


































Global Research in Higher Education 
ISSN 2576-196X (Print) ISSN 2576-1951 (Online) 

Vol. 6, No. 3, 2023 

www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/grhe 

50 

 

Original Paper 

Democratic Leadership Style and Organizational Commitment 

of Academic Staff in Uganda Christian University and 

Kyambogo University  

Micheal Mwebaza
1*

, Samuel S. Kafuuma
2
 & Christine Okurut

1
 

1
 Uganda Christian University (UCU), Mukono, Kampala, Uganda   

2
 Uganda Management Institute (UMI), Kampala, Uganda 

3
 Uganda Christian University (UCU), Mbaale Campus, Uganda 

*
 Micheal Mwebaza, Uganda Christian University (UCU), Mukono, Kampala, Uganda 

 

Received: August 17, 2023     Accepted: August 29, 2023    Online Published: September 7, 2023 

doi:10.22158/grhe.v6n3p50            URL:http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/grhe.v6n3p50 

 

Abstract 

The study establishes the extent to which democratic leadership styles influence organizational 

commitment of academic staff in Uganda Christian University (UCU) and Kyambogo Universities 

(KYU). It was guided by three specific objectives; to establish the status of democratic leadership style, 

status of organisational commitment and finally the influence of democratic leadership style on 

organisational commitment of academic staff in UCU and KYU. The study utilized Contingence theory 

of leadership to extensively discuss the democratic leadership style. It was a descriptive cross-sectional 

survey design hinged on Plato’s deductive reasoning philosophy. The population involved lecturers, 

heads of departments and deans. These were sampled using simple and purposive random sampling. 

Data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire and interview guide. Data was analysed at 

Univariate level using descriptive statistics means and standard deviations. Study hypothesis was 

analysed using Pearson’s Correlation Co-efficient index. Results revealed an insignificant relationship 

between democratic leadership style and commitment of academic staff. This study provides at least a 

facie evidence of how democratic leadership style should be devised to ensure organisation 

commitment of academic staff. The leaders continued efforts should improve work condition, ensure 

satisfaction and act in ways that increase loyalty of academic staff to their institutions.  

Keywords 

leadership styles, democratic, organisational commitment, lecturers, Universities, Uganda 

 



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1. Introduction 

Globally, Universities are expected to serve the societies through the creation and assimilation of 

knowledge, educate young minds through empowering them with knowledge and sense of 

responsibility. In order to achieve this, academic staff commitment is considered as one of the reliable 

and sustainable predictor. This is why academic staff commitment has become an essentiality. One of 

the determinants of organizational mismanagement is inadequate staff organizational commitment, 

which is normally characterized by scanty loyalty to the organization, and insufficient job commitment 

(Mullins, 2002). This view resonated well with (IGG Report, 2015, 09) who reported that, in the 

developing world, academic staff organizational commitment has often been alleged to be substantially 

wanting, something that is still a challenge, even in Uganda’s Universities. Yet, effective leadership is 

critical to the achievement of performance targets/goals and objectives in any institution. However, 

there was no empirical study carried out to establish the influence of democratic leadership style on 

organizational commitment of academic staff in Kyambogo and Uganda Christian Universities in 

Uganda which this current study did.  

Theoretically, the study was guided by the Contingency Theory of leadership developed by Fred 

Fiedler in 1958. This theory states that; there is no one better way to leadership and different situations 

require leaders to apply different ways of leadership (Arenas, Connelly & Williams, 2017). Therefore, 

the leader should be able to identify the best leadership style amongst a list of many to achieve the 

organizations goals in each situation (Shala, Prebraza & Ramosaj, 2021). In a situation where staff are 

highly experienced, participative, and qualified, a democratic leadership style should be applied to 

enlist commitment of academic staff.  

