International Journal of Islamic and Middle Eastern Finance and

Management
Application of leadership style in government organizations: a survey in the
Kingdom of Bahrain
Sutan Emir Hidayat, Ahmad Rafiki, Marwa Mohamed Aldoseri,
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Application of
Application of leadership style in leadership
government organizations: a style

survey in the Kingdom of Bahrain

Sutan Emir Hidayat, Ahmad Rafiki and Marwa Mohamed Aldoseri
Department of Business Administration, University College of Bahrain,
Manama, Bahrain Received 30 June 2015
Revised 22 November 2015
13 April 2017
15 June 2017
Accepted 19 June 2017
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyze the excecution of various leadership styles, namely,
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transactional, transformational and laissez-faire that are being practiced among the government organizations
in the Kingdom of Bahrain. The study compares and differentiates these three leadership styles with that of
the major Islamic leadership concepts.
Design/methodology/approach – The study used a descriptive analytical method. A number of 100
government employees participated in the survey which has been selected as the sample of the study using
the snowball sampling technique.
Findings – The study detects that the transactional leadership is the most highly applied leadership style in
the government organizations of Bahrain. The finding is identified on the basis of the employees’ attributes
based on their gender (male and female); current positions (employee and manager); work experience (less
than a year, from one to five years, from 6 to 10 years); and age (less than 20 years, from 20 to 35 years, from
36 to 50 years, more than 50 years). Meanwhile, the second style mostly applied among the employees is the
transformational leadership style. It is perceived that this style has been applied by employees with 10 years
of work experience and are in the age group of more than 50 years. The least applied leadership style is the
laissez-faire.
Originality/value – The study can be used by the Government of Bahrain to set up policies on how to
improve efficiency within the government organizations in the Kingdom. This study also fills up the gap in
the leadership styles literature, as no prior studies of this manner involving the government organizations of
the Island have ever been conducted.
Keywords Transformational leadership, Government organizations, Transactional leadership,
Laissez-faire leadership, Islamic leadership
Paper type Research paper

1. Introduction
The importance of leadership in every organization is clearly identified through its direct
role in influencing the members of the organization to align on work attitudes toward the
organization’s vision. The role of leaders is so crucial that they need to work toward
effectively managing the employees (followers) to ensure that their tasks contribute to the
organization’s ultimate goal. However, the leadership orientation in a private organization
differs from that of the leadership orientation in a public organization. One of the possible
reasonss is that this aspect is rarely given adequate attention. As a result, it is difficult to
find a leader who can actually motivate the followers. The inherent limitation of motivation
in government organizations may be resulted by the administration of the leadership styles, International Journal of Islamic
which found to be at one end is the most or the other the least. Moreover, due to the limited and Middle Eastern Finance and
Management
budget and the increased pressure of rules and regulations, the public sector is forced to © Emerald Publishing Limited
1753-8394
enhance and improve the efficiency of the organization comparatively at a higher DOI 10.1108/IMEFM-06-2015-0075
 IMEFM proportion. The lack of implanting leadership is an inevitable factor adversely affecting an
organization’s efficiency.
Leadership refers to the ability to influence a group toward a set vision or group of
achievable goals. The current approaches to leadership theory reflect the highly competitive
and turbulent business environment by focusing on the most efficient use of people.
Although previous reasearch on characteristics, behavior and situational leadership are still
relevant, leadership is increasingly being seen as an inpirational process.
This is highly effective especially in terms of transactional and transformational
leadership (Buon, 2014). In addition to a recently envisaged emphasis on the ethical
behavior in the leadership literature (Kouzes and Posner, 1995), another leadership
approach has emerged, the Islamic leadership style, which is considered to be
applicable in organizations.
The above situation applies to almost all government organizations especially in
developing countries like the Kingdom of Bahrain. As Bahrain has a vision of achieving the
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status of being a developed country by 2030, improving the efficiency of government

