English abstract
The current study investigates the effect of leadership styles, dominant in
higher education institutions in North A’Sharqiyah Governorate, on the career
satisfaction. The study also explores the dominant leadership styles adopted
by leaders of these institutions and career satisfaction of employees. In the
present study, descriptive analytical methodology was used as it was the
suitable method for the subject at hand. In carrying out the study, the
researcher used both the questionnaire, as a tool for collecting information,
and data resulted from two fields. The first field was exploring the prevailing
leadership styles of the higher education institutions’ leaders in North
A’Sharqiyah Governorate; democratic, autocratic and hands-off leadership.
The second field was gauging career satisfaction of the employees in these
institutions. The questionnaire was distributed to the study subjects which were
(651) individuals. The number of respondents was (233) with a completion
rate of (35.8%) of the surveyed group. Several findings have resulted from
the study; most importantly that there is a relationship of statistical significance
between leadership styles of the leaders in higher education institutions in
North A’Sharqiyah Governorate and the employees’ career satisfaction in
these institutions. The study found that the democratic leadership was the
dominant style followed by the autocratic and hands-off style. Moreover, the
study pointed out that the level of career satisfaction was high, according to
the study respondents. Therefore, the study offered a number of
recommendations; (1) the importance of adopting the democratic leadership
style and practising all its aspects including participation of employees in
decision-making, delegation of authority and building positive human
relationship with them, (2) seeking to increase the level of career satisfaction
by adopting the most appropriate methods to maximize it among employees
and listening to their viewpoints, (3) providing training for employees to adopt
democratic leadership style when they take up leadership positions, and (4)
spreading knowledge and raising awareness about the importance of
democratic leadership style and the positive impact that style has on both the
organization and subordinates.
Key words: leadership styles, career satisfaction, higher education institutions
in North A’Sharqiyah Governorate.
