Background: Over time, the public sector has widely recognised the role of leadership as a crucial element of successful management. The public sector, including educational institutions, encounters difficulties in enhancing employee motivation and satisfaction due to the absence of an established and efficient leadership style. Studies indicate that the leadership style demonstrated by a manager has a crucial role in positively impacting the motivation and satisfaction of employees. Purpose/Aim: The study investigated the impact of transformational leadership on staff motivation and job satisfaction at the University of Ibadan. Method: A cross-sectional survey research design was adopted, and data was gathered from 231 non-academic and administrative staff at the University of Ibadan. Standardised scales of measurements on transformational leadership, motivation, and employee satisfaction were adapted in the study. More than 43.3% of the respondents were between 31 and 40 years old. Results: Findings revealed that there exists a significant relationship between job satisfaction and transformational leadership (r = 0.56; p ＜ 0.01). Also, there exists a significant relationship between motivation and transformational leadership (r = 0.56; p ＜ 0.01). Conclusions: Based on the findings, it was concluded that transformational leadership is vital to the overall satisfaction and motivation of non-academic staff. It was therefore recommended that university management make it a point of duty to organise leadership training for their executive and administrative heads. The emphasis should be laid on developing skills that align with being a transformational leader.
Cite this paper
Adedayo, O. and Fashola, T. M. (2024). Role of Transformational Leadership on Employee Motivation and Satisfaction of Non-Academic Staff of a Selected Nigerian Public University. Open Access Library Journal, 11, e1796. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/oalib.1111796.
Andersen, L.B., Heinesen, E. and Pedersen, L.H. (2014) How Does Public Service Motivation among Teachers Affect Student Performance in Schools? Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 24, 651-671. https://doi.org/10.1093/jopart/mut082
Bellé, N. (2013) Leading to Make a Difference: A Field Experiment on the Performance Effects of Transformational Leadership, Perceived Social Impact, and Public Service Motivation. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 24, 109-136. https://doi.org/10.1093/jopart/mut033
Jensen, U.T., Andersen, L.B. and Ja-cobsen, C.B. (2018) Only When We Agree! How Value Congruence Moderates the Impact of Goal‐Oriented Leadership on Public Service Motivation. Public Ad-ministration Review, 79, 12-24. https://doi.org/10.1111/puar.13008
Van Wart, M. (2013) Lessons from Leadership Theory and the Contemporary Challenges of Leaders. Public Administration Review, 73, 553-565. https://doi.org/10.1111/puar.12069
Sun, R. and Henderson, A.C. (2016) Transformational Leadership and Organizational Processes: Influencing Public Performance. Public Administration Review, 77, 554-565. https://doi.org/10.1111/puar.12654
Andersen, L.B., Bjørnholt, B., Bro, L.L. and Holm-Petersen, C. (2016) Leadership and Motivation: A Qualitative Study of Transformational Leadership and Public Service Motivation. International Review of Administrative Sciences, 84, 675-691. https://doi.org/10.1177/0020852316654747
Vandenabeele, W., Andersen, L.B. and Leisink, P. (2013) Leadership in the Public Sector. Review of Public Per-sonnel Administration, 34, 79-83. https://doi.org/10.1177/0734371x13511160
Awada, N. (2019) The Effect of Employee Happiness on Performance of Employees in Public Organization in United Arab Emirates. Journal of Administrative and Business Studies, 5, 260-268. https://doi.org/10.20474/jabs-5.5.1
Saif, S., Nawaz, A. and Jan, F. (2012) Predicting Job-Satisfaction among the Academicians of Universities in Kpk, Paki-stan. Industrial Engineering Letters, 2, 34-45.
Fashola, T.M. and Row-land-Aturu, A. (2023) COVID-19 Pandemic and Employee Job Satisfaction: Case Study of Mental Healthcare Frontliners. International Journal of Economics, Commerce & Management, 11, 256-268.
Yoon, D. (2020) The Job Satisfac-tion Level Analysis for the Research Environment and the Research Production. Cogent Business & Management, 7, Article 1818364. https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2020.1818364
Hauff, S., Richter, N.F. and Tressin, T. (2015) Situational Job Characteristics and Job Satisfaction: The Moder-ating Role of National Culture. International Business Review, 24, 710-723. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ibusrev.2015.01.003
Jalagat, R. and Aquino, P. (2021) Common Perceived Predictors of Job Satisfaction among Filipino Workers in Vietnam. Management Research and Practice, 13, 58-68.