organizations through effective leadership becomes very important to ensure that this
objective can be achieved. Though the majority of the population in Bahrain are Muslims,
the government organizations are generally following the Western or modern leadership
styles. Therefore, to identify the current dominant leadership style within the government
organizations in the kingdom, examining Western leadership styles is relevant and will
remain as a crucial step in formulating policies to improve the efficiency of the public sector
in the kingdom[1]. For this reason, the current study focuses in identifying the leadership
style that is mostly practiced in the Kingdom of Bahrain’s governmental organizations,
whether it is the transactional, transformational or laissez-faire leadership style. The result
of the study is expected to benefit the Government of Bahrain in terms of setting up policies
to improve the efficiency of the public sector in the kingdom. The study also adds value to
the literature of leadership as no available study so far is available that discusses this issue
of great importance in Bahrain.

2. Literature review
2.1 Concepts of leadership
Leadership is a process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and support
of others in the accomplishment of a common task (Chemers, 1997). To lead means to
conduct, show the way, guide, direct, steer, induce, tend toward a specific result or goal or
set an example. There are three common leadership styles which have been studied by the
most available studies in the area of leadership, namely, transactional, transformational and
the laissez-faire leadership (Lowe et al., 1996; Chemers, 1997; Avolio et al., 1999; Antonakis
and House, 2002; Dumdum et al., 2002; Judge and Piccolo, 2004; Kirkbride, 2006; Kurfi, 2009;
Stanfield, 2009; Buon, 2014). Buon (2014) posites that transformational leadership is the
most popular theory of leadership. It tells about the close connections formed between the
leaders and their followers where the leaders motivate and inspire people through their
vision, high ethical and moral standards. Buon (2014) suggests that organizations led by
transformational leaders have higher levels of performance than those led by other types of
leaders where their high expectations give their subordinates self-confidence to persist in the
face of setbacks resulting in exceptional performances.
This concept of transformational leadership was initially introduced by James
MacGregor Burns which then developed by Bernard Bass. Avolio et al. (1999) described four
factors of transformational leadership:
 (1) Intellectual stimulation: Leaders do not only challenge the status quo but they also Application of
encourage it in the followers. leadership
(2) Individualized consideration: The leader acts as a mentor or a coach to the followers style
and listens to the followers’ concerns and meets their needs.
(3) Inspirational motivation: Leaders have a clear vision that they are able to articulate
to the followers.
(4) Idealized influence: The followers trust and respect the leader so they emulate and
internalize the leader’s values and beliefs.

