Comparison of Leadership Styles of University Students in Terms of Their Demographic Characteristics

Abstract

The primary purpose of this study was to determine the Kurt Lewin’s leadership styles of college students and alsoto determine whether their leadership styles differ with their demographic characteristics or not. The participants were 384students sampled from the total student population of Ondokuz Mayıs University in Turkey, based on Cochran’s sample sizedetermination formula for categorical data collection instruments. Overall, 49.2% of the respondents were democratic leaders34.9% were autocratic, and 15.9% were laissez-faire style leaders. The Chi-square test, conducted on the variables ofleadership style and demographic characteristics of students, revealed significant effects of gender and parents' place ofresidence but was independent of other factors. Female respondents and respondents coming mostly from rural and suburbanareas tended to be more democratic leaders in comparison with male respondents and respondents coming from more denselypopulated or metropolitan areas. The study suggests that similar researches should be conducted to determine the influence ofleadership style on the performance of workers employed in different businesses in Turkey.