Conceptually, Tomislav (2015) defined democratic leadership style as a style of leadership where one 

is allowed to participate and amicably arrive at organizational decisions. It is a delegation of 

responsibility among group members, empowerment of group members and assistance provided by 

group members through the decision making functions (Terzi & Berin, 2016). Alternatively, 

organizational commitment according to Abdulkadir et al. (2018) and Abasilim, Gberevbie & Osibanjo 

(2019), is the degree to which employees identify with their organization and add value to accomplish 

the set goals and objectives. Meyer and Allen (1984) suggested a three component model of 

commitment that involves affective, continuance and normative commitments. These components were 

used to characterize academic staff’s organisational commitment to the universities where this current 

study was done. 

High levels of organisational commitment are necessary for better institutional task execution. In 

Uganda this commitment ensures the delivery of high-quality university education (NCHE, 2018). 

When university lecturers have a strong sense of organisational commitment, this is partially possible. 

However, reports surfaced indicating that lecturers were unwilling to work during hard times, 

disrespected the university’s values, occasionally perpetrated professional misconduct, and some left in 



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search of greener pastures elsewhere (IGG, 2015). The aforementioned problems serve as examples of 

minimal commitment within the organisation. Mugizi et al. (2019) reported a comparable situation in 

Ugandan private higher education institutions, where academic staff commitment was said to be low. 

These academics argued that signs of waning passion and drive among faculty members at private 

universities included threats of strikes, tardiness in marking exams, and, surprisingly, the falsification 

of student grades. While a number of factors have been proposed by multiple investigations to account 

for the low organisational commitment of academic staff in Ugandan universities, these attempts 

appear to have stayed unrealistic, since the democratic leadership style seems to have been overlooked, 

despite the fact that it is also said to have a consequence on staff organisational commitment in these 

establishments. It was projected that universities would continue to provide a significant but peripheral 

contribution to sustainable socio-economic development if this tendency persisted. This study 

consequently aimed to determine how organisational commitment at KYU and UCU related to 

democratic leadership style. 

 

2. Methodology  

The study used a descriptive cross-sectional survey design hinged on Plato’s deductive reasoning 

philosophy. A sample consisted 280 lectures and 20 head of departments and deans. These were 

sampled using simple and purposive random sampling. The sample size was determined using using 

the Kreijcie & Morgan’s Table for Determining Samples, 1970. Data were collected using a 

self-administered questionnaire and interview guide. The scale consists of 6 items for democratic 

leadership and 6 items for organisational commitment. These are scaled on 5 point Likert scale denoted 

as 1-Strongly Disagree, 2-Disagree, 3-Not sure, 4-Agree and 5-Strongly Agree. Content Validity Index 

was calculated that produced 0.92 coefficient. Reliability of the scale was measured using the 

Cronbach’s Alpha computations. The alpha was found at a=86. The overall item correlations varied 

from 0.75-089. This data was analysed at Univariate level using descriptive statistics, frequencies, 

percentages, means and standard deviations. The study hypothesis was analysed using Pearson’s 

Correlation Co-efficient index. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



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3. Results 

3.1 Objective One: Status of Democratic Leadership Style among Academic Staffs in Kyambogo and 

Uganda Christian Universities 

 

Table 1. Results on Democratic Leadership Style 

Indicators Of Democratic Style Mean  Std.Dev 

Employees want to be part of decision making process 4.297 0.884 

Providing guidance without pressure is the way to bring out a good leader 4.314 0.747 

Most workers want frequent and supportive communication from their 

leaders 

4.446 0.762 

Leaders need to support subordinates accept responsibility for completing 

their work 

3.850 0.984 

It is the leader job to help subordinates find their passion 3.263 1.246 

People are basically competent if given a task they will do a good job 3.527 1.102 

 

Table 1 results showed that the means were ranging in 4 on most items about leadership styles applied. 

This meant that democratic leadership style was somehow effectively applied on academic staff in 

UCU and Kyambogo Universities.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



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3.2 Objective Two: Status of Academic Staff Organizational Commitment of Academic Staffs in 

Kyambogo and Uganda Christian Universities 

 

Table 2. Summary Results on Organizational Commitment (Affective, Normative and 

Continuance) 

Commitment  Statistics 

95% confidence interval for mean Lower bound 3.246 

 Upper bound 3.446 

Mean  3.346 

Median  3.533 

Std. deviation  0.772 

Skewness  -.421 

 

Table 2 shows that the average mean was 3.346. This mean value was almost equal to code 3 which 

equaled to 3 neutrals. It hence suggested that the commitment of academic staff in UCU and 

Kyambogo Universities was fair. 

