Leadership, Culture, and Change: A Strategic Triangle in Sri Lankan Banking

The present study discusses the mediating role of organizational culture in the relationship between transformational leadership and change management within Sri Lanka's state banking sector. The study was empirically tested through a survey of 170 branch managers from a major state commercial bank. The results of this study revealed that the significant direct relationships between transformational leadership with organizational culture and change management has a major impact on growth and benefits of organizations and society. More importantly, there is no mediating effect of organizational culture on the relationship between transformational leadership and change management.  These findings can be considered important, as they contribute to both theory and practice by extending our understanding of transformational leadership's role in driving organizational change within emerging markets, highlighting the complex dynamics between leadership styles and organizational culture in the banking sector. This will shed light on the banking sector in the South Asian context from a different perspective. The results have important implications for the banking sector, including employees and policymakers, particularly in the training and development of leadership programs and implementing change management initiatives in financial institutions.