The preferred leadership styles in vocational training corporations: Case of Jordan

Abstract

The study aims to identify the leadership styles (democratic, authoritative, autocratic, laissez-faire, transformational, and transactional) practiced by trainers at the Vocational Training Corporation as perceived by the female trainees in Jordan. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data collected by the questionnaire from respondents (n = 105 female trainees) selected by the simple randomization sampling and representing 50% of the population (n = 210). Among the questionnaires sent, only 104 were received and declared valid for statistical analysis. Major findings indicated that the democratic leadership style was mostly preferable by female trainees, where rated top by respondents (M = 4.50), followed by the transformational style (M = 4.23), and the authoritative style was rated the lowest (M = 2.58) compared with the autocratic, laissez-faire and transactional leadership styles. Thus, to keep increasing the development of training programs and obtain positive feedback for trainees, both trainers and managers of the Vocational Training Corporation necessarily need to practice appropriate leadership styles, develop a high level of learning and benefits. AcknowledgmentsThe authors would like to thank Al-Balqa Applied University in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and the Institute of Public Administration in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for all kinds of support and providing us with time and access to the research resources.