Enhancing employee job performance in a public service organisation: The influence of leadership style
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.33736/jcshd.8630.2025Keywords:
leadership styles, job performance, autocratic leadership, democratic leadership, public sectorAbstract
Although the impact of leadership styles on employee performance has been widely studied, there is limited research on how autocratic and democratic leadership styles specifically affect job performance in Malaysia's public service sector, particularly within Sarawak's public organisations. This study investigates the relationship between these leadership styles and job performance in a public organisation in Kuching, Sarawak. Using a quantitative descriptive-correlational design, the study employed a cross-sectional survey with an online questionnaire to assess the influence of autocratic and democratic leadership styles on employee performance. A total of 73 employees participated in the survey, and data were collected using a validated and reliable closed-ended questionnaire. The findings revealed a significant positive correlation between both leadership styles and job performance, with democratic leadership having a stronger impact. These results provide valuable insights for organisational leaders seeking to improve leadership practices and enhance workforce resilience. Future research could explore the dynamics of various leadership styles, integrate mixed methods approaches, and examine their long-term effects.
References
Agarwal, S. (2020). Leadership style and performance of employees. International Research Journal of Business Studies, 13(1), 1–14. https://doi.org/10.21632/irjbs.13.1.1-14
Ali, A. S. A., Elmi, H. O., & Mohamed, A. I. (2013). The effect of leadership behaviors on staff performance in Somalia. Educational Research International, 2(2), 197–210.
Alkaabi, M., Kudus, N., & Rahman, Z. A. (2022). A literature review on the impact of work environment, leadership styles and resilience on job performance in UAE. Journal of Pharmaceutical Negative Results, 13(6), 2332–2341. https://doi.org/10.47750/pnr.2022.13.s06.304
Amare, H. (2020). The effect of leadership styles on the employee performance: In case of army Foundation [Master’s thesis, Saint Mary’s University]. St. Mary’s University Institutional Repository. http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/5508
Ardana, P. D. H., Astariani, N. K., & Sudika, I. G. M. (2020). The influence of leadership style on employee performance in construction company. CRC Press.
Arshad, D., Ashraf, S., & Pervaiz, U. (2023). Impact of the democratic leadership style of project manager on project success: The mediating role of innovative work behavior. Administrative and Management Sciences Journal, 2(1), 65–75. https://doi.org/10.59365/amsj.2(1).2023.66
Biaka, F. H. (2020). Leadership styles and employee performance in Cameroon: The case of St. Veronica Medical Centre. Open Journal of Leadership, 9(4), 179–197. https://doi.org/10.4236/ojl.2020.94011
Burnes, B. (2019). The origins of Lewin’s Three-Step Model of change. The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 56(1), 32–59. https://doi.org/10.1177/0021886319892685
Çakır, F. S., & Adıgüzel, Z. (2020). Analysis of leader effectiveness in organisation and knowledge sharing behavior on employees and organisation. SAGE Open, 10(1). https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244020914634
Cherry, K. (2023, April 6). Is democratic leadership the best style of leadership? Verywell Mind. https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-democratic-leadership-2795315
Choi, S. (2007). Democratic leadership: The lessons of exemplary models for democratic governance. International Journal of Leadership Studies, 2(3), 243–262.
Chua, J., Basit, A., & Hassan, Z. (2018). Leadership style and its impact on employee performance. International Journal of Accounting and Business Management, 6(1), 80–94.
Chukwusa, J. (2018). Autocratic leadership style: Obstacle to success in academic libraries. Library Philosophy and Practice, 1. https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/autocratic-leadership-style-obstacle-success/docview/2164513224/se-2
Cobbinah, E., Ntarmah, A. H., Obeng, A. F., & Quansah, P. E. (2020). Organisational commitment and job performance: Examining the mediating and moderating roles of organisational citizenship behaviour and leadership styles. International Journal of Human Resource Studies, 10(4), 93–124. https://doi.org/10.5296/ijhrs.v10i4.17660
Costa, J., Pádua, M., & Moreira, A. C. (2023). Leadership styles and innovation management: What is the role of human capital? Administrative Sciences, 13(2), 47. https://doi.org/10.3390/admsci13020047
Cunningham, J., Salomone, J., & Wielgus, N. (2015). Project management leadership style: A team member perspective. International Journal of Global Business, 8, 27–54.
Dastane, O. (2020). Impact of leadership styles on employee performance: A moderating role of gender. Australian Journal of Business and Management Research, 5(12), 27–52.
Duressa, W. T., & Kidane, B. Z. (2024). The effects of leadership behaviours on departmental performance in Ethiopian public research universities. Review of Education, 12(2), e3474. https://doi.org/10.1002/rev3.3474
Dyczkowska, J., & Dyczkowski, T. (2018). Democratic or autocratic leadership style? Participative management and its links to rewarding strategies and job satisfaction in SMEs. Athens Journal of Business & Economics, 4(2), 193–218. https://doi.org/10.30958/ajbe.4.2.5
Fenta, B., Aboye, T., Genie, Y. D., Biyazin, T., & Yetwale, A. (2023). The effect of leadership style on midwives’ performance, Southwest, Ethiopia. Journal of Healthcare Leadership, 15, 31–41. https://doi.org/10.2147/jhl.s397907
Gbarage, M. B. (2020). Strategies for advancing good leadership in Nigeria universities. International Journal of Institutional Leadership, Policy and Management, 2(2), 230–245.
