Investigating the managerial leadership behaviour influence on job satisfaction and engagement of support employees in a higher education institution

Abstract

Previous studies have focused primarily on evaluating the job satisfaction and employee engagement of academic employees in higher education institutions (HEIs). However, the effective functioning of an HEI depends on the collaborative efforts of two distinct groups of employees: academic and support employees. Despite this dual contribution, there is a noticeable lack of research on job satisfaction and engagement of support employees, resulting in insufficient evidence in this domain. Ineffective management and leadership practices often lead to lower job satisfaction and employee engagement levels. The study explored the influence of managerial leadership behaviour on support employee job satisfaction and engagement in a higher education institution. After assessing the literature in Chapter 2, a quantitative research approach was used to determine the relationship between managerial leadership behaviour and job satisfaction and engagement of support employees in an HEI. The empirical study design yielded a total of 203 valid questionnaires. The questionnaire consisted of four sections: Section A collected demographic information from the respondents, Section B assessed the job satisfaction levels of support employees, Section C assessed the employee engagement levels, and Section D assessed the perception of support employees of their managers' leadership behaviour. Following an extensive empirical analysis performed in Chapter 3, a positive linear relationship was found between managerial leadership behaviour and both job satisfaction and engagement levels of support employees in HEIs.