Abstract. The Covid-19 pandemic has put pressure on various business sectors because social distancing policies have resulted in significantly reduced interactions between humans. So expedition services are the choice to meet most human needs. So that the shipping service business is a business that is experiencing rapid development during the pandemic. This study aims to analyze: 1) the influence of transformational leadership on the business performance of courier service, 2) the influence of transformational leadership on the business agility of courier service, 3) the influence of business agility on the business performance of courier service. The analysis technique used Structural Equation Model (SEM) with SmartPLS. The data was collected through the dissemination of questionnaires. Research respondents are shipping service companies with the criteria for joining the Association of Indonesian Express, POS and Logistics Delivery Service Companies (ASPERINDO). The results of the analysis showed that transformational leadership affects performance; transformational leadership affects business agility, and agility affects the company's performance. The results of the statistic test showed that all constituent dimensions of the model are at a high level. It means that the results of this study confirmed that the Covid-19 pandemic becomes a blessing for the courier service business.
People's habits of shopping online during the pandemic are believed to not be significantly reduced even though the pandemic is over. This research recommends courier service companies maintain market agility and operational agility by improving digital capacity. In the future, research that involves the digital capability of the courier service business is needed during the pandemic.
Keywords: Transformational leadership, agility, performance, courier service, COVID-19
Abstrak. Pandemik Covid-19 telah memberikan tekanan on berbagai sektor bisnis karena kebijakan social distancing mengakibatkan interaksi antar manusia berkurang significant. Maka jasa ekspedisi menjadi pilihan untuk memenuhi sebagain besar kebutuhan manusia.
Sehingga bisnis jasa ekspedisi menjadi bisnis yang mengalami perkembangan pesat selama pandemik. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menganalisis: 1) pengaruh transformational leadership on performancebisnis jasa ekspedisi, 2) pengaruh transformational leadership on business agility jasa ekspedisi, 3) pengaruh business agility on business performance jasa ekspedisi. Teknik analisis menggunakan Structural Equation Model (SEM) with SmartPLS. Data dikumpulkan melalui penyebaran questionnaire. Respondents penelitian adalah perusahaan jasa ekspedisi dengan kriteria tergabung di dalam Asosiasi Perusahaan Jasa Pengiriman Ekspres, POS and Logistik Indonesia (ASPERINDO). Jumlah respondents penelitian sebanyak 79 orang, dengan satu perusahaan diwakili oleh satu respondents. Hasil analisis menunjukkan that transformational leadership berpengaruh on kinerja; transformational leadership berpengaruh on business agility;
Agilityberpengaruh on company performance. Hasil uji statistik menunjukkan that semua dimensions penyusun model berada pada level yang tinggi. Artinya, hasil penelitian ini mengkonfirmasi that pandemik covid-19 menjadi berkah bagi bisnis jasa ekspedisi. Kebiasaan masyarakat berbelanja secara online dimasa pandemic diyakini tidak akan berkurang significant meskipun pandemic sudah berakhir. Oleh karena itu penelitian ini merekomendasikan kepada perusahaan jasa ekspedisi untuk menjaga Agilitypasar maupun Agilityoperasional dengan meningkatkan kapabilas digital. Kedepan diperlukan penelitian yang melibatkan kapabilitas digital usaha jasa eksepedisi dimasa pandemik.
Kata kunci: Transformational leadership, agilitas, kinerja, jasa ekspedisi, COVID-19
*Corresponding author. Email:erwin.permana@univpancasila.ac.id
th th th
Received: April 11 , 2022; Revision: April 26 , 2022; Accepted: June 2 , 2022
Print ISSN: 1412-1700; Online ISSN: 2089-7928. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.12695/jmt.2022.21.2.6
Copyright@2022. Published by Unit Research and Knowledge, School of Business and Management - Institut Teknologi Bandung (SBM-ITB)
The Effect of Transformational Leadership on Business Performance Through Business Agility Expedition Services
Erwin Permana
Fakultas Ekonomi dan bisnis, Universitas Pancasila, Jakarta
Introduction
Since Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) was first announced in November 2019, the Covid-19 has spread out and become a pandemic all over the world including Indonesia within a year. Its rapid and wide spread has caused health crisis and serious impacts on economy and business. Various resources are then mobilized to overcome Covid-19. Companies with previous expansive business plans turn into protective plans.
Referring to the instructions of the World Health Organization (WHO), social distancing shall be conducted to resist Covid-19 fast s p r e a d i n g . I n I n d o n e s i a , s u ch W H O instructions are realized into the policy of L a r g e - S c a l e S o c i a l R e s t r i c t i o n
(Pembatasan Sosial Berskala Besar (PSBB)) which aims at preventing the spread of the disease in certain regions. PSBB is conducted by asking the society to reduce their social interactions by staying at home or limiting the use of public transportation.
PSBB implementation then changes the society's shopping methods and payment systems. The advice to limit activities outside makes the society shop online more. Based on the data released by katadata there has been a 45% decrease of offline shopping and on the other hand there has been an increase of 45%
online shopping. The following presents the consumer shopping patterns during Covid-19 pandemic.
To encounter business environment changes which are uncertain and fluctuative due to the pressure of Covid-19 pandemic, companies shall have ability to adapt to business internal resources and market behavior. Such ability to adapt to business internal resources and behavior in the market can be achieved by applying the principles of business agility (Qosasi et al., 2019).
The concept of agility begins with the biggest challenge faced by the company in a dynamic global competition, i.e. how to achieve and maintain high performance. Power et al. (2001) states that the concept of agility is holistic, not just functional, strategic not just of tactical purposes. The notion that agility is holistic is supported by Goldman et al. (1995) and Tsourveloudis et al. (1999) stating that agility is the ability of company business activities as a whole which includes the orgaization's ability to manage internal factors such as structural adjustment, infor mation system usage, c o m p a n y ' s l o g i s t i c m a n a g e m e n t a n d employees' thoughts to be more agile in facing the dynamics in the market.
The major characteristic of agility is to have operation which is flexible to be able to immediately respond to environmental changes (Lu & Ramamurthy, 2011). Lu &
Ramamurthy (2011) states that a company with agility will surely be able to adapt to market condition through changes of operation pattern or organizational improvement to be able to stay on. It is a form of agility attribute in adjusting the company operation. In addition, to be able to take market opportunities, the company needs to be agile and dexterous in making each decision with actions that are beneficial for the company. This attribute is called organizational agility in making use of the market (Lu & Ramamurthy, 2011; Qosasi et al., 2019; Saha et al., 2019).
To realize business organizations with agile characters, Muafi & Uyun (2018) states that it shall start with agile leadership in facing various uncertain environmental changes. The role of leadership is very strategic in determining the
company success to face various changes (Permana et al., 2020). Gopal et al. (2014) confirms that the ability to face changes effectively needs leadership behavior which is in harmony with organization work called transformational leadership. Lately, such topic of transformational leadership has attracted the researchers' interest because the concept b e c o m e s a b a s i c e l e m e n t i n m o d e r n organizations.
