Leadership styles, emotional intelligence, and commitment to service quality: insights from a Lebanese higher education context

Abstract

Leadership competence is an important factor in higher education quality improvement; however, empirical evidence regarding its association with individual-level Commitment to Service Quality remains limited in Middle Eastern contexts. This study examines the relationship between leadership styles, emotional intelligence, and Commitment to Service Quality among faculty members at a single private Lebanese Higher Education Institution. To identify whether transformational, transactional, and laissez-faire leadership styles are related to Commitment to Service Quality and emotional intelligence, and whether emotional intelligence statistically mediates the relationship between leadership styles and Commitment to Service Quality. The study design used in this research was a cross-sectional quantitative survey among 247 faculty members holding academic and/or administrative leadership responsibilities within a large private Lebanese higher education institution. The data collection process entailed the use of the MLQ-5X scale, the SSEIT scale, and the CSQ scale. Statistical analysis of the data collected was carried out using SPSS 25 by employing Pearson correlation, multiple linear regression, Sobel test, and the Kruskal–Wallis test. The most commonly reported leadership style was transformational leadership (75.3%). This style exhibited the highest positive correlation with EI (r = .63) and Commitment to Service Quality (r = .47). Transactional leadership provided weaker positive correlations with the study variables. Laissez-faire leadership was significantly negatively associated with the Commitment to Service Quality, and not significantly associated with emotional intelligence. In regression analysis, transformational leadership emerged as the strongest statistical predictor of service quality. Emotional intelligence demonstrated a partial mediating effect. Results showed the significance of transformational leadership and emotional intelligence in predicting faculty members’ Commitment to Service Quality. Findings suggest that leadership competencies and emotional intelligence may represent important considerations for leadership development and quality improvement initiatives in higher education.