Influence of Leadership Approach on Employee Empowerment: A Study of Selected Small-Scale Businesses in Nigeria

Noah Adewale Salami,Olajide Idowu Okunbanjo,Wasiu Olusegun Kehinde

doi:10.18639/merj.2016.02.293919

Abstract

Leadership determines the attitude of employees toward discharging the responsibilities in organizations. There have been few studies on leadership as it influences employee empowerment. Thus, the broad objective of this paper is to examine the relationship between leadership approach and employee empowerment in small businesses in Lagos State. The study administered 400 questionnaires to the employees of Small businesses in Lagos state; 377 were returned, but 372 were found usable. Pearson correlation matrix was employed to test the significant relationship between leadership approach and employee empowerment. The findings revealed that directive leadership approach significantly shows the positive relationship with employee training and delegation of authority to employees, and also participative leadership approach is insignificant and indicates the negative relationship with the delegation of authority at 5% significant level. Thus, this study recommends that owners or entrepreneurs of small businesses should adopt directive leadership approach due to the fact that it is significantly related to delegation of authority and training, unlike participative leadership. Also, employers of employees in small businesses in Nigeria should let their employee know the importance of following instructions given to them to complete the task assigned to them, and also owners of small businesses should entertain employees’ suggestions and ideas in order to be able to state well-defined business policy(ies) and instructions to be followed.

Highlights

The role of leadership style in management improvement and employee empowerment is undeniable (Karnama and Sheikhpour, 2015)
This study examines the relationship between leadership style and employee empowerment of small-business owners in Lagos State, Nigeria
Based on the above findings, directive-leadership approach is significantly related to employee training and delegation of authority to employees in small businesses in Nigeria

Summary

Introduction

The role of leadership style in management improvement and employee empowerment is undeniable (Karnama and Sheikhpour, 2015). One of the qualities of a good leader is the ability to influence and control his followers toward achieving desired goals and objectives in an organization. The leadership approach that a leader or manager employs in directing and controlling the resources in the organization is of great importance in achieving the stated goals and objectives at the short and long run. Employees who are the life blood of any organization need to be managed or lead in a way that will make them work effectively. If the leadership approach in an organization is defective or does not see employee empowerment as an important and necessary thing to be done in these modern days of business activities, the performance of the employee will be below expectation

Objectives

Methods

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Conclusion