THE ROLE OF PERSONALITY AS A MEDIATOR IN THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LEADER-MEMBER EXCHANGE AND JOB PERFORMANCE

Academic staffs are the main asset to Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) since education is the institution's core business. The ability of academic staff to meet the goals set by the HEIs is of utmost importance. They must possess strong competencies and excellent personality to improve their performance and achieve the desired target. Although the effect of organizational and individual factors has been verified in previous studies, it remains unclear what underlying mechanisms explain the relationship. This study examined the role of personality as a mediator in the relationship between leader-member exchange (LMX) and job performance. This research used a quantitative method with a total sample of 260 academic staff in private HEIs, which were analyzed using the SEM Amos software. The findings showed that LMX and job performance (beta= -0.26) and LMX and personality (beta= 0.42) were significantly related, and academic staff personality was found to have the most substantial effect on job performance (beta= 1.07). The result also indicated that personality partially mediates the relationship between LMX and job performance. The study's findings propose that the management of HEIs can improve the organizational factors through the proper implementation of LMX, which will nurture individual factors' effectiveness and improve academic staff job performance.