Hassnain, A. (2022). Impact of autocratic and democratic leadership styles on employees’ performance and motivation. Journal of Administrative and Business Studies, 8(3), 19–26. https://doi.org/10.20474/jabs-8.3.2
Hernandez, H. (2021). Testing for normality: What is the best method? ForsChem Research Reports, 6, 1–38. https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.13926.14406
İnce, F. (2018). The effect of democratic leadership on organisational cynicism: A study on public employees. Journal of Business Research-Turk, 10(2), 245–253. https://doi.org/10.20491/isarder.2018.428
Inderyas, S., Khattak, K., Raza, A. A., Hassan, Z., & Mohammad, A. N. (2015). The moderating role of power distance on the relationship between leadership styles and employees job performance on public health care sector of Pakistan. International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, 5(1), 1–8.
Kalambayi, J. L., Onojaefe, D., Kasse, S. N., & Tengeh, R. K. (2021). The influence of leadership styles on employee performance in construction firms. EUREKA: Social and Humanities, 5, 34–48. https://doi.org/10.21303/2504-5571.2021.002037
Karim, M. M., Amin, M. B., Ahmed, H., Hajdú, Z., & Popp, J. (2023). The influence of leadership styles on employee performance in telecom companies of Bangladesh. Problems and Perspectives in Management, 21(3), 671–681. https://doi.org/10.21511/ppm.21(3).2023.52
Karunakaran, R., & Temam, G, (2022). Effects of leadership styles on the performance and job satisfaction of employees in public sectors in Southern Ethiopia. African Journal of Economic and Business Research, 1(1), 35–47. https://journals.hu.edu.et/hu-journals/index.php/ajebr/article/view/395
Kılıçoğlu, D. Y. (2018). Understanding democratic and distributed leadership: How democratic leadership of school principals related to distributed leadership in schools? Educational Policy Analysis and Strategic Research, 13(3), 6–23. https://doi.org/10.29329/epasr.2018.150.1
Kokebu, Y. (2017). The effect of leadership styles on the employee performance: In case of Ethiopian agricultural investment land administration agency [Master’s thesis, Saint Mary’s University]. St. Mary’s University Institutional Repository. http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/4348
Krejcie, R. V., & Morgan, D. W. (1970). Determining sample size for research activities. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 30(3), 607–610. https://doi.org/10.1177/001316447003000308
Li, L., & Wang, S. (2018). The mediating effect of organisational commitment on leadership type and job performance. Journal of World Economic Research, 7(1), 14–20. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jwer.20180701.12
Madanchian, M., Hussein, N., Noordin, F., & Taherdoost, H. (2017). Leadership effectiveness measurement and its effect on organisation outcomes. Procedia Engineering, 181, 1043–1048. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.proeng.2017.02.505
Masresha, T. A. (2021). The effects of leadership style on employee performance: In the case of Bahir Dar Textile [Master’s thesis, Saint Mary’s University]. St. Mary’s University Institutional Repository. http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/6110
Nwaigwe, U. (2015). The influence of head librarians’ leadership styles on job satisfaction of librarians in tertiary institution libraries in Imo State, Nigeria. Open Access Library Journal, 2, e1572. http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/oalib.1101572
Olaniyan, O. S. (2017). Authentic leadership, psychological capital, and employees’ well-being. In M. Christensen, P. Saksvik, & M. Karanika-Murray (Eds.), The positive side of occupational health psychology (pp. 45–64). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-66781-2_5
Onesti, G. (2023). Exploring the impact of leadership styles, ethical behavior, and organizational identification on workers’ well-being. Administrative Sciences, 13(6), 149. https://doi.org/10.3390/admsci13060149
Osifo, S. J., & Lawal, B. (2018). Leadership styles and employee performance: Empirical evidence from selected banks in Edo State. Nigerian Academy of Management Journal, 14(2), 117–125.
Pizzolitto, E., Verna, I., & Venditti, M. (2023). Authoritarian leadership styles and performance: a systematic literature review and research agenda. Management Review Quarterly, 7, 841–871. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11301-022-00263-y
Sharma, B. (2016). A focus on reliability in developmental research through Cronbach’s Alpha among medical, dental and paramedical professionals. Asian Pacific Journal of Health Sciences, 3(4), 271–278. https://doi.org/10.21276/apjhs.2016.3.4.43
Shukla, R., & Sinha, A. K. (2022). Leadership style’s influence on employees performance in the workplace. International Journal of Research in Business Studies, 7(1), 53–64.
Simegnew, D. (2020). The impact of leadership style on employee performance: The case of EPUC. International Journal of Academic Multidisciplinary Research, 4(8), 49–69.