Meirinhos, G., Cardoso, A., Neves, M., Silva, R. and Rêgo, R. (2023) Leadership Styles, Motivation, Communication and Reward Systems in Business Performance. Journal of Risk and Financial Management, 16, Article 70. https://doi.org/10.3390/jrfm16020070
Memon, A.H., Khahro, S.H., Memon, N.A., Memon, Z.A. and Mustafa, A. (2023) Rela-tionship between Job Satisfaction and Employee Performance in the Construction Industry of Pakistan. Sustainability, 15, Article 8699. https://doi.org/10.3390/su15118699
Shahzad, K., Khan, S.A., Iqbal, A. and Shabbir, O. (2023) Effects of Motivational and Behavioral Factors on Job Produc-tivity: An Empirical Investigation from Academic Librarians in Pakistan. Behavioral Sciences, 13, Article 41. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs13010041
Cheng, J., Li, K. and Cao, T. (2023) How Transformational Leaders Promote Employees’ Feed-back-Seeking Behaviors: The Role of Intrinsic Motivation and Its Boundary Con-ditions. Sustainability, 15, Article 15713. https://doi.org/10.3390/su152215713
Vinh, N.Q., Hien, L.M. and Do, Q.H. (2022) The Relationship between Transformation Leadership, Job Satisfaction and Employee Motivation in the Tourism Industry. Administrative Sciences, 12, Article 161. https://doi.org/10.3390/admsci12040161
Kim, J., Yang, J. and Lee, Y. (2023) The Impact of Transformational Leadership on Service Employees in the Hotel Industry. Behavioral Sciences, 13, Article 731. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs13090731
Karimi, S., Ahmadi Malek, F., Yaghoubi Farani, A. and Liobikienė, G. (2023) The Role of Transformational Leadership in Developing Innovative Work Behaviors: The Mediating Role of Employees’ Psy-chological Capital. Sustainability, 15, Article 1267. https://doi.org/10.3390/su15021267
Chen, C., Ding, X. and Li, J. (2021) Transformational Leadership and Employee Job Satisfaction: The Mediating Role of Employee Relations Climate and the Moderating Role of Subordinate Gender. In-ternational Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19, Article 233. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19010233
Abolnasser, M.S.A., Abdou, A.H., Hassan, T.H. and Salem, A.E. (2023) Transformational Leadership, Employee Engagement, Job Satisfaction, and Psychological Well-Being among Hotel Em-ployees after the Height of the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Serial Mediation Model. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 20, Article 3609. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20043609
Kılıç, M. and Uludağ, O. (2021) The Effects of Transformational Leadership on Organizational Performance: Testing the Mediating Effects of Knowledge Management. Sustainability, 13, Article 7981. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13147981
Panagopoulos, N., Karamanis, K. and Anastasiou, S. (2023) Exploring the Impact of Different Leadership Styles on Job Satisfaction among Primary School Teachers in the Achaia Region, Greece. Education Sciences, 14, Article 45. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci14010045
Dobre, I., Davidescu, A.A. and Issa Eid, M.T. (2017) Key Factors of Health Employee Mo-tivation in Jordan: Evidence from Dual-Factor Theory Based on Structural Equation Models. Economic Computation and Economic Cybernetics Studies and Research, 51, 39-54.
Nanjundeswaraswamy, T.S. (2019) Development and Validation of Job Satisfaction Scale for Different Sectors. International Journal for Quality Research, 13, 193-220. https://doi.org/10.24874/ijqr13.01-12
Nawab, S., Ahmad, J. and Shafi, K. (2011) An Analysis of Differences in Work Motivation between Public and Private Sector Organizations. Interdisciplinary Journal of Contemporary Research in Business, 2, 110-127.
Li, C. and Shi, K. (2008) The Structure and Measurement of Transformational Leadership in China. Frontiers of Business Research in China, 2, 571-590. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11782-008-0032-5
Choi, S.L., Goh, C.F., Adam, M.B.H. and Tan, O.K. (2016) Transformational Leadership, Empowerment, and Job Satisfaction: The Mediating Role of Employee Empowerment. Human Resources for Health, 14, Article No. 73. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12960-016-0171-2
Xu, X., Zhou, L., Am-pon-Wireko, S. and Quansah, P.E. (2023) Assessing the Mediating Role of Moti-vation in the Relationship between Perceived Management Support and Perceived Job Satisfaction among Family Doctors in Jiangsu Province, China. Human Re-sources for Health, 21, Article No. 71. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12960-023-00849-x
Tian, H., Iqbal, S., Akhtar, S., Qalati, S.A., Anwar, F. and Khan, M.A.S. (2020) The Impact of Transformational Leadership on Employee Retention: Mediation and Moderation through Organiza-tional Citizenship Behavior and Communication. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, Ar-ticle 314. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00314