Meanwhile, Buon (2014) mentions that the transactional leadership style can be contrasted
with transformational style. This theory of leadership was first described by sociologist
Max Weber and further explored by Bernard M. Bass in the early 1980s. A statement that
relates to the theory is “you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours”. It is concerned with
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maintaining the normal flow of operations where it uses disciplinary power and an array of
incentives to motivate employees to perform. The term transactional refers to the fact that a
leader essentially motivates subordinates by exchanging rewards for performance and
punishments for failing to accomplish the goals. The transactional leadership can be
effective in some situations. But, it is usually not as effective as transformational leadership,
particularly when it comes to followers in achieving their full potential, thus rules,
procedures and standards are essential in transactional leadership.
The third leadership style is the laissez-faire leadership which addresses the
followers to work as a team, who have the total freedom to select and set their own
objectives and monitor their own works (Kurfi, 2009). It is known as the non-leadership
style because it is characterized by the absence of transformational or transactional
leadership and a lack of interaction between the leader and his/her followers. In
essence, this leadership style would be characterized by leaders who avoid making
decisions and fail to take attentiveness and responsibility in the growth of their unit,
department or organization (Kirkbride, 2006). It is one in which the leader provides little
or no direction to the followers which can be upright in certain situations but bad in
others. This style works well if the situation and environment is conductive to
promoting the freedom of followers to make decisions (Stanfield, 2009).
The laissez-faire, transactional and transformational leadership are described as forming
a continuum from highly passive to highly active leadership styles (Antonakis and House,
2002). Several meta-analyses strongly supported the notion that transformational and
transactional leadership are positively related to various indicators of subjective and
objective performance, while laissez-faire is negatively related (Lowe et al., 1996; Dumdum
et al., 2002; Judge and Piccolo, 2004).
The Islamic leadership style is totally different from that of the three modern styles of
leadership since it entrusts its foundation on spiritual traits and practices (Aabed, 2005).
Haddara and Enanny (2009) stated that leadership in Islam is based on trust (amanah) and
accountability where a leader is entrusted and accountable to lead a group of people or to
manage an organization. They elaborated that the leader is entrusted by God and
accountable to God for his/her trust, and the leader is also entrusted by the people and is
accountable to them. These two principles relate to a collective duty where people
collectively have responsibility to fill all vacant leadership positions with capable
candidates.
Meanwhile, Beekun and Badawi (1999) posited that Islamic leadership represents a
psychological contract between a leader and his followers, whereby the leader undertakes
 IMEFM the guidance, protection and treatment of the follower. The two primary roles of a leader are
those of a servant-leader, which means the servant of his followers (sayyid al qawn
khadimuhum)[2]; and guardian-leadear, which means the one who seeks the followers’
welfare and guides them toward good. Both authors mentioned that leaders must develop a
strong Islamic moral character through four stages of spiritual development, namely, iman,
islam, taqwa and ihsan. Meanwhile, Muslim leaders emphasize the following five key
parameters of Islamic behavior such as justice[3], trust[4], righteousness[5], struggle toward
self-improvement[6] and promisekeeping[7]. This coincides with the concepts of servant,
transformational and ethical leaderships.
In comparison with other styles of leadership, Moten (2011) wrote his view that the
secular societies may not be of much value in understanding the leadership phenomenon
from an Islamic perspective for several reasons. First, Islam makes no distinction between
the spiritual and temporal affairs. It consists of the rules of human conduct, encompassing
all aspects of human life. Religion is not a departmental affair, it is neither a mere thought
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nor mere feeling, nor mere action; it is an expression of the whole man (Iqbal, 1962). In
relation to politics, Moten (2011) added that Islam neither allows politics to be out of its fold
nor would it permit politics to become a dirty business. Second, the central concept of Islam
is unity and sovereignty of Allah or tawhid, denies the power of control and command to
anyone but Allah, the Creator of the universe. This refuses anyone who claims absolute
right and power over anything. Finally, Islam rejects all worldly superiority and cautions the
believers against using spiritual values and moral superiority for personal advantage. Islam
demands a life in conformity with shariah; the leader and the led both submit to the same
shariah.

