Transformational Leadership, Organizational Climate, and Freelance Performance in Event Management
Abstract
The expansion of the gig economy has intensified the challenge of managing freelance workers who lack formal organizational membership, yet theoretical understanding of how leadership and climate influence their performance remains underspecified. This study examines how transformational leadership and organizational climate influence freelance crew performance within an event management company—a context characterized by temporary employment relationships, project-based coordination, and the inherent flexibility-commitment tension of gig work. Drawing on psychological contract theory and organizational support theory, we propose that transformational leadership and organizational climate function as compensatory mechanisms that mitigate the performance consequences of weakened commitment and coordination fragmentation—two fundamental vulnerabilities of freelance employment. A quantitative cross-sectional survey design was employed. A quantitative cross-sectional survey design was employed, using the Slovin formula with a 5% error margin, and analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) with SmartPLS 4.0. The analysis reveals that: First, transformational leadership exerts a positive. Second, organizational climate similarly produces a positive impact. Together, transformational leadership and organizational climate explain 62.3% of the variance in freelance crew performance (R² = 0.623), representing a large effect size. Theoretically, these findings extend leadership and climate theories to freelance contexts by demonstrating that (a) transformational leadership activates relational psychological contract elements even within transactional employment arrangements, and (b) organizational climate substitutes for formal socialization mechanisms that freelancers lack. Practically, results suggest that event management companies can enhance freelance performance through targeted investments in project manager transformational leadership training and systematic climate improvements— particularly communication transparency, role clarity, and psychological safety. These contributions are tempered by limitations including a single-company sample (n=95) and cross-sectional design, indicating the need for replication across multiple organizations and longitudinal validation.
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