Transactional, Transformational, or Laissez-Faire Leadership: An assessment of College of Agriculture Academic Program Leaders (Deans) Leadership Styles

The purpose of this study was to determine if the leadership style of academic program leaders (deans) of Colleges of Agriculture at land-grant institutions is transactional, transformational or laissez-faire. Academic program leaders were defined as individuals listed by the National Association of State University and Land-Grant Colleges as the Dean of Academic Programs in School and Colleges of Agricultural and Life Sciences or Agriculture and Natural Resources. These academic program leaders were assessed using the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) developed by Bass and Avolio (2000) to determine their leadership style as well as elements of transactional and transformational leadership. Findings of this study imply that academic program leaders in colleges of agriculture at land-grant institutions have a more transformational leadership style. Additionally, males in this research use transformational leadership behaviors as well as transactional leadership behaviors more often than their female counterparts. Findings of this research show males scoring slightly higher then females in all leadership scale scores. Leadership scale scores included Contingent Reward, Intellectua