2.2 Previous studies in the area of leadership styles

Review of the existing literature reveals that there are a number of previous studies
that discussed the issue of leadership styles worldwide. There are studies that
discussed on the impact of leadership styles’ in the organization. A study by Bennett
(2009) in the USA among the Association of Information Technology Professionals
found that the transformational and laissez-faire leadership styles affected
subordinates’ extra effort. On the other hand, transformational and transactional
leadership styles resulted subordinate satisfaction, and all three leadership styles of
transformational, transactional and the laissez-faire leadership styles proved to give a
greater impact to management effectiveness. Meanwhile, Clinbell et al. (2013)
investigated on the relationship between the three leadership styles and three aspects of
organizational commitment. They found that the transformational leadership style has
the strongest impact on effective commitment and has a significant and positive effect
on normative commitment. For the transactional leadership style, it has a significant
and positive effect on continuous commitment, while the laissez-faire leadership style
has a significant but negative effect on affective commitment.
Moreover, a study by Tarsik et al. (2014) in four university libraries in Malaysia with a
sample of 201 academic librarians indicated that the academic librarians mostly practice the
transformational leadership style, followed by the laissez-faire leadership style, and the
transactional leadership style as the least practised style. Other studies in China conducted
by Lam and O’higgins (2013) on the leadership styles and level of emotional intelligence of
Chinese managers and employees with 323 respondents found that the highest score goes to
the transformational leadership style, followed by the transactional leadership style, and the
lowest score is the laissez-faire leadership style. In relations to emotional intelligence, it is
found that the employees obtained the highest score in self-awareness and the lowest in
 social-awareness, while the managers obtained the highest score in self-awareness but the Application of
lowest in self-management. This revealed a positive correlation between emotional leadership
intelligence and the transformational leadership style.
Finally, a study by Salman et al. (2011) on the employees perception about leadership
style
styles among the managers of selected private firms in Pakistan (n = 102) found a very high
score for the transformational leadership style, ordinary and average scores for the
transactional leadership style and a very low score to the laissez-faire leadership style. This
revealed a strong positive correlation between transformational and transactional
leadership styles and employees performance, and a strong negative correlation between
laissez-faire and employees’ performance.
Some previous studies compared transactional and transformational leadership styles.
The transactional leadership style is based on the leader’s legitimate authority that is
concerned with goals and outcomes, tasks, rewards and punishments. Such leadership is
said to be more appropriate to stable environments and businesses. Transformational
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leaders, on the other hand, seek to motivate and gain the commitment of followers. This is
achieved by sharing a vision, raising expectations and creating a feeling of trust so that
followers will perform to a level exceeding their own expectations of what they had
considered possible (Buon, 2014).
Laohavichien et al. (2009) identified the dominant leadership style applied in the
manufacturing companies in the USA. The study also observed the impact of each
leadership style on employees and the quality management and the level of quality
performance. It is found that the transformational and transactional leadership styles are
widely applied where both have significant impact on quality management and quality
performance. Meanwhile, Deluga (1988) in his study on 117 employees of a manufacturing
firm in the USA found that the transactional leadership style of the managers was more
frequently, strongly and inversely related to the employees’ behavior as compared to that of
the transformational style.
The leadership styles’ implications was investigated in banking and health care sectors
as well. A study by Al-AbdulJader (2012) analyzed the transactional and transformational
leadership styles’ applications in the commercial banking sector in Kuwait. With a sample of
123 employees, it was found that both transformational and transactional leadership styles
were applied in a high level, and there was no significant difference of applications between
both leadership styles. Meanwhile, a study by Jabnoun and Al-Rasasi (2005) on the hospital
employees in the United Arab of Emirates found that the transformational and contingent
reward leadership styles had low ratings than the other styles.
Moreover, Paracha et al. (2012) conducted a study on the impact of the transformational
and transactional leadership styles on employee’s performance which includes the effect of
each leadership styles on employee’s job satisfaction. Based on a sample of 250 respondents,
it is found that both leadership styles were effective on employee’s performance;
notwithstanding, the transactional leadership style was more significant than the
transformational leadership style. Meanwhile, there was no significant effect on job
satisfaction under the transactional leadership style, but it had a considerable effect for the
transformational leadership style. Furthermore, a study by Ejere and Abasilim (2013) in
Nigeria with 184 respondents revealed that both transactional and transformational
leadership styles have a significant influence on the organizational performance, whereby,
the transformational leadership style had a stronger positive impact compared with that of
the transactional leadership style, which represented a reasonably weaker impact on the
organizational performance as such.
 IMEFM The leadership style also has an unavoidable prevalence in the organizational learning
process. For example, Zagorsek et al. (2009) in their study of 753 respondents found that the
influence of both transformational and the transactional leadership styles is strong and
positive to all the four constructs (information acquisition, distribution, interpretation and
organizational memory) of the organizational learning process.
There are also some studies that compared between transactional and laissez-faire
leadership styles. A study by Chaudhry and Javed (2012) investigated on the transactional
and the laissez-faire leadership styles and their impact on employees’ motivation within the
banking sector in Pakistan with a sample size of 278 respondents. The descriptive and
correlational studies’ results have affirmed that the transactional leadership style has a
positive, strong and significant association with commitment, but the motivational level was
low and insignificant in the laissez-faire leadership style.
Mohsen (2007) conducted a study on Islamic leadership in the Republic of Yemen using
the concept of taqwa which operationalized to two distinct components: spirituality that has
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three dimensions, namely, iman (belief), ibadah (rituals) and tawbah (repentance), and
responsibility that has six dimensions, namely, emotional control, sadaqah, forgiveness,
integrity, patience and justice. With a mediating influence of the trust variable, the results
show that a leaders’ level of taqwa influences his or her effectiveness, where one dimension
of spirituality, that is belief, and three dimensions of responsibility, namely, sadaqah,
integrity and emotional control, were found to predicate business leadership effectiveness,
whereas trust was found to positively influence leadership effectiveness. Moreover, trust
was found to fully mediate the relationship between iman and leadership effectiveness; on
the other hand, trust was found to partially mediate the relationship between responsibility
and leadership effectiveness. Aabed (2005) mentioned that the quality of Islamic leadership
can positively influence the attitudes of followers and bring higher levels of satisfaction,
motivation, performance, positive energy and organizational loyalty. Kasturi (2006) asserted
that the quality of Islamic leadership serves as an important human resource that offers
value for organizational performance.
Based on the previous studies, there are many implications derived from the
leadership styles such as employees’ satisfaction and performance, organizational
learning process and commitment, and quality management. These factors are used as
the basis for the employees to choose the most preferable or the least preferable style.
For example, the transactional and transformational styles were found applied in high
levels of practice within the organizations compared to the laissez-faire style. Perhaps,
both the styles bring more impact on employees’ satisfaction and quality management
or vice versa. Meanwhile, there is an apparent estimation that the ethical behavior of
leadership such as Islamic leadership style can boost the financial performance of an
organization (Dubrin, 2007). Moreover, most of the studies used the multifactor
leadership questionnaire developed by Avolio et al. (1999) as the instruments that
produce reliability and valid results of analysis.