3.3 Objective Three: Extent to which Democratic Leadership Style Influences Organizational 

Commitment of Academic Staff in Kyambogo and Uganda Christian Universities 

 

Table 3. Pearson’s Correlation Coefficient Showing Relationship between Democratic 

Leadership Style and Commitment of Academic Staff 

  Commitment Democratic 

Commitment Pearson correlation 1 0.116 

 Sig (2-tailed)  0.078 

 N 234 233 

Democratic Pearson correlation 0.116 1 

 Sig (2-tailed) 0.078  

 N 233 234 

 



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Table 3. Shows Pearson’s correlation coefficient results r=0.116, sig=0.078 less than 0.05. This 

suggests that there was an insignificant correlation between democratic leadership style and 

commitment of academic staff. It suggests that even if democratic leadership is fairly done or not the 

level of organizational commitment remains intact. 

 

4. Discussion 

The study investigated the status of democratic commitment and found out that majority of study 

participants agreed at participating in decision-making. It implies that academic staff attached a lot of 

meaning to participating in the matters that concern them. The mean value was also close to code 

4-Agree suggesting an agreement that lecturers wanted to be part and partial. This suggested that 

employees in Kyambogo and Uganda Christian University Mukono prefer to engage in the processes of 

making decisions. The standard deviation of 0.884 was low implying the respondents had common 

views regarding being part and partial of decision making in the university. In addition, democratic 

leadership is associated with sensitivity and caring with assumptions that all people like responsibility, 

they are self-motivated and trust worthy (Jones et al., 2016). When such qualities are apparent in the 

academic staff, democratic leadership styles would foster teamwork, motivation, commitment, 

satisfaction and high performance. Results from other studies on similar constructs are also revealing. 

For instance, Fiaz et al. (2017) analysed leadership styles and motivation and the analysis’s findings 

showed that there is no conclusive evidence to demonstrate a link between democratic management 

methods and employee motivation. 

Furthermore, participants acknowledged that an effective leader must be able to give direction without 

being overbearing. The finding suggested that respondents had agreed that guidance provision is the 

being of leader. The subordinates can easily determine who is their good or bad leader on their jobs 

basing on the extent they offer guidance to their sub-ordinates. Additionally, the majority of research 

participants agreed that most lecturers want their leaders to communicate with them frequently and 

supportively. This indicates that lectures favour leaders who communicate with them frequently and in 

a positive manner. Democratic leadership is greatly responsible for high sense of employee 

commitment on the job since leadership allow participation of employees in whatever is happening on 

the job leading to a high sense of job commitment (Takroun & Alsharqi 2021). Academic staff agreed 

that head of departments and deans must help workers accept responsibility for finishing their work. It 

is therefore paramount for leaders to encourage lectures to take ownership of completing their work. 

When exposed to democratic leadership style, workers acquire a strong commitment to their work 

which categorically differed from the results reported by this research (Abulle, 2011). 

The third objective of the study was to establish the relationship between democratic leadership style 

and the commitment of academic staff in UCU and Kyambogo Universities. Results obtained from 

Pearson’s correlation coefficient index revealed that there was an insignificant correlation between 



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democratic leadership style and employee performance in the two universities. These results revealed 

that even if democratic leadership style is applied, the commitment of employees in the two universities 

remain constant. These findings were in direct agreement with earlier studies like Al-Kareidi (2010) 

who investigated the influence of democratic leadership style on organizational commitment, and 

established that this leadership styles had an insignificant relationship on organizational commitment 

involved three dimensions affective, normative, and continuous affective commitment. To enhance the 

organizational commitment of employees/academic staff in Kyambogo and Uganda Christian 

University Mukono, the university council in the two universities, faculty administrative boards, deans, 

departmental heads should devise means of improving work conditions, ensure satisfaction and act in 

ways that increase loyalty of academic staff to their institutions. 

 

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