Transformational leadership refers to the attitude of a leader who is trying to create new ideas and perspectives to make various strategies towards company growth and wealth –( B e d i e t a l . , 2 0 1 6 ) . B y d e ve l o p i n g commitment, courage and loyalty among managers and staff, they mobilize organization members to make fundamental changes. This makes the organization ready and able to move towards new direction of achieving the top ideal performance which is higher (Mirkamali et al., 2011). Transfor mational leaders encourage subordinates to develop potentials beyond their individual aspiration for the sake o f t h e o r g a n i z a t i o n . T h r o u g h transformational leadership, employees are able to achieve performance beyond the leaders' expectations (Kusdi et al., 2018).
This research aims at analyzing the influence of transformational leadership on business agility and company performance, as well as agility influence on company performance. This research is expected to be able to become conceptual bases of delivery (expedition) service owners/ leaders to keep doing high performance in the Covid-19 pandemic situation.
Transformational leadership and business agility Theory of transformational leadership has d e v e l o p e d t o b e t r e n d i n g t o p i c s i n management researches (Vera & Crossan, 2004). The theory of transfor mational leadership was first introduced by Burns (1978), and then revealed by Bass (1987) who made remarkable contribution for the development of the theory (Stewart, 2006). A transformational leader changes the followers' Figure 1.
The Consumer Shopping Patterns during Covid – 19 pandemic (Katadata, 2020) Limiting the activities outside homes through
PSBB makes people not able to visit each other.
They eventually send items themselves, either basic staples, food, fashion, medicines, and so on by using expedition service companies (Nasruddin & Haq, 2020). The expedition
service is one of the sectors which is still allowed to operate fully during the pandemic.
This reality makes item deliver y from individual to individual increase using an expedition service.
The increase of delivery volume happens especially for domestic deliver y while crossborder delivery decreases due to flight limitation either domestic or overseas. For domestic delivery, at least until end of 2020 there has been an increase of up to 40%
compared to the same period of the previous year (Katadata, 2020), in which the same thing also takes place in some countries such as Malaysia, Vietnam, the Phillipines, Thailand, Singapore to China. Based on the information gathered by PT. Pos Indonesia, it even experiences a package delivery growth of 60%.
Introduction
Since Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) was first announced in November 2019, the Covid-19 has spread out and become a pandemic all over the world including Indonesia within a year. Its rapid and wide spread has caused health crisis and serious impacts on economy and business. Various resources are then mobilized to overcome Covid-19. Companies with previous expansive business plans turn into protective plans.
Referring to the instructions of the World Health Organization (WHO), social distancing shall be conducted to resist Covid-19 fast s p r e a d i n g . I n I n d o n e s i a , s u ch W H O instructions are realized into the policy of L a r g e - S c a l e S o c i a l R e s t r i c t i o n
(Pembatasan Sosial Berskala Besar (PSBB)) which aims at preventing the spread of the disease in certain regions. PSBB is conducted by asking the society to reduce their social interactions by staying at home or limiting the use of public transportation.
PSBB implementation then changes the society's shopping methods and payment systems. The advice to limit activities outside makes the society shop online more. Based on the data released by katadata there has been a 45% decrease of offline shopping and on the other hand there has been an increase of 45%
online shopping. The following presents the consumer shopping patterns during Covid-19 pandemic.
To encounter business environment changes which are uncertain and fluctuative due to the pressure of Covid-19 pandemic, companies shall have ability to adapt to business internal resources and market behavior. Such ability to adapt to business internal resources and behavior in the market can be achieved by applying the principles of business agility (Qosasi et al., 2019).
The concept of agility begins with the biggest challenge faced by the company in a dynamic global competition, i.e. how to achieve and maintain high performance. Power et al. (2001) states that the concept of agility is holistic, not just functional, strategic not just of tactical purposes. The notion that agility is holistic is supported by Goldman et al. (1995) and Tsourveloudis et al. (1999) stating that agility is the ability of company business activities as a whole which includes the orgaization's ability to manage internal factors such as structural adjustment, infor mation system usage, c o m p a n y ' s l o g i s t i c m a n a g e m e n t a n d employees' thoughts to be more agile in facing the dynamics in the market.
The major characteristic of agility is to have operation which is flexible to be able to immediately respond to environmental changes (Lu & Ramamurthy, 2011). Lu &
Ramamurthy (2011) states that a company with agility will surely be able to adapt to market condition through changes of operation pattern or organizational improvement to be able to stay on. It is a form of agility attribute in adjusting the company operation. In addition, to be able to take market opportunities, the company needs to be agile and dexterous in making each decision with actions that are beneficial for the company. This attribute is called organizational agility in making use of the market (Lu & Ramamurthy, 2011; Qosasi et al., 2019; Saha et al., 2019).
To realize business organizations with agile characters, Muafi & Uyun (2018) states that it shall start with agile leadership in facing various uncertain environmental changes. The role of leadership is very strategic in determining the
company success to face various changes (Permana et al., 2020). Gopal et al. (2014) confirms that the ability to face changes effectively needs leadership behavior which is in harmony with organization work called transformational leadership. Lately, such topic of transformational leadership has attracted the researchers' interest because the concept b e c o m e s a b a s i c e l e m e n t i n m o d e r n organizations.
Transformational leadership refers to the attitude of a leader who is trying to create new ideas and perspectives to make various strategies towards company growth and wealth –( B e d i e t a l . , 2 0 1 6 ) . B y d e ve l o p i n g commitment, courage and loyalty among managers and staff, they mobilize organization members to make fundamental changes. This makes the organization ready and able to move towards new direction of achieving the top ideal performance which is higher (Mirkamali et al., 2011). Transfor mational leaders encourage subordinates to develop potentials beyond their individual aspiration for the sake o f t h e o r g a n i z a t i o n . T h r o u g h transformational leadership, employees are able to achieve performance beyond the leaders' expectations (Kusdi et al., 2018).
This research aims at analyzing the influence of transformational leadership on business agility and company performance, as well as agility influence on company performance. This research is expected to be able to become conceptual bases of delivery (expedition) service owners/ leaders to keep doing high performance in the Covid-19 pandemic situation.
Transformational leadership and business agility Theory of transformational leadership has d e v e l o p e d t o b e t r e n d i n g t o p i c s i n management researches (Vera & Crossan, 2004). The theory of transfor mational leadership was first introduced by Burns (1978), and then revealed by Bass (1987) who made remarkable contribution for the development of the theory (Stewart, 2006). A transformational leader changes the followers' Figure 1.
The Consumer Shopping Patterns during Covid – 19 pandemic (Katadata, 2020) Limiting the activities outside homes through
PSBB makes people not able to visit each other.
