From Organizational and Individual Resources to Brand Partner Performance: The Mediating Role of Work Compe-tence in Social Selling

David Tandri (Institut Bisnis Informasi Teknologi dan Bisnis)
Nikous Soter Sihombing (Institut Bisnis Informasi Teknologi dan Bisnis)
Sahat Simbolon (Institut Bisnis Informasi Teknologi dan Bisnis)
Elyzabeth Wijaya (Institut Bisnis Informasi Teknologi dan Bisnis)

Journal of Business Integration Competitive
Vol. 3 No. 1 (2026): Journal of Business Integration Competitive

This study examines the effects of transformational leadership, the work environment, and motivation on Brand Partner performance, both directly and indirectly through work competence as a mediating variable, among Brand Partners of PT Orindo Alam Ayu (Oriflame) in the Medan area. A quantitative approach with a cross-sectional explanatory survey design was employed. From a population of 250 active Brand Partners, 150 respondents were selected using purposive sampling. Data were collected through a Likert-scale questionnaire and analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) with 10,000 bootstrap subsamples. Based on the adjusted R² values, the model explained 33.0% of the variance in work competence and 44.7% of the variance in Brand Partner performance. The results revealed that transformational leadership (β = 0.257; t = 4.369; p < 0.001), the work environment (β = 0.201; t = 3.323; p = 0.001), and motivation (β = 0.342; t = 5.012; p < 0.001) had positive and significant effects on Brand Partner performance. These three predictors also had positive and significant effects on work competence, with coefficients of β = 0.170 (t = 2.407; p = 0.016), β = 0.235 (t = 3.485; p < 0.001), and β = 0.402 (t = 6.111; p < 0.001), respectively. Work competence, in turn, had a positive and significant effect on Brand Partner performance (β = 0.171; t = 2.174; p < 0.001). The mediation analysis further demonstrated that work competence significantly mediated the effects of transformational leadership (β = 0.029; t = 2.448; p < 0.001), the work environment (β = 0.040; t = 2.811; p < 0.001), and motivation (β = 0.069; t = 2.897; p < 0.001) on Brand Partner performance. As both the direct and indirect effects remained positive and significant, work competence exhibited complementary partial mediation across all three relationships. Motivation emerged as the strongest predictor of both work competence and Brand Partner performance, highlighting the importance of strengthening motivation alongside competency development to enhance Brand Partner performance.