PROF. DR. ARSHAD, DR.PARVEEN KHAN, SHAMAILA KHALIL, UMAIR AHMAD, SHABAZ JEHANGIR, SHAHID IQBAL
DOI: https://doi.org/This study explores how the leadership styles of Heads of Departments (HODs) influence teachers’ job performance in public and private universities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, highlighting the vital role HODs play in shaping effective educational environments. It compares how these leadership approaches affect teachers’ motivation and performance across the two sectors. The research adopted a quantitative approach, focusing on 113 HODs and 995 teaching staff from four universities in District Peshawar. Using proportionate stratified random sampling, a sample of 88 HODs and 278 teachers was selected. Leadership styles were measured with the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire by Bass and Avolio (1995), and teachers’ job performance was evaluated using a custom-designed questionnaire. Data analysis was conducted using statistical software. The findings reveal that transformational, transactional, and laissez-faire leadership styles have no significant impact on teachers’ job performance in either public or private universities. In public universities, all three styles showed very weak negative connections to performance, suggesting that bureaucratic structures or limited resources may overshadow leadership influence. In private universities, transformational and transactional styles had weak negative connections, while laissez-faire leadership showed a slight positive but insignificant link, indicating that teacher autonomy or market-driven factors may be more influential. These results challenge the assumption that leadership styles are central to teacher effectiveness, pointing instead to the importance of institutional support, professional development, and addressing regional challenges such as funding shortages and cultural factors. To enhance teacher performance, universities and policymakers are recommended to create a supportive environment by improving resources, offering tailored professional development, encouraging teacher autonomy, fostering a collaborative work culture, and tackling regional issues, while promoting further research into the socio-cultural and institutional factors that drive teacher success in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s universities.