Sinurat, H., Sihombing, N. S., Sinaga, S., Gaol, J. L., & Sinurat, M. (2023). The effect of democratic leadership style, work status, compensation, and work environment on employee performance. International Journal of Advances in Social Sciences and Humanities, 2(1), 58–64. https://doi.org/10.56225/ijassh.v2i1.155
Sørlie, H. O., Hetland, J., Bakker, A. B., Espevik, R., & Olsen, O. K. (2022). Daily autonomy and job performance: Does person-organisation fit act as a key resource? Journal of Vocational Behavior, 133, 103691. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2022.103691
Srivastava, E., & Agarwal, N. R. (2017). A model of training effectiveness with employee performance as outcome – An empirical study of banking sector of Moradabad district. International Journal of Advanced Research, 5(7), 1699–1707. https://dx.doi.org/10.21474/IJAR01/4888
Tamimi, M., & Sopiah. (2022). The influence of leadership style on employee performance: A systematic literature review. International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Business Management, 1(2), 128–138. https://doi.org/10.54099/ijebm.v1i2.360
Uwandu, L. I. (2020). Influence of leadership styles on job performance of librarians in public university libraries in Imo state. Journal of Applied Information Science and Technology, 13(2), 208–216.
Vasilescu, M. (2019). Leadership styles and theories in an effective management activity. Annals - Economy Series, 4, 47–52
Veliu, L., Manxhari, M., Demiri, V., & Jahaj, L. (2017). The influence of leadership styles on employee’s performance. Journal of Management, 31(2), 59–69.
Wang, H., & Guan, B. (2018). The positive effect of authoritarian leadership on employee performance: The moderating role of power distance. Frontiers in Psychology, 9, 357. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00357
Wang, Q., Hou, H., & Li, Z. (2022). Participative leadership: A literature review and prospects for future research. Frontiers in Psychology, 13, 924357. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.924357
Wang, Z., Liu, Y., & Liu, S. (2019). Authoritarian leadership and task performance: The effects of leader-member exchange and dependence on leader. Frontiers of Business Research in China, 13, 19. https://doi.org/10.1186/s11782-019-0066-x
Yasar, M. F, & Chinelo, N.G. (2015). Effects of leadership styles on employee performance: A study of Georgia. Journal of Economics and Social Research, 2(3), 1–17.
Zeru, L. (2023). The effect of leadership style on employee performance: The case of China geo-engineering corporation groups in Addis Ababa [Master’s thesis, Saint Mary’s University]. St. Mary’s University Institutional Repository. http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/7560
Zhang, Y., & Xie, Y.-H. (2017). Authoritarian leadership and extra-role behaviors: A role-perception perspective. Management and Organization Review, 13(1), 147–166. https://doi.org/10.1017/mor.2016.36
Zirra, C. T. O., & Obumneke, E. (2017). Dynamics of leadership styles and the management of small businesses in Nigeria. IOSR Journal of Business and Management, 19(3), 116–125. https://doi.org/10.9790/487x-19030111612
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 UNIMAS Publisher
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Copyright Transfer Statement for Journal
1) In signing this statement, the author(s) grant UNIMAS Publisher an exclusive license to publish their original research papers. The author(s) also grant UNIMAS Publisher permission to reproduce, recreate, translate, extract or summarize, and to distribute and display in any forms, formats, and media. The author(s) can reuse their papers in their future printed work without first requiring permission from UNIMAS Publisher, provided that the author(s) acknowledge and reference publication in the Journal.
2) For open access articles, the author(s) agree that their articles published under UNIMAS Publisher are distributed under the terms of the CC-BY-NC-SA (Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License) which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, for non-commercial purposes, provided the original work of the author(s) is properly cited.
3) The author(s) is/are responsible to ensure his or her or their submitted work is original and does not infringe any existing copyright, trademark, patent, statutory right, or propriety right of others. Corresponding author(s) has (have) obtained permission from all co-authors prior to submission to the journal. Upon submission of the manuscript, the author(s) agree that no similar work has been or will be submitted or published elsewhere in any language. If submitted manuscript includes materials from others, the authors have obtained the permission from the copyright owners.
4) In signing this statement, the author(s) declare(s) that the researches in which they have conducted are in compliance with the current laws of the respective country and UNIMAS Journal Publication Ethics Policy. Any experimentation or research involving human or the use of animal samples must obtain approval from Human or Animal Ethics Committee in their respective institutions. The author(s) agree and understand that UNIMAS Publisher is not responsible for any compensational claims or failure caused by the author(s) in fulfilling the above-mentioned requirements. The author(s) must accept the responsibility for releasing their materials upon request by Chief Editor or UNIMAS Publisher.
5) The author(s) should have participated sufficiently in the work and ensured the appropriateness of the content of the article. The author(s) should also agree that he or she has no commercial attachments (e.g. patent or license arrangement, equity interest, consultancies, etc.) that might pose any conflict of interest with the submitted manuscript. The author(s) also agree to make any relevant materials and data available upon request by the editor or UNIMAS Publisher.