3. Research methodology
3.1 Research design and sampling method
A descriptive analytical method has been adopted to investigate the dominant leadership
style in government organizations in the Kingdom of Bahrain. A survey questionnaire was
developed and the data are gathered randomly among the employees. According to the
Bahrain Civil Services Bureau in 2014, there are approximately 5,000 employees assigned in
the managerial positions. For the population of 5,000 employees, the sample size is 357
respondents (Krejcie and Morgan, 1970). However, only 28 per cent respondents (100
 employees) participated in the survey. A snowball sampling method was used to select the Application of
participants due to the sensitivity of the research topic. leadership
style
3.2 Survey design
The questionnaire is used as a main tool to collect the data which consists of two parts. The
first part contains the demographic data of the respondents (age, gender, current position
and years of experience), while the second part contains a design of the five-point Likert
scale questions related to the identification of leadership style through a leadership traits
questionnaire with the following scale values: strongly agree (5), agree (4), neutral (3),
disagree (2) and strongly disagree (1). A high score indicates a high level of agreement with
the statement. Meanwhile, the specific rating statements for which answers were gathered in
this study are as follows:

Your manager continuously motivates employees through a system of rewards and
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punishments. (Transactional leadership)

Your manager immediately interferes and takes corrective action when employees
do not meet the expected performance. (Transactional leadership)

Employees are provided with all materials, rights and power to make decisions and
achieve goals by their own. (Laissez-faire leadership)

Employees are proud and feel comfortable to work with their manager who
communicates organizational values and beliefs. (Transformational leadership)

Your manager coaches his employees toward career objectives and encourages
development of technical and soft skills. (Transformational leadership)

Your manager believes a positive working environment is significant for personal
and professional development. (Transformational leadership)

Your manager is very supportive and provides guidance to inspire personal skills in
solving challenging tasks. (Transformational leadership)

Your manager clearly clarifies responsibilities of achieving department’s mission.
(Transactional leadership)

Employees take self-initiative in solving target tasks and exceeding expectation.
(Laissez-faire leadership)

Your manager offers little or no guidance in achieving tasks and deadlines. (Laissez-
faire leadership)

3.3 Data collection and analysis

The questionnaires were distributed through the researchers’ personal relation network in
different government organizations. A descriptive analysis was used to analyze the data and
interpret findings about the survey that covers leadership from different aspects. The data
are analyzed to capture information pertaining to the dominance of leadership styles among
the government organizations in the Kingdom of Bahrain using the following categories:
gender, age, current position and years of work experience. Meanwhile, the following
statistical tools were used for the interpretation and analysis of the data that was gathered
in the survey:

The percentage of each score was computed with the use of this formula:
 IMEFM F  100
% Distribution ¼
N

where:
F = frequency of an item or response; and
N = total number of items or responses.

