Academic Administrator Leadership Styles and the Impact on Faculty Job Satisfaction

Abstract

This article examines the impact of three leadership styles as a predictor of job satisfaction in a state university system. The Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire was used to identify the leadership style of an administrator as perceived by faculty members. Spector's Job Satisfaction Survey was used to assess a faculty member's level of job satisfaction. The population consisted of 567 full-time faculty members, and 104 participants completed the survey. The results of logistic regression analysis revealed that (a) faculty members who identified transformational leadership as dominant had increased job satisfaction, (b) faculty members who identified transactional leadership as dominant had increased job satisfaction, and (c) faculty members who identified passive/avoidant leadership as dominant had decreased job satisfaction. Demographics did not appear to predict satisfaction. Using this model, academic leaders can take further action by refining their leadership styles on the basis of their faculty members' indicated preferences. The study results may contribute to social change at the departmental level by making academic administrators aware of effective leadership models that promote higher job satisfaction among faculty in universities.

Full-Range Leadership as a Predictor of Extra Effort in Online Higher Education: The Mediating Effect of Job Satisfaction

“…Perceived transformational leadership behaviors have demonstrated a positive relationship with employee performance (Thamrin, 2012), and enhancing the job satisfaction of university faculty in online for-profit and traditional public universities in the United States (Barnett, 2017;Bateh & Heyliger, 2014). Avolio and Bass (2004), in their modification of the FLRM, divided transformational leadership into five dimensions.…”

“…They are inactive, indifferent, uninfluential, inattentive, and absent when their presence is required by their followers (Bass, 1990). Laissez-faire leadership behaviors are still perceived in some managers (Bateh & Heyliger, 2014), but seldom observed in entire organizations (Bass, 1990).…”

Leadership and Job Satisfaction: Adjunct Faculty at a For-Profit University

“…Instead, leaders could use aspects of transactional and transformational leadership to effectively lead their followers. Recent research indicates a mixture of transactional and transformational leadership displays a positive predictive relationship with faculty job satisfaction (Bateh & Heyliger, 2014).…”

“…This study sought to discover if there was a correlation between the perceived use of Full-Range leadership behaviors by administrators in post-secondary education and the overall job satisfaction of adjunct faculty members who teach online classes at a for-profit university in the United States. Bateh and Heyliger (2014) observed that research should be conducted in the for-profit sector to determine if the job satisfaction of online adjuncts is effected by the bahaviors of administrative leadership because the problems and concerns of for-profit administrators are different than their colleagues in private or public universities. The absence of research on this demographic is significant because a university's faculty is a major contributor to the accomplishment of organizational goals (Machado-Taylor et al, 2016).…”

“…Despite this, little research examining the correlation between administrative leadership and job satisfaction in higher education has been performed (Alonderiene & Majauskaite, 2016;Kalargyrou, Pescosolido, & Kalagrios, 2012). This research was important because of the need for research on the effect of leadership behaviors on faculty in for-profit universities (Bateh & Heyliger, 2014).…”