management skills. This leads to high performance, motivation, happiness, and growth for the team members. This study sees TL as a link between social skills and how well a manager performs.
- Managerial Performance (MP): This is about how effective and successful managers are in their roles. It’s really important for a company to grow and develop. The study explores how social skills, through transformational leadership, can make this performance better.
- Mediation: This is when one thing (social skills) affects another thing (managerial performance) because of a third thing in the middle (transformational leadership).
📊 Key Insights
- Social Skills Help Create Transformational Leaders: The study found that social skills, especially being good at presenting ideas and being flexible, really help someone become a transformational leader.
- Transformational Leadership Improves Manager Performance: Leaders who use transformational leadership perform better in their management roles.
- Transformational Leadership Acts as a Go-Between: Transformational leadership partly explains how social skills lead to better managerial performance. This means social skills do help performance directly, but a big part of that help comes through the manager’s transformational leadership style.
- Strong Connections Found: The overall link between social skills and managerial performance was strong. Also, the direct link was strong. The indirect link (Social Skills → Transformational Leadership → Managerial Performance) also showed that transformational leadership plays an important role as a go-between.
📘 Example Application
Imagine a company that is quickly changing and needs leaders who can adapt. A manager with strong social skills (like being great at explaining new plans and flexible enough to handle different team members’ worries) can greatly improve their work performance. For example, during a company-wide change, a manager who clearly explains the new strategy (social presentation) and changes their approach for different team members (social flexibility) can build a more inspiring and empowering team environment. This inspiring leadership, in turn, makes employees feel stronger, boosts their motivation, and finally leads to better team and individual results, helping the whole company succeed. The study shows how important it is to train managers in these social skills to improve their ability to lead in a transformational way, which then makes them perform better.
💬 Comment from Dr. Dwi Suryanto
“The findings of this paper are really valuable, especially for developing countries. They clearly show how social skills, inspiring leadership, and a manager’s work performance are all connected. In today’s fast-moving business world, managers who can explain ideas well and adapt to different situations (social skills) are not just ‘nice to have’; they are key drivers that strengthen their ability to lead big changes. This then directly improves how well they do their job. This research gives a helpful guide for companies wanting to grow strong leaders and achieve more success by specifically improving their social abilities.”
📌 Takeaway
Good social skills are very important for becoming a transformational leader, and this kind of leadership greatly improves how well managers perform. Companies should help managers develop their social skills to encourage transformational leadership, which will lead to better results for both individuals and the whole organization.
