Leadership effectiveness of heads of departments in state universities in Turkey from the perspective of leadership roles

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to investigate leadership effectiveness of leaders in state universities in Turkey from the perspective of leadership roles used to lead internal and external worlds of state universities, and the thesis defines leadership effectiveness as the utilization of multi roles to balance internal and external worlds of state universities in Turkey. There is not a lot of research in higher education regarding leadership roles and their correlations to leadership effectiveness, thus this study seeks to gain an understanding of leadership roles commonly applied by heads of departments, relationships between leadership roles and leadership effectiveness and predictors of leadership effectiveness. The population was drawn from seventy faculty members at one social science based faculty which consists of three departments at a state university in Turkey. Leadership effectiveness data was obtained using The Competing Values Managerial Behavior Instrument which was adapted for use with this sample and referred to in this study as the Leadership Effectiveness Survey. Leadership roles were correlated to leadership effectiveness. Pearson correlation was used to examine relationships among leadership roles. The leadership roles positively correlated to each other. It was further used to analyze relationships between leadership roles and leadership effectiveness. Leadership roles positively correlated to leadership effectiveness. Multiple regression was conducted to determine whether leadership roles and gender were good predictors of leadership effectiveness. Leadership roles and gender were found to be good predictors of leadership effectiveness, and the most significant predictor of leadership effectiveness was the create leadership function which included motivator, visionary, and innovator leadership roles.