They eventually send items themselves, either basic staples, food, fashion, medicines, and so on by using expedition service companies (Nasruddin & Haq, 2020). The expedition service is one of the sectors which is still allowed to operate fully during the pandemic.
This reality makes item deliver y from individual to individual increase using an expedition service.
The increase of delivery volume happens especially for domestic deliver y while crossborder delivery decreases due to flight limitation either domestic or overseas. For domestic delivery, at least until end of 2020 there has been an increase of up to 40%
compared to the same period of the previous year (Katadata, 2020), in which the same thing also takes place in some countries such as Malaysia, Vietnam, the Phillipines, Thailand, Singapore to China. Based on the information gathered by PT. Pos Indonesia, it even experiences a package delivery growth of 60%.
thoughts in such a way that they adopt the organization's visions as if those were their ow n . T h i s t r a n s f o r m a t i o n m o t iva t e s employees to prioritize struggle for collective purposes above personal interests (Chang et a l . , 2 0 1 8 ; D a v i d & C a r o l i n a , 2 0 1 1 ; Gumusluoglu & Ilsev, 2009).
S o m e r e s e a r c h e r s f i g u r e o u t t h a t transformational leadership is really closely related to followers' creativity in the individual level (Chang et al., 2018; Gumusluoglu & Ilsev, 2009). It is because transformational leaders can inspire subordinates to exceed their ability in giving better services or better ways to finish up their jobs. Besides, transformational leadership is also able to reduce conflicts by being sensitive towards the subordinates' needs. Such individual consideration can encourage the employees to respect and understand other people's positions and needs and to overcome rigid positions they have (Yahaya & Ebrahim, 2016). Transformational leadership consists of 4 main dimensions of i n d iv i d u a l c o n s i d e r a t i o n , i n t e l l e c t u a l stimulation, inspirational motivation and idealized influence (Acharya & Anand, 2020;
Diaz, 2016; Hoch et al., 2018; Hoffmeister et al., 2014).
Qosasi et al. (2019) states that organizational agility is a new concept in the 21 century, and st
one of the early definitions of Organizational Agility in Strategic Management said by Judge
& Miller (1991) which was the organizational speed in making decisions. After that, the Org anizational Agility is seen as the organizational flexibility. According to Bahrami (1992), organizational flexibility is the ability to change rapidly to take advantage of emergent opportunities and/or side-step threats. The meaning of Organizational Agility at the moment is generally characterized as responsiveness to the environment and the changes which are adaptive. One of the researchers who initiated to carry out transition of flexibility to be Organizational Agility is Sambamurthy et al.
(2003) and Lu & Ramamurthy (2011).
Researchers use the concept of agility from Lu
& Ramamurthy (2011) which says that agility if the ability to detect opportunities for innovation and seize those competitive market opportunities by assembling requisite assets, knowledge, and relationships with speed and surprise. Based on the definition, there are 2 (two) dimensions involved in Organizational Agility, which are (1) Agility in company operation adjustment;
and (2) Agility in market usage.
Tallon & Pinsonneault (2011) who conduct a research on agility has the same thought with Sambamurthy et al. (2003) which states that the O r g a n i z a t i o n a l A g i l i t y c o n c e p t i n Entrepreneurship is the ability to detect and respond to opportunities and threats in the environment with ease, speed and dexterity. Therefore the concept of agility according to Sambamurthy et al. (2003) is considered a definition which can describe the variables of Organizational Agility. The dimensions mentioned by Sambamurthy et al.
(2003) are needed in accordance with achieving t h e c o m p a n y ' s h i g h p e r f o r m a n c e . Transformational leadership is very relevant with Organizational Agility. The previous research results show that there is a significant influence between the transformational leadership style and the Organizational Agility (Khoshlahn & Ardabili, 2016). Based on this literature review, the writer proposes the following research hypothesis:
H1: Transformational leadership has significant influence on agility.
Transformational Leadership and Performance T h e i m p o r t a n c e o f t r a n s f o r m a t i o n a l leadership in achieving performance has been emphasized by the fact that business environment always experiences changes which need new approaches (Zhu et al., 2011).
Each change will create acceptance and refusal reactions, to which it needs transformational leadership style to make sure the employees' pro and cont attitudes will not give bad impacts to the company performance (Zhu et. al., 2011). To face uncertain environment and continuous changes, the leaders are very much n e e d e d t o ke e p t h e c o m p a n y ' s h i g h performance '(Permana et. al., 2020).
The influence of transformational leadership style on performance lies on the principles which are oriented to and motivating the employees to be better than what they can do;
in other words it can boost the employees' self confidence which will eventually impact on the company performance. The fundamental responsibility of transformational leadership is to increase moral values, work capacity and eventually organizational performance (Dvir et al., 2002).
The concept of organizational performance describes a thorough company condition during a certain time period, which is an outcome or an achievement of company's operational activities in utilizing the resources ow n e d '( S ch ö n b o r n , 2 0 1 0 ) . B u s i n e s s organizational performance is one of the indicators measuring how well a business organization achieves its objectives '(Permana et al., 2020).
The measurement of company performance always chang es in line with business environment complexity which kee ps increasing for each decade; therefore the point of view on dimension towards the terminology of performance gets wider (Valmohammadi, 2017). Senior Executives understand that the traditional measurement of financial accounting such as profit on investment and profit per share can give misleading signals for improvement and continuous innovation (Kaplan, 2009). The need to adopt various performance measurement equally in finance and non-finance is now widely accepted (Sneyd & Rowley, 2004).
The experts have previously presented performance measurement based on finance and non-finance (Aliyu, 2016; Kaplan, 2009;
Sneyd & Rowley, 2004; Valmohammadi &
Roshanzamir, 2015). In this study, we adopt b u s i n e s s p e r f o r m a n c e b a s e d o n t h e dimensions suggested by ''Valmohammadi &
Ahmadi (2015), with the reasons that such dimensions measure business organization improvement in all major aspects of product and process outcomes, customer-focused
outcomes, workforce-focused outcomes, leadership and governance outcomes, and financial and market outcomes. Based on a review literature, we propose the hypothesis: H2: Transformational Leadership has the influence on company performance.
