Exploring the Impact of Organizational Culture on Leadership Style in Higher Educational Institutions

The purpose of this study is to investigate how organizational culture affects leadership attitudes in public organizations. The research uses Hofstede's cultural dimensions theory and the social exchange theory to analyze the phenomenon. Eight interviews with senior academic staff members at a public institution were conducted as part of a qualitative methodology. The results show that organizational culture is shaped by values like hierarchy, patriarchy, subservience, and interdependence. This, in turn, affects the leadership style that university administrators choose to employ. The study concludes that positional and structured exchanges, relational methods, paternalism, and gendered leadership tactics are the mainstays of university leadership in this setting. By identifying leadership ideologies distinct from those in other countries, the study offers insightful information about cultural hegemony, even though the small qualitative sample restricts the findings' generalizability. The findings fill a knowledge vacuum on the impact of corporate culture on leadership behaviours, an area where public sector research is scarce. More specifically, the research improves our knowledge of the cultural elements affecting leadership styles in universities.