PROACTIVE WORK BEHAVIOR AS A MEDIATOR BETWEEN SUPPORTIVE LEADERSHIP AND OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE IN PRIVATE BANKS IN THE KURDISTAN REGION OF IRAQ

Abstract

The research looks at whether proactive work behavior can describe the transforming proactive leadership in terms of excellent performance in the employees of the privately owned banks in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Recent studies in leadership also consider support to be a resource that enhances reciprocity, psychological safety and the desire to make contributions that are not in line of duty. The proactive work behavior in service organizations is operationalized in terms of responsibility taking, employee voice, individual innovation and problem prevention, which are behaviors directly associated with minimizing service failures and enhancing the quality of processes. The cross-sectional survey design was used among the private banks in Erbil, Sulaymaniyah and Dohuk. Out of the 690 questionnaires that were sent out, 444 valid responses were included in the modeling. The quality of measurement was ensured based on high levels of internal consistency and convergent validity with a Cronbach alpha of 0.945 to 0.958 and an AVE of over 0.85 on the core constructs. The partial least squares structural equation modeling was applied since it applies to prediction-oriented models and indirect effect testing in multi-construct designs. Supportive leadership had a positive predictive power on proactive work behavior (b = 0.633, p < 0.001) and excellent performance (b = 0.518, p < 0.001), whereas proactive work behavior had an outstanding performance (b = 0.468, p < 0.001). The indirect effect was also strong (b = 0.296, p < 0.001), which is a partial mediation effect, and the model accounted for 40.1 and 79.4 percent of the variance in proactive work behavior and outstanding performance, respectively. The results imply that the improvement of performance within the private banks is pegged on the supportive practices of leaders that institutionalize the voice, responsibility, innovation and prevention behaviors and not through the main compliance control. One of the ways that supportive leadership enhances performance is by engaging proactive work behavior.