Weighted mean: the arithmetical average when all the scores are added and divided
by number of items obtained with the use of this formula:

P
X
M¼
N
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where: P
M = mean ;
X = sum of the scores/measures in the series; and
N = number of cases.

4. Findings and discussions

4.1 Demographic profile
The study consists of a sample of 100 respondents. In total, 71 per cent of the respondents
are females and 29 per cent of them are males. Seventy per cent of the respondents are aged
from 20 to 35 years, 20 per cent of them are aged from 36 to 50 years, 6 per cent of them are
aged from 50 years and above and 4 per cent of them are aged less than 20 years. Moreover,
75 per cent of the respondents are employees and 25 per cent of them are managers. In total,
41 per cent of the respondents have 1 to 5 years of work experience, 31 per cent of them have
6 to 10 years of work experience, 20 per cent of them have more than 10 years of work
experience and 8 per cent of them have less than one year of work experience.

4.2 Survey results

Below are the survey results for each of the instruments of the leadership styles:

The average weighted mean received by all 10 (ten) items was 3.44 with a verbal
interpretation of “Neutral”. It is found that a general dominance for transactional
leadership style with a weighted mean of 3.85 (verbal interpretation = agree),
followed by the transformational leadership style with a weighted mean of 3.36
(verbal interpretation = neutral), and the lowest weighted mean is the laissez-faire
leadership style with a weighted mean of 3.13 (verbal interpretation = neutral).

When the respondents were grouped based on gender, the average weighted mean
received by all items for male respondents was 3.14 with a verbal interpretation of
“Neutral”. Based on male respondents, it shows that the transactional leadership style is
dominant with a weighted mean of 3.95 (verbal interpretation = agree), followed by the
transformational leadership style with a weighted mean of 3.34 (verbal interpretation =
neutral), and the lowest one is laissez-faire leadership style with a weighted mean of 3.14
(verbal interpretation = neutral). Meanwhile, the average weighted means received by
all items for the female respondents was 3.43 with a verbal interpretation of “Neutral”.
Based on the responses of female respondents, it shows that the transactional
leadership style was dominant with a weighted mean of 3.81 (verbal interpretation =
 agree), followed by the transformational leadership style with a 3.36 weighted mean Application of
(verbal interpretation = neutral), and the laissez-faire leadership style was the lowest leadership
one with a weighted mean of 3.13 (verbal interpretation = neutral). Table I summarizes
the average weighted means obtained from the respondents’ leadership styles when style
they were grouped according to gender.

When the respondents were grouped according to the current position of employees,
the average weighted mean received by all items of the employees respondents was
2.95 with a verbal interpretation of “Neutral”. It is found that the transactional
leadership style has the highest dominant score with a weighted mean of 3.85
(verbal interpretation = agree), while the transformational leadership style has a
weighted mean of 3.30 (verbal interpretation = neutral), and the laissez-faire
leadership style was the lowest weighted mean of 2.95 (verbal interpretation =
neutral).

When the respondents were grouped according to current position of managers, the
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average weighted mean received by all items of the managers respondents was 3.68
with a verbal interpretation of “Agree”. It is found that the transactional leadership
style has the highest dominant score with a weighted mean of 3.84 (verbal
interpretation = agree), followed by the transformational style with a weighted
mean of 3.54 (verbal interpretation = agree), and the laissez-faire leadership style
with a weighted mean of 3.68 (verbal interpretation = agree). Table II summarizes
the average weighted means obtained from the respondents according to their
current position.

