Dr Emeka Samuel Nnaji, Dr Effiom Eyo Ekpo & Dr Deborah Bombum Onabe
Abstract
The study adopted survey design to investigate leadership style of departmental heads and job performance of academic staff in universities in Enugu and Anambra states. A sample of 220 academic staff was drawn from a population of all the 1,416 academic staff in Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT) and Anambra State University (ANSU). Two instruments titled Heads of Departments Leadership Style Questionnaire and Academic Staff Performance Questionnaire (ASPQ) were used for data collection. The instruments were validated by two experts in Measurement and Evaluation and reliability of the instruments was established using the split half method. The reliability coefficients ranged from 0.79 to 0.94, and 0.80 to 0.96 for HDLSQ and ASPQ respectively. Data collected were analyzed using one-way analysis of variance and independent t-test statistics. The results revealed, among others, that leadership style of departmental heads has significant influence on academic staff job performance in terms of lesson presentation, academic advising, classroom management and students’ evaluation. Based on the results, it was recommended among others that Heads of departments should carry out their roles not for fault findings but in a manner that elicits job motivation and satisfaction among the academic staff.