The Impact of Gender Leadership Using Transformational Leadership Style in Higher Education

Organizational leadership is a driving force that creates a culture that has a lasting impact on the organization's performance and employee morale. Leadership is pragmatically linked to innovation adoption and implementation at a team level, as managers oversee the strategic decisions and policymaking, control resources, and moderate the scanning and searching of the environment. The purpose of this quantitative, non-experimental research design study was to compare gender leadership styles and characteristics in higher education: measuring the effects of those leadership styles on student perceptions. The participants were full and part-time undergraduate and graduate students currently enrolled in a higher education institution. Each gender leadership style influences followers differently. Various leadership tasks can be run by different people who influence what and how groups do things, as well as how group members relate to one another. A closed structured five-point Likert-type scaling instrument was created based upon the work in transformational leadership, of Burns (1978) and Bass [1]. The instrument went through a three-phase validation process for reliability and validity, using the Cronbach’s alpha (
) statistical technique.

The study results showed a statistically significant degree of transformational leadership reflected in female and male leaders within the university by study participants, with the response effect manifesting at a slightly higher level for female leaders (t (77) = 16.59; p < .001) verse male leaders (t (50) = 12.17; p < .001). Study results also showed no statistically significant difference in participant perceptions of transformational leadership by leader gender. The study insight can help educational leaders understand the importance of transformational leadership style and how paramount it is to the success of the institution and student population and engagement. These findings also hone into the importance of leadership development to ensure that leaders are following and implementing current trends that enhance the overall university’s success.