: 10.56472/25835238/IRJEMS-V4I5P127Nadia Mufida, Denta Felli Ananda. "Elevating Employee Performance through Motivation: “Old School” Concept that Still Works Well" International Research Journal of Economics and Management Studies, Vol. 4, No. 5, pp. 183-191, 2025.
Food consumption is one of the common indices of nationwide welfare. Most food manufacturers in Indonesia consist of micro and small-sized home industries, which contribute significantly to the country’s economy, as measured by GDP indices. Thus, organizations within the food industry need to maintain both their organization and employee performance. The study aims to examine both the direct and indirect effect of work motivation on employee performance with servant leadership and work environment as the antecedent at a food supplement home industry level producer in Jakarta. This study uses a non-probability sampling technique called purposive sampling with 70 respondents of non-managerial food producers’ home industry employees. Primary data were collected through online questionnaires and analyzed with structured equation modelling partial least square statistical method. This study concluded that servant leadership and work motivation have a positive direct effect on employee performance, the work environment has no direct effect on employee performance, and servant leadership and work environment have a direct effect on work motivation. For the indirect effect, this study shows that work motivation has a mediating effect from the effect of servant leadership and work environment on employee performance.
[1] Ali, M., Niu, X., & Rubel, M. R. B. (2024). The influence of transformational and transactional leadership on employee retention: the mediating role of employee engagement. Management Matters, 21(2), 164–190. https://doi.org/10.1108/MANM-03-2024-0022
[2] Alrowwad, A., Abualoush, S. H., & Masa’deh, R. (2020). Innovation and intellectual capital as intermediary variables among transformational leadership, transactional leadership, and organizational performance. Journal of Management Development, 39(2), 196–222. https://doi.org/10.1108/JMD-02-2019-0062
[3] Alwali, J., & Alwali, W. (2022). The relationship between emotional intelligence, transformational leadership, and performance: a test of the mediating role of job satisfaction. Leadership and Organization Development Journal, 43(6), 928–952. https://doi.org/10.1108/LODJ-10-2021-0486
[4] Badan Pusat Statistik. (2024). Statistik Indonesia 2024. https://www.bps.go.id/id/publication/2024/02/28/c1bacde03256343b2bf769b0/statistik-indonesia-2024.html
[5] Bhatti, S. H., Santoro, G., Khan, J., & Rizzato, F. (2021). Antecedents and consequences of business model innovation in the IT industry. Journal of Business Research, 123, 389–400. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.10.003
[6] Chourasia, A., & Bahuguna, P. C. (2024). Organizational performance as the dependent variable in strategic human resource management literature – a journey so far. Benchmarking. https://doi.org/10.1108/BIJ-11-2023-0778
[7] Dharma, R., Hady, H., Lusiana, Ridwan, M., & Mulyani, S. R. (2023). The Influence of Work Discipline and Organizational Culture on Employee Performance with Job Satisfaction as an Intervening Variable. International Journal of Social Science and Business, 7(3), 748–757. https://doi.org/10.23887/ijssb.v7i3.53743
[8] Figueiredo, M., Ferreira, J. J., & Vrontis, D. (2023). Perspectives on dynamic capabilities and ambidexterity in born-global companies: Theoretical framing, review and research agenda. Journal of International Management. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.intman.2023.101099
[9] Gagné, M., & Deci, E. L. (2005). Self-determination theory and work motivation. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 26(4), 331–362. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.322
[10] Hermanto, Y. B., Srimulyani, V. A., & Pitoyo, D. J. (2024). The mediating role of quality of work life and organizational commitment in the link between transformational leadership and organizational citizenship behavior. Heliyon, 10(6). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e27664
[11] Jean de Dieu, R., Marc Tiana, A., Mamy Alfa, R., & Marie Hervé, R. J. (2022). Relationship Between Perception of the Work Environment and Employee Performance. International Journal of Applied Science and Engineering Review, 03(01), 36–52. https://doi.org/10.52267/ijaser.2022.3103
[12] Kumala, F. (2023). The Influence of Job Demand and Work Environment on Employee Performance. Talent: Journal of Economics and Business, 1(01), 1–6. https://doi.org/10.59422/jeb.v1i01.187
