Purpose

This article aims to understand the underlying mechanisms through which transformational leadership influences employee job satisfaction and turnover intentions. Specifically, the study explores the mediation role of employee well-being on the relationships between leadership and both employee job satisfaction and turnover intentions.

Design/methodology/approach

Employing a quantitative research method, data were collected from 280 academics and professional staff from an Australian regional university. The Mplus software was used for data analysis.

Findings

The results showed that transformational leadership had significant positive impact on employee well-being and job satisfaction while it alleviated employee turnover intentions. Furthermore, employee well-being mediated the effect of transformational leadership on employee job satisfaction and turnover intentions.

Research limitations/implications

The research was cross-sectional, and data were collected from a convenient sample and therefore minimises our ability to generalise the findings to other contexts.

Practical implications

Effective leadership, employee well-being, job satisfaction and employee turnover are of strategic importance in the higher education sector in Australia and internationally. These findings will therefore provide a basis for university policy makers to craft relevant policies that promote effective leader behaviours and enhance employee well-being as they facilitate employee job satisfaction and minimise turnover intentions among higher education sector employees (i.e. academics and professional staff).

Originality/value

Our study provides a unique contribution to knowledge as it explains the mediation effect of employee well-being on the relation between transformational leadership a, job satisfaction and turnover intentions.