When the respondents were grouped according to years of work experience, the
average weighted mean received by all items of the respondents with less than a
year of work experience was 3.28 with a verbal interpretation of “Neutral”. It is
found that the transactional leadership style has the highest dominant score with a
weighted mean of 3.83 (verbal interpretation = agree), followed by the
transformational style with a weighted mean of 3.40 (verbal interpretation =
neutral), and the laissez-faire leadership style with a weighted mean of 2.58 (verbal
interpretation = neutral).

Table I.
The average
weighted means of
Gender Weighted mean
respondents
Male 3.14 according to the
Female 3.13 gender

Table II.
The average
weighted means of
Current position Weighted mean
respondents
Employee 2.95 according to the
Manager 3.68 current position
 IMEFM For the respondents with 1 to 5 years of work experience, the average weighted means
received by all items was 3.41 with a verbal interpretation of “Neutral”. It is found that the
transactional leadership style has the highest dominant score with a weighted mean of 3.91
(verbal interpretation = agree), followed by the transformational style with a weighted mean
of 3.32 (verbal interpretation = neutral), and the laissez-faire leadership style with a
weighted mean of 3.03 (verbal interpretation = neutral).
For the respondents with 6 to 10 years of work experience, the average weighted means
received by all items of the respondents was 3.48 with a verbal interpretation of a “Neutral”.
It is found that the transactional leadership style has the highest dominant score with a
weighted mean of 3.96 (verbal interpretation = agree), followed by the laissez-faire
leadership style with a weighted mean of 3.32 (verbal interpretation = neutral), and
transformational style with a weighted mean of 3.24 (verbal interpretation = neutral).
For the respondents with more than 10 years of work experience, the average weighted
means received by all items of the respondents was 3.49 with a verbal interpretation of
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“Agree”. It is found that the transformational leadership style has the highest dominant
score with a weighted mean of 3.60 (verbal interpretation = agree), followed by the
transformational style with a weighted mean of 3.36 (verbal interpretation = neutral), and
the laissez-faire leadership style with a weighted mean of 3.28 (verbal interpretation =
neutral). Table III summarizes the average weighted means obtained from the respondents
according to their years of work experience:

When the respondents were grouped according to the current position of managers,
the weighted means received by all items of the respondents within the age group of
less than 20 years was 1.80 with a verbal interpretation of “Disagree”. It is found
that the transactional leadership style has the highest score with a weighted mean
of 3.75 (verbal interpretation = agree), while the transformational leadership style’s
weighted mean was 3.56 (verbal interpretation = agree), and the laissez-faire
leadership style has obtained the lowest weighted mean of 1.83 (verbal
interpretation = disagree). For the respondents within the 20 to 35 years age group,
the average weighted means received by all items of the respondents was 3.10 with
a verbal interpretation of “Neutral”. It is found that the transactional leadership
style has the highest score with a weighted mean of 3.93 (verbal interpretation =
agree), while the weighted mean for the transformational leadership style was 3.28
(verbal interpretation = neutral), and the laissez-faire leadership style obtained the
lowest weighed mean of 3.10 (verbal interpretation = neutral).

For the respondents within the 36 to 50 years age group, the average weighted means
received by all items of the respondents was 3.50 with a verbal interpretation of “Agree”. It
is found that the transactional leadership style has the highest score with a weighted mean
of 3.63 (verbal interpretation = agree), followed by the transformational leadership style
with a weighted mean of 3.45 (verbal interpretation = neutral), and the laissez-faire
leadership style with a weighted mean of 3.50 (verbal interpretation = agree).

Table III.
The average Years of work experience Weighted means
weighted means of >1 2.58
respondents 1-5 3.03
according to the 6-10 3.32
work experience <10 3.28
 For the respondents within the more than 50 years age group, the average weighted Application of
means received by all items of the respondents was 3.22 with a verbal interpretation of leadership
“Neutral”. It is found that the transformational leadership style has the highest score style
with a weighted mean of 3.83 (verbal interpretation = agree), while the weighted mean
of the transactional leadership style was 3.66 (verbal interpretation = agree), and the
weighted mean of the laissez-faire leadership style was 3.22 (verbal interpretation =
neutral). Table IV summarizes the average weighted means obtained from the
respondents according to their age group.

