ONLINE GAMING, TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP, AND EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE AMONG MILLENNIALS AND GENERATION Z
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.22437/jbsmr.v9i2.57680Keywords:
Online Game Usage, Transformational leadership, Employee PerformanceAbstract
This study examines the effects of Online Game Usage and Transformational Leadership on Employee Performance and investigates the moderating role of Transformational Leadership. The research involved Millennial and Generation Z employees at PT PLN (Persero) UP3 Jambi. Data were collected through a structured questionnaire and analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling with SmartPLS. The findings show that Online Game Usage has a positive and significant effect on Employee Performance, indicating that controlled gaming undertaken at appropriate times may coexist with effective work performance. Transformational Leadership also has a positive and significant effect on Employee Performance by strengthening employee motivation, encouraging new ideas, and supporting individual development. However, Transformational Leadership does not significantly moderate the relationship between Online Game Usage and Employee Performance. This indicates that leadership contributes directly to performance, whereas the consequences of online gaming are primarily determined by employees’ timing, motivation, and personal control. The study highlights the importance of strengthening transformational leadership practices while encouraging responsible digital behavior among employees.
Keywords: Online Game Usage, Transformational Leadership, Employee Performance, Millennials, Generation Z
References
Buil, I., Martínez, E., & Matute, J. (2019). Transformational leadership and employee performance: The role of identification, engagement and proactive personality. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 77, 64–75. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2018.06.014
Chong, Y. K., & Zainal, S. R. (2024). Employee agility’s mediating role on the link between employee vitality, digital literacy and transformational leadership with job performance: An empirical study. Cogent Business & Management, 11(1), 2337447. https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2024.2337447
Díaz-Fúnez, P. A., Salvador-Ferrer, C. M., García-Tortosa, N., & Mañas-Rodríguez, M. A. (2021). Are job demands necessary in the influence of a transformational leader? The moderating effect of role conflict. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(7), 3630. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18073630
Haryanto, B., Suprapti, A. R., Taufik, A., & Fenitra, R. M. (2022). Moderating role of transformational leadership in the relationship between work conflict and employee performance. Cogent Business & Management, 9(1), 2105578. https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2022.2105578
Jiatong, W., Wang, Z., Alam, M., Murad, M., Gul, F., & Gill, S. A. (2022). The impact of transformational leadership on affective organizational commitment and job performance: The mediating role of employee engagement. Frontiers in Psychology, 13, 831060. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.831060
Koçak, Ö. E., Gorgievski, M., & Bakker, A. B. (2024). Recovery from work by playing video games. Applied Psychology, 73(3), 1331–1360. https://doi.org/10.1111/apps.12519
Lai, F.-Y., Tang, H.-H., Lu, S.-C., Lee, Y.-C., & Lin, C.-C. (2020). Transformational leadership and job performance: The mediating role of work engagement. SAGE Open, 10(1), 2158244019899085. https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244019899085
Li, Y., Tang, Y., Huang, S., Tan, L., Huang, Q., Chen, X., Lin, S., Hao, J., Liao, Z., & Shen, H. (2023). Role of gaming devices associated with internet gaming disorder in China: Cross-sectional study. JMIR Serious Games, 11, e40130. https://doi.org/10.2196/40130
Nielsen, M. B., Gjerstad, J., & Einarsen, S. V. (2023). The moderating role of transformational leadership in the relationships between job demands and turnover intentions. Scandinavian Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 8(1), 1–17. https://doi.org/10.16993/sjwow.312
Park, J., Han, S. J., Kim, J., & Kim, W. (2022). Structural relationships among transformational leadership, affective organizational commitment, and job performance: The mediating role of employee engagement. European Journal of Training and Development, 46(9), 920–936.
Platania, S., Morando, M., Gruttadauria, S. V., & Koopmans, L. (2024). The Individual Work Performance Questionnaire: Psychometric properties of the Italian version. European Journal of Investigation in Health, Psychology and Education, 14(1), 49–63. https://doi.org/10.3390/ejihpe14010004
Siste, K., Hanafi, E., Sen, L. T., Damayanti, R., Beatrice, E., & Ismail, R. I. (2022). Psychometric properties of the Indonesian Ten-item Internet Gaming Disorder Test and a latent class analysis of gamer population among youths. PLOS ONE, 17(6), e0269528. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0269528
Walia, B., Kim, J., Ijere, I., & Sanders, S. (2022). Video game addictive symptom level, use intensity, and hedonic experience: Cross-sectional questionnaire study. JMIR Serious Games, 10(2), e33661. https://doi.org/10.2196/33661
Zhu, S., Zhuang, Y., Lee, P., Li, J. C.-M., & Wong, P. W. C. (2021). Leisure and problem gaming behaviors among children and adolescents during school closures caused by COVID-19 in Hong Kong: Quantitative cross-sectional survey study. JMIR Serious Games, 9(2), e26808. https://doi.org/10.2196/26808
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Zera Fitrizon, Zulfina Adriani, Tona Aurora Lubis
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
.png)
