The moderating role of academic position in the relationship between leadership skills and workplace engagement of academic staff

This study investigated the moderating role of academic position on leadership skills and workplace engagement among Ethiopian public universities. The study employed an explanatory sequential mixed-methods design. Data were collected from four public universities and 488 academic staff members. In addition, 18 academic leaders and staff members were purposefully sampled for qualitative interviewing. The multigroup analysis showed that leadership skills were statistically and positively associated with both groups: teachers without leadership positions (β = 0.491, p < .001) and teachers with leadership positions (β = 0.427, p < .001). There was a significant difference in the OLS→OWE path (Δχ² (1) = 3.921, p = .048), indicating that the relationship between leadership skills and workplace engagement is significantly moderated by academic position. Leadership development initiatives should be deepened in public universities on the basis of human, conceptual, and technical skills, among other factors, while the differences in academic position should be considered.