Leadership style as a predictor of employee commitment in university libraries in South-West, Nigeria

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of leadership style (LS) on employee commitment (EC) in university libraries in South-West, Nigeria. Design/methodology/approach The study adopted a survey research design. The population of the study consisted of 684 librarians from 43 universities in the six states of South-West, Nigeria. A validated questionnaire was used for data collection. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Findings Findings showed that the level of EC in university libraries in South-West, Nigeria was fairly high ( M =2.64 on a four-point scale). LS had a significant influence on EC in university libraries in South-West, Nigeria ( β =0.245, R 2 =0.276, p <0.05). However, transformational LS ( β =0.383, p <0.05) relatively contributed more to EC than transactional LS ( β =0.183, p <0.05). Research limitations/implications A limitation of the study was that the study was done in all the university libraries in South-Western region of Nigeria which may affect the inference of the study results to other university libraries outside this region. Practical implications The findings of the study will be of benefit to academic institutions, library management and librarians on planning and decision making regarding personnel management. Originality/value The study therefore recommends that administrators, library managers should adopt transformational LS.