Transformational Leadership in the Public Sector Universities of Pakistan: Study of Public Sector Universities located in Islamabad and Rawalpindi

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which transformational leadership is exercised in the public sector universities of Pakistan. The public sector universities have been subjected to lots of criticism as their performances have been on a continuous decline despite considerable level of attention being given to them in recent years by the government. It has been observed that the teachers, who act as the corner stone in the performance of an educational institution, are less satisfied with their institutional leadership. This study aimed to identify gaps and specific areas of improvement in the leadership practices of these institutions. The Kouzes and Posner’s (2007) transformational theory lens has been deployed to conceptualize effective leadership practices that are modeling the way, inspiring the shared vision, challenging the processes, enabling others to act and encouraging the heart. The leadership practices inventory, designed by James Kouzes and Bary Posner (2007), has been used to measure these transformational leadership practices of the top management and faculty heads of the public sector universities. A cross sectional survey research design has been selected for this study and data from two hundred teachers of three public sector universities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi has been collected. The results from 148 usable survey instruments revealed that transformational leadership practices are exercised at a below average frequency in these universities. It was also found that universities, ranked higher by the higher Education Commission (HEC) in terms of quality and performances, have reported a greater frequency of transformational leadership practices.