[13] Kumari, J., & Kumar, J. (2023). Influence of motivation on teachers’ job performance. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 10(1). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-023-01662-6
[14] Latifah, I. N., Suhendra, A. A., & Mufidah, I. (2024). Factors affecting job satisfaction and employee performance: a case study in an Indonesian sharia property companies. International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, 73(3), 719–748. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJPPM-03-2021-0132
[15] Madzík, P., Soukup, P., Zimon, D., Droppa, M., Štichhauerová, E., Šírová, E., & Lysenko-Ryba, K. (2025). The impact of motivation and management system on individual and organizational performance. TQM Journal. https://doi.org/10.1108/TQM-01-2024-0022
[16] Melinda, M., & Ananda, D. F. (2023). Pengaruh Motivasi Kerja dan Faktor Lainnya terhadap Disiplin Kerja CV SBE. 3(3), 81–88. http://jurnaltsm.id/index.php/EJMTSM
[17] Nawawi, A., Rahman Pakaya, A., & Rahman, E. (2020). JAMBURA SCIENCE OF MANAGEMENT The Influence Of The Work Environment On Employee Work Motivation At PT. Loka Indah Lestari Pohuwato. Jsm, 2(1). http://ejurnal.ung.ac.id/index.php/jsm
[18] Purbasari, R. N., Thoyib, A., & Irawanto, D. W. (2022). The Mediating Role of Motivation and Its Relationship with Performance. 17. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7157349
[19] Rethina Bai, R., & Hemalatha, K. (2024). Effect of Employee Motivation on Work Performance - With Special Reference to Leading Firms in Chennai. ComFin Research, 12(3), 31–34. https://doi.org/10.34293/commerce.v12i3.7823
[20] Robbins, S. P., & Judge, T. (2022). Organizational Behavior 18th edition. Pearson.
[21] Suartina, I. W., & Sadhiarta, A. A. N. G. (2019). THE EFFECT OF WORK MOTIVATION ON EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE WITH ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENTS AS MODERATION VARIABLES AT PT. ASURANSI JIWASRAYA, DENPASAR. JOURNAL OF LIFE ECONOMICS, 6(3), 249–264. https://doi.org/10.15637/jlecon.6.015
[22] Sunaryo, W., Yusnita, N., Herfina, H., Wulandari, D., & Suhendra, S. (2023). The effects of digital transformational leadership, work environment and motivation on reinforcing job satisfaction: Evidence from vocational schools. International Journal of Data and Network Science, 7(2), 883–890. https://doi.org/10.5267/j.ijdns.2022.12.023
[23] Sutanto, E. M., Scheller-Sampson, J., & Mulyono, F. (2018). Organizational justice work environment and motivation. International Journal of Business and Society, 19(2), 313–322.
[24] Syarip, E., Juwaini, A., & Pasaribu, P. N. (2024). Analysis of Work Environment, Communication to Motivation, and its Impact on Employee Performance after the Covid-19 Pandemic in PT Givaudan Indonesia. International Journal of Information Engineering and Electronic Business, 16(2), 1–11. https://doi.org/10.5815/ijieeb.2024.02.01
[25] Syawaluddin, Erwin, & Joni. (2020). The effect of expertise on employee performance with work motivation as an intervening variable. Management and Entrepreneurship: Development Trends, 2(12), 36–47. https://doi.org/10.26661/2522-1566/2020-2/12-03
[26] Veasna, S., Chanveasna, U., Sovannara, K., Wu, W.-Y., & Ngounhort, H. (2024). A Cross-Level Analysis of Linking Transformational Leadership and Employee Creativity to Enhance Task Performance: The Mediating Effects of Person-Supervisor Fit and Psychological Empowerment. Journal of Human Resource and Sustainability Studies, 12(01), 132–171. https://doi.org/10.4236/jhrss.2024.121009
[27] Vrontis, D., El Chaarani, H., El Abiad, Z., El Nemar, S., & Yassine Haddad, A. (2022). Managerial innovative capabilities, competitive advantage and performance of the healthcare sector during the Covid-19 pandemic period. Foresight, 24(3–4), 504–526. https://doi.org/10.1108/FS-02-2021-0045
[28] Waworuntu, E. C., Kainde, S. J. R., & Mandagi, D. W. (2022). Work-Life Balance, Job Satisfaction and Performance Among Millennial and Gen Z Employees: A Systematic Review. Society, 10(2), 384–398. https://doi.org/10.33019/society.v10i2.464
[29] Widyanti, S., & Mahfudz, M. (2020). The effect of entrepreneurial orientation, use of information technology, and innovation capability on SMEs’ competitive advantage and performance: evidence from Indonesia. Diponegoro International Journal of Business, 3(2), 115–122. https://doi.org/10.14710/dijb.3.2.2020.115-122
Servant Leadership, Work Environment, Work Motivation, Employee Performance.