Business Agility and Business Performance
Strategic agility is defined as the organizational capacity to make strategic commitment, by still being dexterous and flexible and it is considered as a means which is able to change and reinvent the company's core competencies when the market condition experiences turbulence, then the company is able to adapt and finally survive '(Arbussa et al., 2017). Business organizations are urged to have speed in their responses, short product cycles, and consumer demand changes (Liu et al., 2020). The research result by –Felipe et al. (2016) states that in the dynamic capability perspectives, the speed and flexibility in responding to market chang es is the achievement of Organizational Agility. Such speed and flexibility in responding to market changes can also be considered as the heart of dynamic capability (Wang & Ahmed, 2007). Finally, Organizational Agility impacts on the company performance, in which the impact gets bigger in the volatile markets (Tallon & Pinsonneault, 2011). Hence, Organizational Agility has a positive influence on competitive advantage. Based on the review literature, we propose the following research hypothesis: H3: Organizational Agility has a significant influence on business performance
Research Methodology
This reasearch starts with a review literature to define and identify dimensions comprising the variables of transformational leadership, b u s i n e s s a g i l i t y a n d p e r f o r m a n c e i n theexpedition service company. After the research variables are defined and dimensions to measure variables are obtained, then we continue to making research questionnaire.
thoughts in such a way that they adopt the organization's visions as if those were their ow n . T h i s t r a n s f o r m a t i o n m o t iva t e s employees to prioritize struggle for collective purposes above personal interests (Chang et a l . , 2 0 1 8 ; D a v i d & C a r o l i n a , 2 0 1 1 ; Gumusluoglu & Ilsev, 2009).
S o m e r e s e a r c h e r s f i g u r e o u t t h a t transformational leadership is really closely related to followers' creativity in the individual level (Chang et al., 2018; Gumusluoglu & Ilsev, 2009). It is because transformational leaders can inspire subordinates to exceed their ability in giving better services or better ways to finish up their jobs. Besides, transformational leadership is also able to reduce conflicts by being sensitive towards the subordinates' needs. Such individual consideration can encourage the employees to respect and understand other people's positions and needs and to overcome rigid positions they have (Yahaya & Ebrahim, 2016). Transformational leadership consists of 4 main dimensions of i n d iv i d u a l c o n s i d e r a t i o n , i n t e l l e c t u a l stimulation, inspirational motivation and idealized influence (Acharya & Anand, 2020;
Diaz, 2016; Hoch et al., 2018; Hoffmeister et al., 2014).
Qosasi et al. (2019) states that organizational agility is a new concept in the 21 century, and st
one of the early definitions of Organizational Agility in Strategic Management said by Judge
& Miller (1991) which was the organizational speed in making decisions. After that, the Org anizational Agility is seen as the organizational flexibility. According to Bahrami (1992), organizational flexibility is the ability to change rapidly to take advantage of emergent opportunities and/or side-step threats. The meaning of Organizational Agility at the moment is generally characterized as responsiveness to the environment and the changes which are adaptive. One of the researchers who initiated to carry out transition of flexibility to be Organizational Agility is Sambamurthy et al.
(2003) and Lu & Ramamurthy (2011).
Researchers use the concept of agility from Lu
& Ramamurthy (2011) which says that agility if the ability to detect opportunities for innovation and seize those competitive market opportunities by assembling requisite assets, knowledge, and relationships with speed and surprise. Based on the definition, there are 2 (two) dimensions involved in Organizational Agility, which are (1) Agility in company operation adjustment;
and (2) Agility in market usage.
Tallon & Pinsonneault (2011) who conduct a research on agility has the same thought with Sambamurthy et al. (2003) which states that the O r g a n i z a t i o n a l A g i l i t y c o n c e p t i n Entrepreneurship is the ability to detect and respond to opportunities and threats in the environment with ease, speed and dexterity. Therefore the concept of agility according to Sambamurthy et al. (2003) is considered a definition which can describe the variables of Organizational Agility. The dimensions mentioned by Sambamurthy et al.
(2003) are needed in accordance with achieving t h e c o m p a n y ' s h i g h p e r f o r m a n c e . Transformational leadership is very relevant with Organizational Agility. The previous research results show that there is a significant influence between the transformational leadership style and the Organizational Agility (Khoshlahn & Ardabili, 2016). Based on this literature review, the writer proposes the following research hypothesis:
H1: Transformational leadership has significant influence on agility.
Transformational Leadership and Performance T h e i m p o r t a n c e o f t r a n s f o r m a t i o n a l leadership in achieving performance has been emphasized by the fact that business environment always experiences changes which need new approaches (Zhu et al., 2011).
Each change will create acceptance and refusal reactions, to which it needs transformational leadership style to make sure the employees' pro and cont attitudes will not give bad impacts to the company performance (Zhu et. al., 2011). To face uncertain environment and continuous changes, the leaders are very much n e e d e d t o ke e p t h e c o m p a n y ' s h i g h performance '(Permana et. al., 2020).
The influence of transformational leadership style on performance lies on the principles which are oriented to and motivating the employees to be better than what they can do;
in other words it can boost the employees' self confidence which will eventually impact on the company performance. The fundamental responsibility of transformational leadership is to increase moral values, work capacity and eventually organizational performance (Dvir et al., 2002).
The concept of organizational performance describes a thorough company condition during a certain time period, which is an outcome or an achievement of company's operational activities in utilizing the resources ow n e d '( S ch ö n b o r n , 2 0 1 0 ) . B u s i n e s s organizational performance is one of the indicators measuring how well a business organization achieves its objectives '(Permana et al., 2020).
The measurement of company performance always chang es in line with business environment complexity which kee ps increasing for each decade; therefore the point of view on dimension towards the terminology of performance gets wider (Valmohammadi, 2017). Senior Executives understand that the traditional measurement of financial accounting such as profit on investment and profit per share can give misleading signals for improvement and continuous innovation (Kaplan, 2009). The need to adopt various performance measurement equally in finance and non-finance is now widely accepted (Sneyd & Rowley, 2004).
The experts have previously presented performance measurement based on finance and non-finance (Aliyu, 2016; Kaplan, 2009;
Sneyd & Rowley, 2004; Valmohammadi &
Roshanzamir, 2015). In this study, we adopt b u s i n e s s p e r f o r m a n c e b a s e d o n t h e dimensions suggested by ''Valmohammadi &
Ahmadi (2015), with the reasons that such dimensions measure business organization improvement in all major aspects of product and process outcomes, customer-focused
outcomes, workforce-focused outcomes, leadership and governance outcomes, and financial and market outcomes. Based on a review literature, we propose the hypothesis:
H2: Transformational Leadership has the influence on company performance.
Business Agility and Business Performance
Strategic agility is defined as the organizational capacity to make strategic commitment, by still being dexterous and flexible and it is considered as a means which is able to change and reinvent the company's core competencies when the market condition experiences turbulence, then the company is able to adapt and finally survive '(Arbussa et al., 2017).
Business organizations are urged to have speed in their responses, short product cycles, and consumer demand changes (Liu et al., 2020).
The research result by –Felipe et al. (2016) states that in the dynamic capability perspectives, the speed and flexibility in responding to market chang es is the achievement of Organizational Agility. Such speed and flexibility in responding to market changes can also be considered as the heart of dynamic capability (Wang & Ahmed, 2007).
Finally, Organizational Agility impacts on the company performance, in which the impact gets bigger in the volatile markets (Tallon &
Pinsonneault, 2011). Hence, Organizational Agility has a positive influence on competitive advantage. Based on the review literature, we propose the following research hypothesis:
H3: Organizational Agility has a significant influence on business performance
Research Methodology
This reasearch starts with a review literature to define and identify dimensions comprising the variables of transformational leadership, b u s i n e s s a g i l i t y a n d p e r f o r m a n c e i n theexpedition service company. After the research variables are defined and dimensions to measure variables are obtained, then we continue to making research questionnaire.
