Abstract
This study examines the relationships among work environment, transformational leadership, and work motivation among full-time trade union officials in Ho Chi Minh City, while also testing the moderating role of transformational leadership in the relationship between work environment and work motivation. Drawing on Social Exchange Theory, Transformational Leadership Theory, and the Job Demands–Resources model, the study develops and tests a model comprising three relationships: the effect of work environment on work motivation, the direct effect of transformational leadership on work motivation, and the interaction effect between work environment and transformational leadership. Data were collected through a survey of 350 full-time trade union officials affiliated with the Ho Chi Minh City Federation of Labor and analyzed using structural equation modeling. The results show that the work environment has a positive effect on work motivation (β = 0.35; p < 0.001), while transformational leadership also has a positive and statistically significant effect on work motivation (β = 0.29; p < 0.001). Notably, the interaction between work environment and transformational leadership is statistically significant (β = 0.15; p = 0.003), indicating that transformational leadership strengthens the positive effect of the work environment on work motivation. The findings highlight that enhancing the motivation of trade union officials depends not only on improving the work environment but also on developing transformational leadership capabilities that enable organizational resources to be used more effectively. The study adds empirical evidence on the role of transformational leadership in linking work-environment resources to employee motivation within trade union organizations in an emerging economy.