Leadership, empowerment and customer satisfaction in teaching institutions

Abstract

Purpose By studying the leadership role of management and faculty in a Pakistani University to find out gaps in the delivery of technology integrated services in enrolment and advisory capacity offered at the beginning of every new term at the University of Central Punjab in Lahore, Pakistan, this paper seeks to find the impact of the process of service delivery on customer loyalty and positive word of mouth, the key objectives for attaining quality. Design/methodology/approach A mixed methods approach, comprising survey and interviews were used to investigate customer satisfaction. Factorial analysis and SEM modeling was applied to quantitative data, whereas coding and interpretive analysis were used for qualitative data. Findings The results highlight the differences in leadership style adopted by management and faculty. The SEM model suggests that, as long as students lack autonomy and perceive a lack of empowerment of faculty, their satisfaction with the enrolment and advisory services will be affected negatively and will result in negative outcomes on word of mouth. Research limitations/implications The small sample and contextual nature of study limit the scope of generalization. However, the analysis contributes toward improving the leadership approach of Pakistani management and faculty at private universities. Originality/value The study identifies the challenges faced by the management in providing customer satisfaction with the services by approaching the problem from a different angle, i.e. leaders' use of their cognitive resources and their relationship focusing on customer satisfaction. It extends the research literature on leadership styles as being applicable to student services available.

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