Based on the first stage result, there are 42 question items in total. The measurement scale uses Likert scale of: 1 = Extremely disagree;
2 = Disagree; 3 = In doubt; 4 = Agree and 5 = Really agree (Joshi et al., 2015; Kim, 2011).
Next, the table 1 research questionnaire is presented.
Goodness of fit
Goodness of fit analysis of SEM research with PLS is conducted in three stages of outer model analysis, inner model analysis, and hypothesis testing (Chin, 1998).
Outer model analysis
Based on the result of running data using smartPLS software, the research adjustment model is obtained, which meets the criteria required by outer model smart PLS, that is Cronbach's alpha & rho_A with the value >
0.6, composite reliability with the value >0.7 and AVE >0.5 (Cheung & Rensvold, 2002). In table 3, the SmarPLS output is presented.
Inner Model Analysis
Inner model analysis can be seen from some indicators comprising; determinant coefficient (R2); Predictive Relevance (Q2); Goodness of Fit Index (GoF) (Chin, 1998). Next the calculation of each indicator is presented. Determinant Coefficient (R ) 2
Table 1.
Variables of Research Operations
Variable Dimensions Item Source
Transformational leadership
1. Idealized influence 5 (Acharya & Anand, 2020; Diaz, 2016; Hoch et al., 2018; Hoffmeister et al., 2014).
2. Inspirational motivation 4 3. Intellectual stimulation 4 4. Individual consideration 6
Business agility 1. Operational Agility 4 (Lu & Ramamurthy, 2011; Qosasi, et al., 2019)
2. Market Agility 4
Performance 1. product and process outcomes,
3 (Valmohammadi &
Ahmadi, 2015) 2. customer-focused outcomes, 3
3. workforce-focused outcomes, 3 4. leadership and governance
outcomes, and
3 5. financial and market outcomes. 3
The number of respondents referring to the expert's opinion suggests 100 pax for a feasible quantitative research sample taking (Augusty, 2006). The questionnaire is then sent to the respondents joining the Association of Express Delivery Services, POST and Logistics Indonesia (ASPERINDO). One company is represented by one respondent (Surakhmad, 1994). The criterion is having worked for at least two years in that company so that he understands the company situation in general.
The total respondents filling out the questionnaire are 79 people. Hence, the questionnaire return is 79%. Sekaran &
Bougie, (2016) proposes a practical rule that for most of researches, the sample size is between 30-500 respondents. Therefore, the 79 respondents are feasible to be analyzed further.
The data analysis uses Structural Equation Model (SEM) with Partial Least Square (PLS). SEM- PLS can be used to carry out a confirmatory analysis (Ringle et al., 2005). Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) is a statistical technique used to find out constructs of a group of
manifest variables, or to test a variable upon the assumption of developing manifest (Ghozali, 2014). The consideration to use SmartPLS is because SmartPLS is developed based on modelling path and bootstrap, and recommended by Tenenhaus & Esposito, (2005). The research model developed is of reflective model.
Results and Discussion
Research respondent profile
Resarch respondent profile gives information on reality around the respondents participating in the research. From the information obtained, based on gender, there are 65 males (82.28%), and 14 females (17.72%). Based on positions in the company, 54 Managers (68.35%), 18 branch Managers (22.78%), and 7 Staff (8.86%). Based on education, 72 Undergraduates (91,14%) and 7 senior high schoolers (8.86%).
Source: Explored by researchers (2021)
Cut Of Value Business agility
Transformational leadership
Performance Remarks Cronbach's
Alpha
> 0.6 0.948 0.984 0.989 All
criteria are met Composite
reliability
> 0.7 0.975 0.988 0.991
Average Variance Extracted (AVE)
> 0.5 0.951 0.953 0.957
Table 2.
Validity and Reliability Criteria
Output: SmartPLS (2021)
Table 3. R value2
R Square Adjusted R Square
Business agility 0.953 0.952
Performance 0.911 0.908
Source: SmartPLS Output (2021)
According to Chin (1998), R square value above 0.67 is strong, between 0.67 and 0.18 moderate, and below 0.19 weak; Sarwono, (2010) adds up that R > 0.7 is strong. 2
Therefore all variables involved in this research are categorized to have strong category.
Predictive Relevance (Q ) 2
To calculate Q2, the following formula is used:
2 2 2 2
Q = 1-(1-R1 ) (1-R2 )……(1-Rn ) Q = 1-((1-0.952) (1-0.908)2
Q =0.992
Based on the first stage result, there are 42 question items in total. The measurement scale uses Likert scale of: 1 = Extremely disagree;
2 = Disagree; 3 = In doubt; 4 = Agree and 5 = Really agree (Joshi et al., 2015; Kim, 2011).
Next, the table 1 research questionnaire is presented.
Goodness of fit
Goodness of fit analysis of SEM research with PLS is conducted in three stages of outer model analysis, inner model analysis, and hypothesis testing (Chin, 1998).
Outer model analysis
Based on the result of running data using smartPLS software, the research adjustment model is obtained, which meets the criteria required by outer model smart PLS, that is Cronbach's alpha & rho_A with the value >
0.6, composite reliability with the value >0.7 and AVE >0.5 (Cheung & Rensvold, 2002). In table 3, the SmarPLS output is presented.
Inner Model Analysis
Inner model analysis can be seen from some indicators comprising; determinant coefficient (R2); Predictive Relevance (Q2); Goodness of Fit Index (GoF) (Chin, 1998). Next the calculation of each indicator is presented.
Determinant Coefficient (R ) 2
Table 1.
Variables of Research Operations
Variable Dimensions Item Source
Transformation al leadership
1. Idealized influence 5 (Acharya & Anand, 2020; Diaz, 2016; Hoch et al., 2018; Hoffmeister et al., 2014).
2. Inspirational motivation 4 3. Intellectual stimulation 4 4. Individual consideration 6
Business agility 1. Operational Agility 4 (Lu & Ramamurthy, 2011; Qosasi, et al., 2019)
2. Market Agility 4
Performance 1. product and process outcomes, 3 (Valmohammadi &
Ahmadi, 2015) 2. customer-focused outcomes, 3
3. workforce-focused outcomes, 3 4. leadership and governance
outcomes, and
3 5. financial and market outcomes. 3
The number of respondents referring to the expert's opinion suggests 100 pax for a feasible quantitative research sample taking (Augusty, 2006). The questionnaire is then sent to the respondents joining the Association of Express Delivery Services, POST and Logistics Indonesia (ASPERINDO). One company is represented by one respondent (Surakhmad, 1994). The criterion is having worked for at least two years in that company so that he understands the company situation in general.