5. Conclusions and recommendations

This study reveals the facts on the dominant leadership styles applied by the government
organizations in Bahrain as compared to the applications in other countries. It is found that
10 of the 12 items show that the most applied leadership style is the transactional leadership
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style, and they are “both males (M = 3.95) and females (M = 3.81), both current positions
employee (M = 3.85) and manager (M = 3.84), less than a year of work experience (M = 3.83),
from 1 to 5 years of work experience (M = 3.91), from 6 to 10 years of work experience (M =
3.96), less than 20 years old (M = 3.75), from 20 to 35 years old (M = 3.93), and from 36 to 50
years old (M = 3.63)”. Only two items reveal that the transformational style is mostly
applied: “(more than 10 years of work experience (M = 3.60) and more than 50 years old of
age group (M = 3.83)”. None of the items reveals that laissez-faire is the most applicable
leadership style.
The findings of the study are somewhat in line with the finding of Paracha et al. (2012)
who found transactional style as the most applied and accepatable leadership style.
However, the findings of the current study are not in line with the findings of many
previous studies which found transformational style as the dominant leadership style
(Salman et al., 2011; Clinbell et al., 2013; Lam and O’higgins, 2013; Tarsik et al., 2014). In
addition, Buon (2014) found that the most beneficial leadership style is the
transformational leadership style, and as the behavior theory and the excellence theory
believes that leadership can be achieved through studying the behavior of a good
example of a leader and emulate the action he does. Adopting the transformational
leadership style should be considered by the Government of Bahrain, and it can be
possibly done through trainings, workshops and courses to achieve the full potential
from both the leaders and the subordinates. In addition, Beekun and Badawi (1999) stated
that Islamic leadership style’s concept coincide with that of transformational style.
Therefore, adopting a transformational leadership style is in a way indirectly adopting
the Islamic leadership style.
Bahrain and other GCC countries are adopting an absolute monarchy system. They are
also related to each other. For that reasons, it is expected that there would be similarities in
regards to which dominant leadership style is applied in government organizations in other

Table IV.
Age group Weighted mean The average
>20 1.80 weighted means of
20-35 3.10 respondents
36-50 3.50 according to the age
<50 3.22 group
 IMEFM GCC countries as well. Therefore, the results of this study can also be used as a reference for
improving leadership style of government organizations in other GCC countries too.
This study like other studies has some limitations. Among the limitations are the size of
the sample and the scope of the present study which did not comprise the impact of each
leadership style on the organizations’ performance, employee’s job satisfaction and
motivation. Any further study on the topic has to include the Islamic leadership style’s
instruments. Those limitations can be covered by further studies.

Notes
1. www.bahrainedb.com/en/about/Pages/economic%20vision%202030.aspx#.VY3LvftxnIU (accessed
25 June 2015).
2. Omar Hassan Kasule, Sr. Leadership Module. General theme: Leadership. Workshop 1. In
Muslim Leaders’ Forum 98 Handbook. (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: Tarbiyyah and Training
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Center, International Islamic University Malaysia, 1998), 3.

3. O you who believe! Stand out firmly for God as witnesses to fair dealing and let not the hatred of
others to you make you swerve to wrong and depart from justice. [. . .]. (Qur’an, 5: 8)
4. O you that believe! betray not the trust of God and the apostle nor misappropriate knowingly
things entrusted to you. (Qur’an, 8: 27)
5. It [. . .] is righteousness to believe in God and the Last Day and the Angels and the Book and the
Messengers; to spend of your substance out of love for Him for your kin, for orphans, for the
needy, for the wayfarer, for those who ask [. . .]; to be steadfast in prayer and practice regular
charity; to fulfil the contracts which you have made; and to be firm and patient in pain (or
suffering) and adversity [. . .]. (Qur’an, 2: 177)
6. Qur’an, 22:77-78.
7. O you who believe! fulfil (all) obligations. (Qur’an, 5: 1)

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Corresponding author
Ahmad Rafiki can be contacted at: hahmadrafiki@gmail.com
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