PREDICTING THE INNOVATIVE WORK BEHAVIOR BY ASSESSING LEADERSHIP STYLES IN A HIGHER EDUCATIONAL CONTEXT

Purpose of Study: The present study aimed to examine the leadership styles (transformational & transactional) in predicting the innovative work behavior of the teacher in higher educational institutions. Leadership is important in the transformation of attitude and behavior of followers towards assigned responsibilities, however, which style is more effective in this transformation process in the main theme of the present study. Methodology: To achieve the desired objectives of the research, a quantitative approach was used wherein the cross-sectional design was followed by using the survey approach to attain the objectives as aligned with hypotheses. In this connection, relationships (association & cause-&-effect) among research variables were examined through statistical procedures by using SPSS. Main Findings: The results of the study revealed that both the leadership styles are effective in the transformation process however, the role of transformational leadership is more effective as compared to transactional leadership as revealed from the results of correlation (association) and regression (cause-& effect) procedures in the context under considerations in this research study. Applications of Study: The study is likely to be useful for the management of higher education institutions in revisiting their policies concerning the application of leadership development towards the followers. The study is also expected to be useful for future researchers in obtaining the practical guidelines from methods and procedures used in this study for their future endeavors. Novelty/Originality of Study: This study examined the leading and burning issues like (leadership styles and followers’ innovative behavior in a native environment to produce new findings and new knowledge about the relationships between the research phenomena to contribute to the existing database of knowledge.