The total respondents filling out the questionnaire are 79 people. Hence, the questionnaire return is 79%. Sekaran &
Bougie, (2016) proposes a practical rule that for most of researches, the sample size is between 30-500 respondents. Therefore, the 79 respondents are feasible to be analyzed further.
The data analysis uses Structural Equation Model (SEM) with Partial Least Square (PLS). SEM- PLS can be used to carry out a confirmatory analysis (Ringle et al., 2005). Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) is a statistical technique used to find out constructs of a group of
manifest variables, or to test a variable upon the assumption of developing manifest (Ghozali, 2014). The consideration to use SmartPLS is because SmartPLS is developed based on modelling path and bootstrap, and recommended by Tenenhaus & Esposito, (2005). The research model developed is of reflective model.
Results and Discussion
Research respondent profile
Re s a r c h r e s p o n d e n t p r o f i l e g i ve s information on reality around the respondents participating in the research. From the information obtained, based on gender, there are 65 males (82.28%), and 14 females (17.72%). Based on positions in the company, 54 Managers (68.35%), 18 branch Managers (22.78%), and 7 Staff (8.86%). Based on education, 72 Undergraduates (91,14%) and 7 senior high schoolers (8.86%).
Source: Explored by researchers (2021)
Cut Of Value Business agility
Transformational leadership
Performance Remarks Cronbach's
Alpha
> 0.6 0.948 0.984 0.989 All
criteria are met Composite
reliability
> 0.7 0.975 0.988 0.991
Average Variance Extracted (AVE)
> 0.5 0.951 0.953 0.957
Table 2.
Validity and Reliability Criteria
Output: SmartPLS (2021)
Table 3.
R value2
R Square Adjusted R Square
Business agility 0.953 0.952
Performance 0.911 0.908
Source: SmartPLS Output (2021)
According to Chin (1998), R square value above 0.67 is strong, between 0.67 and 0.18 moderate, and below 0.19 weak; Sarwono, (2010) adds up that R > 0.7 is strong. 2
Therefore all variables involved in this research are categorized to have strong category.
Predictive Relevance (Q ) 2
To calculate Q2, the following formula is used:
2 2 2 2
Q = 1-(1-R1 ) (1-R2 )……(1-Rn ) Q = 1-((1-0.952) (1-0.908)2
Q =0.992
This test is conducted to find out the prediction capability with the procedures of blinfolding. According to Chin (1998), if the value obtanied is between 0.02 and 0.15, the model has small prediciton capability. If it is between 0.15 and 0.35, the model has moderate prediciton capability. Finally, if it is above 0.35, the model has high prediction capability. The calculation of Q value gives the result of 0.99, 2
therefore the model has the biggest prediction capability.
Goodness of Fit Index (GoF)
GoF value in SEM with PLS is calculated manually (Tenenhaus & Esposito, 2005) with the formula:
GoF= √ x GoF= 0.88
Tenenhaus & Esposito (2005) formulates that GoF small value is 0.1, moderate 0.25, and big when it is 0.38. This research proves that the calculation of GoF value is 0.88. Therefore, it is concluded that the research model can capture the real phenomenon of transformational leadership influence on business performance of expedition services through business agility.
Hence, the inner model test proves that all criteria of research results meet the relevant criteria.
Hypothesis Testing
T he str uctural model in SEM-PLS is conducted by bootstrapping process which creates a t-statistic value. If the t-statistic value is bigger than the t-table with confidence level of 95% (> 1,96), the effect is significant (Asparouhov & Muthén, 2009). The following presents figure 2, the output of bootstrapping smartPLS.
Figure 1 presents all dimensions of significant d e ve l o p m e n t r e s e a r ch va r i a b l e s w i t h confidence level of 90% (T calculation > 1.65) and 99% (T calculation > 2.58). Two significant hypotheses with the confidence level 99% are transformational leadership on business agility and business agility on performance.
In the meantime, one significant hypothesis is with the confidence level 90% (>1.65), i.e. transformational leadership on business performance. While to find out how much the dimension influence in following the variable, we need to see the loading factor value of the original sample of (O) output. The following table 3 presents the Output of SmartPLS Algorithm.
Figure 2.
Output bootstrapping of smartPLS.
(Source: Research result data, 2021)
Figure 3.
SmartPLS Algorithm
(Source: Research result data, 2021)
Figure 2, smartPLS algorithm presents two significant hypotheses with the confidence level 99% (>2.58), i.e. transformational leadership on business agility and business agility on performance. In the meantime, one
significant hypothesis with confidence level 90% (1.65) is transformational leadership on business performance. Next is Table 4 which presents the Output of data result with smartPLS.
Sample
Origin (O)
Sample Mean
(M)
Deviation_ Standard
T Statistic
P
Value Conclusion Business agility ->
Performance
0.667 0.67 0.177 3.766 0.000 Accepted at
confidence 99% Transformational
Leadership -> Business agility Capability
0.976 0.976 0.006 177.287 0.000 Accepted at confidence 99% Transformational
Leadership -> Performance
0.292 0.289 0.177 1.65 0.099 Accepted at
confidence 90% Table 4.
Output of data result with smartPLS.
Output: Research result (2021)
This test is conducted to find out the prediction capability with the procedures of blinfolding. According to Chin (1998), if the value obtanied is between 0.02 and 0.15, the model has small prediciton capability. If it is between 0.15 and 0.35, the model has moderate prediciton capability. Finally, if it is above 0.35, the model has high prediction capability. The calculation of Q value gives the result of 0.99, 2
therefore the model has the biggest prediction capability.
Goodness of Fit Index (GoF)
GoF value in SEM with PLS is calculated manually (Tenenhaus & Esposito, 2005) with the formula:
GoF= √ x GoF= 0.88
Tenenhaus & Esposito (2005) formulates that GoF small value is 0.1, moderate 0.25, and big when it is 0.38. This research proves that the calculation of GoF value is 0.88. Therefore, it is concluded that the research model can capture the real phenomenon of transformational leadership influence on business performance of expedition services through business agility.
Hence, the inner model test proves that all criteria of research results meet the relevant criteria.
Hypothesis Testing
T he str uctural model in SEM-PLS is conducted by bootstrapping process which creates a t-statistic value. If the t-statistic value is bigger than the t-table with confidence level of 95% (> 1,96), the effect is significant (Asparouhov & Muthén, 2009). The following presents figure 2, the output of bootstrapping smartPLS.
Figure 1 presents all dimensions of significant d e ve l o p m e n t r e s e a r ch va r i a b l e s w i t h confidence level of 90% (T calculation > 1.65) and 99% (T calculation > 2.58). Two significant hypotheses with the confidence level 99% are transformational leadership on business agility and business agility on performance.
