Applying Leader Member Exchange (LMX) Model to Investigate Leadership Styles and Leadership Effectiveness in Higher Education Institutions

Indian higher education sector is phenomenally growing, thereby posing a challenge to education leaders to manage their institutions effectively. The present article is aimed at investigating different styles of leadership and their impact on leadership effectiveness in higher education institutions (HEIs), studying gender as a moderating variable. LMX model has been used to examine different leadership styles. structural equation modelling (SEM) and an Independent Sample t-test were applied on a sample of 361 respondents who were randomly selected from the population of leaders and followers working in HEIs in Jammu and Kashmir. The study found that different leadership styles impact leadership effectiveness differently. Further, the study revealed that gender makes a significant difference in different leadership styles, and males and females lead differently, which was coherent in the light of the existing research in HEIs. The study has added significant insights into the domain of leadership by adopting a sound methodology for different leadership styles and leadership effectiveness using LMX perspective. The present research contributes to existing literature by investigating the moderating effects of gender on leadership effectiveness.