Impact of Leadership Behaviour on Job Satisfaction in Nigerian Public and Private Universities

Abstract

Many studies on leadership seem to centre on the character and conduct of the topmost managers rather than the interactive influence process of winning support across a wider range of organisational members. This study investigated the leadership behaviour of a wider range of employees in the Nigerian private and public universities and the attendant impact on job satisfaction. It adopted the exploratory survey design and the quantitative method. The field studies involved over four hundred employees drawn from two public and four private universities in Nigeria. Sampling was based on convenience and respondents were asked to complete a hand administered multi-factor questionnaire on leadership behaviours and job satisfaction. 

Through factor analysis of the leadership behaviour scales, five behavioural dimensions were identified namely selfless, freelance, partnering, disciplinary and dominating. Independent samples and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) tests revealed significant differences in the adoption of the five empirical models of leadership behaviour between the public and private universities. Specifically, the public universities scored highly on selfless behaviour, partnering behaviour and disciplinary behaviour, whilst in contrast, the private universities got significantly higher mean score on only the dominating behaviour. Next,  multiple regression tests showed that the partnering and disciplinary behaviour had a wide range of positive effects on job satisfaction- both affective and cognitive, whereas the freelance behaviour and the dominating behaviour had no positive effects.

In the light of the results, public universities were advised to do away with freelance tendencies (laissez faire) just as the private universities were urged to be less dominating (autocratic) as a means of  boosting job satisfaction. The study would encourage more exploratory and causal-comparative studies of leadership behaviours. As developers of people, universities required effective leadership for enhanced job satisfaction.