In the meantime, one significant hypothesis is with the confidence level 90% (>1.65), i.e.
transformational leadership on business performance. While to find out how much the dimension influence in following the variable, we need to see the loading factor value of the original sample of (O) output. The following table 3 presents the Output of SmartPLS Algorithm.
Figure 2.
Output bootstrapping of smartPLS.
(Source: Research result data, 2021)
Figure 3.
SmartPLS Algorithm
(Source: Research result data, 2021)
Figure 2, smartPLS algorithm presents two significant hypotheses with the confidence level 99% (>2.58), i.e. transformational leadership on business agility and business agility on performance. In the meantime, one
significant hypothesis with confidence level 90% (1.65) is transformational leadership on business performance. Next is Table 4 which presents the Output of data result with smartPLS.
Sample
Origin (O)
Sample Mean
(M)
Deviation_
Standard
T Statistic
P
Value Conclusion Business agility ->
Performance
0.667 0.67 0.177 3.766 0.000 Accepted at
confidence 99%
Transformational Leadership ->
Business agility Capability
0.976 0.976 0.006 177.287 0.000 Accepted at confidence 99%
Transformational Leadership ->
Performance
0.292 0.289 0.177 1.65 0.099 Accepted at
confidence 90%
Table 4.
Output of data result with smartPLS.
Output: Research result (2021)
Discussion
This study is trying to conduct an analysis model of transformational leadership on business performance through business agility of expedition service company during Covid- 19 pandemic. The testing result at research model proves that transformational leadership has influence on business performance; the influence of transformational leadership on performance is bigger through business agility.
It means, business agility variable fully mediates the influence of transformational l e a d e r s h i p o n e x p e d i t i o n b u s i n e s s performance during Covid-19 pandemic.
Based on this result, herewith are some matters to conclude:
First, the research result proves that transformational leadership is significant to create Organizational Agility of expedition service to develop performance during Covid- 19 pandemic. In the existing situation, the success of leadership style is because of close relations in all aspects between the leader and his subordinates/ employees. The theory of transformational leadership emphasizes the role of leadership to internalize the joint visions and to implement transformations in the organization. The concept is very relevant to create business agility. Business agility owned by expediton service-company makes it able to respond quickly to uncertain market changes. This is confirmed by the dimensions of market agility and operational agility which have high value. According to Lu &
Ramamurthy (2011), market agility describes t h e c o m p a n y a b i l i t y t o t a k e m a r k e t opportunities, the company needs to be agile and dexterous in making each decision that benefits the company.
While the operational agility describes the company ability to have flexible/adaptive operations to be able to quickly respond to environmental changes (Lu & Ramamurthy, 2011). In reality, during the pandemic, the company is able to respond to various strategic innovations. Besides applying health protocols for all employees, giving various service facilities to the consumbers such as cash-back,
delivery fee discounts, digital payment, and so on, the company also improves supportive cooperations with e- commerce service companies. If e-commerce ecosystem develops, then expedition service will also keep growing. The strategic innovation has impacts on expenditure budget addition. This research confirms that the success to implement such strategy is due to implementing transformational leadership concept that creates business agility.
The originality of research result lies on the relation of transformational leadership that has bigger impact on performance by creating business agility.
Second, respondent data being involved in the research turns out to be dominated by males (82.28%). Though this number does not describe reality of the whole employees in all expedition businesses in Indonesia however based on management and literature, social psychology states that male and female senior managers feel the risks differently male executives are more proactive, more interested in risks, and are likely to show over confidence (Li, 2017). Hence, male executives are braver and do business strategic activities which are relatively more agressive (Yang
& Wang, 2014). It means from the gender point of view, male employees are more likely to apply business agility concept than female employees.
On the other hand, the world of expedition service industry has the characteristics close to perfect competition. This is seen from the number of companies recorded as Asperindo members of 536 companies. The competition condition becomes more drastical during pandemic. This reality urges courage of all company components especially manager level to bring the company out of difficult situation successfully.
Third. In terms of operations, this research gives description that the practice of transformational leadership in pandemic has a very high value; it is a serious response on business pressure due to pandemic. All dimensions on transformational leadership have high values, which are: first, inspirational motivation (0.979), second, idealized influence (0.976), third, intellectual stimulation (0.976) and fourth, individual consideration (0.973). This situation states that during Covid-19 pandemic, the expedition service applies transformational leadership concept almost perfectly.
Conclusion
This research develops theoritical framework which is able to lead transfor mational leadership practices of expedition service business in order to create high performance during covid-19 pandemic through business agility. The research result shows that the research concept framework can explain the relationship between transfor mational leadership, business agility, and business performance of expedition services. The research fact shows that there is significant influence of transformational leadership on business performance, significant influence of transformational leadership on business agility, and significant influence of business agility on performance.
From statistic calculation, direct influence of transformational leadership on company performance is smaller (0.292 with confidence level 90%) compared to the influence of transformational leadership on performance through business agility (0.651 with confidence level 99%). It means, business agility has full mediation effect on the inf luence of transformational leadership on company performance during the pandemic. Hence, the approach of business agility becomes a more important strategy in carrying out expedition service business in the future.
This research result can be a referrence for expedition service business practitioners to be more diligent in developing business agility either operational agility or market agility. Both concepts of agility can be conducted by facilitating the employees' needs with health protocols and making easy customer access through digital service improvement. Agility variable is chosen to be the mediation variable in this research because of its relevance to face pandemic situation. Future studies need to be conducted by developing variables which are also relevant with pandemic situation, i.e.
digital capability and its impacts on expedition service business in facing Covid-19 pandemic.
References
Acharya, S., & Anand, G. (2020). The mediating role of transformational l e a d e r s h i p b e t w e e n e m o t i o n a l intelligence and job satisfaction among young managers. International Journal of Psychosocial Rehabilitation.
Aliyu, M. A. (2016). Modelling total quality management dimensions for sme. Journal of Education and Social Sciences., 3(1995), 165–169.
Arbussa, A., Bikfalvi, A., & Marquès, P. (2017). Strategic agility-driven business model renewal: the case of an SME. Management Decision. doi: 10.1108/MD-05-2016- 0355
Asparouhov, T., & Muthén, B. (2009). E x p l o r a t o r y s t r u c t u r a l e q u a t i o n modeling. Structural Equation Modeling. doi: 10.1080/10705510903008204 Augusty, F. (2006). Structural Equation Model
Dalam Penelitian Manajemen. Semarang: Badan Penerbit UNDIP.
Bahrami, H. (1992). The emerging flexible organization: Perspectives from Silicon Valley. California Management Review, 34(4), 33–52.
Bass, B. M., Waldman, D. A., Avolio, B. J., & Bebb, M. (1987). Transformational Leadership and the Falling Dominoes Effect. Group & Organization Management. doi: 10.1177/105960118701200106 Bedi, A., Alpaslan, C. M., & Green, S. (2016). A
M e t a - a n a l y t i c r e v i e w o f e t h i c a l leadership outcomes and moderators. Jo u r n a l o f B u s i n e s s E t h i c s . d o i : 10.1007/s10551-015-2625-1
Burns, J. M. (1978). Leadership New York. NY: Harper and Row Publishers.
Chang, Y.-Y., Chao, W.-C., Chang, C.-Y., & Chi, H . - R . ( 2 0 1 8 ) . Tr a n s f o r m a t i o n a l l e a d e r s h i p i n f l u e n c e o n u n i t performance: Cross-level moderated mediation evidence. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 39(4), 554–571. doi: 10.1108/LODJ-08-2017- 0224
Discussion
This study is trying to conduct an analysis model of transformational leadership on business performance through business agility of expedition service company during Covid- 19 pandemic. The testing result at research model proves that transformational leadership has influence on business performance; the influence of transformational leadership on performance is bigger through business agility.
It means, business agility variable fully mediates the influence of transformational l e a d e r s h i p o n e x p e d i t i o n b u s i n e s s performance during Covid-19 pandemic.
Based on this result, herewith are some matters to conclude:
First, the research result proves that transformational leadership is significant to create Organizational Agility of expedition service to develop performance during Covid- 19 pandemic. In the existing situation, the success of leadership style is because of close relations in all aspects between the leader and his subordinates/ employees. The theory of transformational leadership emphasizes the role of leadership to internalize the joint visions and to implement transformations in the organization. The concept is very relevant to create business agility. Business agility owned by expediton service-company makes it able to respond quickly to uncertain market changes. This is confirmed by the dimensions of market agility and operational agility which have high value. According to Lu &
Ramamurthy (2011), market agility describes t h e c o m p a n y a b i l i t y t o t a k e m a r k e t opportunities, the company needs to be agile and dexterous in making each decision that benefits the company.
While the operational agility describes the company ability to have flexible/adaptive operations to be able to quickly respond to environmental changes (Lu & Ramamurthy, 2011). In reality, during the pandemic, the company is able to respond to various strategic innovations. Besides applying health protocols for all employees, giving various service facilities to the consumbers such as cash-back,
delivery fee discounts, digital payment, and so on, the company also improves supportive cooperations with e- commerce service companies. If e-commerce ecosystem develops, then expedition service will also keep growing. The strategic innovation has impacts on expenditure budget addition. This research confirms that the success to implement such strategy is due to implementing transformational leadership concept that creates business agility.
The originality of research result lies on the relation of transformational leadership that has bigger impact on performance by creating business agility.
Second, respondent data being involved in the research turns out to be dominated by males (82.28%). Though this number does not describe reality of the whole employees in all expedition businesses in Indonesia however based on management and literature, social psychology states that male and female senior managers feel the risks differently male executives are more proactive, more interested in risks, and are likely to show over confidence (Li, 2017). Hence, male executives are braver and do business strategic activities which are relatively more agressive (Yang
& Wang, 2014). It means from the gender point of view, male employees are more likely to apply business agility concept than female employees.
On the other hand, the world of expedition service industry has the characteristics close to perfect competition. This is seen from the number of companies recorded as Asperindo members of 536 companies. The competition condition becomes more drastical during pandemic. This reality urges courage of all company components especially manager level to bring the company out of difficult situation successfully.
Third. In terms of operations, this research gives description that the practice of transformational leadership in pandemic has a very high value; it is a serious response on business pressure due to pandemic. All dimensions on transformational leadership have high values, which are: first, inspirational motivation (0.979), second, idealized influence (0.976), third, intellectual stimulation (0.976) and fourth, individual consideration (0.973). This situation states that during Covid-19 pandemic, the expedition service applies transformational leadership concept almost perfectly.
Conclusion
This research develops theoritical framework which is able to lead transfor mational leadership practices of expedition service business in order to create high performance during covid-19 pandemic through business agility. The research result shows that the research concept framework can explain the relationship between transfor mational leadership, business agility, and business performance of expedition services. The research fact shows that there is significant influence of transformational leadership on business performance, significant influence of transformational leadership on business agility, and significant influence of business agility on performance.
From statistic calculation, direct influence of transformational leadership on company performance is smaller (0.292 with confidence level 90%) compared to the influence of transformational leadership on performance through business agility (0.651 with confidence level 99%). It means, business agility has full mediation effect on the inf luence of transformational leadership on company performance during the pandemic. Hence, the approach of business agility becomes a more important strategy in carrying out expedition service business in the future.
This research result can be a referrence for expedition service business practitioners to be more diligent in developing business agility either operational agility or market agility. Both concepts of agility can be conducted by facilitating the employees' needs with health protocols and making easy customer access through digital service improvement. Agility variable is chosen to be the mediation variable in this research because of its relevance to face pandemic situation. Future studies need to be conducted by developing variables which are also relevant with pandemic situation, i.e.
digital capability and its impacts on expedition service business in facing Covid-19 pandemic.
References
Acharya, S., & Anand, G. (2020). The mediating role of transformational l e a d e r s h i p b e t w e e n e m o t i o n a l intelligence and job satisfaction among young managers. International Journal of Psychosocial Rehabilitation.
Aliyu, M. A. (2016). Modelling total quality management dimensions for sme. Journal of Education and Social Sciences., 3(1995), 165–169.
Arbussa, A., Bikfalvi, A., & Marquès, P. (2017).
Strategic agility-driven business model renewal: the case of an SME. Management Decision. doi: 10.1108/MD-05-2016- 0355
Asparouhov, T., & Muthén, B. (2009).
E x p l o r a t o r y s t r u c t u r a l e q u a t i o n modeling. Structural Equation Modeling.
doi: 10.1080/10705510903008204 Augusty, F. (2006). Structural Equation Model
Dalam Penelitian Manajemen. Semarang:
Badan Penerbit UNDIP.
Bahrami, H. (1992). The emerging flexible organization: Perspectives from Silicon Valley. California Management Review, 34(4), 33–52.
Bass, B. M., Waldman, D. A., Avolio, B. J., &
Bebb, M. (1987). Transformational Leadership and the Falling Dominoes Effect. Group & Organization Management.
doi: 10.1177/105960118701200106 Bedi, A., Alpaslan, C. M., & Green, S. (2016). A
M e t a - a n a l y t i c r e v i e w o f e t h i c a l leadership outcomes and moderators.
Jo u r n a l o f B u s i n e s s E t h i c s . d o i : 10.1007/s10551-015-2625-1
Burns, J. M. (1978). Leadership New York. NY:
Harper and Row Publishers.
Chang, Y.-Y., Chao, W.-C., Chang, C.-Y., & Chi, H . - R . ( 2 0 1 8 ) . Tr a n s f o r m a t i o n a l l e a d e r s h i p i n f l u e n c e o n u n i t performance: Cross-level moderated mediation evidence. Leadership &
Organization Development Journal, 39(4), 554–571. doi: 10.1108/LODJ-08-2017- 0224
