This research aimed to investigate the influence of transformational leadership style on university students’ learning motivation (i.e. educational learning facilities, flexible leadership approach, good curriculum standard, effective communication, and change management). The data for this paper was collected using non-probability sampling techniques from 120 university students in the UK, who provided insights into their school’s leadership and their learning motivation in the classroom. The data collected was validated by adopting Kendall’s tau b, Spearman’s rho, and descriptive analysis (i.e. mean and standard deviation) using SPSS Statistics. The Results from the findings revealed that perceived students’ motivation for change management and leader’s responsibility was the transformational leadership style dimension identified by this study. The result reveals that there is a correlation between students’ motivation and change management through a transformational leadership approach that was identified. The research further showed that the transformational leadership approach in the educational sector improves students learning motivation and performance. Furthermore, this study elucidates the transformational leadership practices in UK universities to clearly understand how students’ learning motivation can be improved for greater academic achievement. It contributes to educational leadership/management studies by describing the correlation between transformational leadership and change management of educational leadership. Finally, this study contributes to educational leadership literature, especially within the UK, since limited studies have examined the influence of transformational leadership on students’ learning motivation. Thus, the study suggests that educational leaders should ensure that their curriculum standards, learning facilities, and student performance are often revisited.
Transformational Leadership Change Management Students Motivation UK Universities1. Introduction
The accomplishment of educational objectives and goals has been the most imperative aspect of every existing institution. Thus, researchers are explicit about the qualities of school leaders and the influence of specific leadership styles on student learning motivation in universities. Leadership style can be defined as the approach adopted by a leader to achieve a particular objective. In recent times, many scholars have examined the contributions of leadership and its relationship between academic achievement and student motivation [1] . Studies have stressed that school leadership involves creating a school atmosphere characterized by teacher productivity, student motivation, and an effective leadership style. School leaders’ attributes and characteristics determine how students think or feel about their school [2] . Leadership style can either directly influence or hinder student learning motivation and teacher commitment. John and Taylor [1] stated that the transformational leadership style depends on power and relationships. Transformational leadership is an approach that ensures creativity and innovation as part of problem-solving processes [3] . However, transformational leadership fosters changes in individuals and organizational activities. In essence, transformational leaders deal with changes that form values and positive transformation in students learning motivation that may make them prospective leaders. Empirically, Ibrahim [4] identified that the transformational leadership style contributes to high student motivation and improves teachers’ work satisfaction. This suggests that the effectiveness of transformational leadership in schools increases the alacrity of teachers and students to put more effort into their basic activities. Furthermore, Slavich & Zimbardo [5] argued that the transformational leadership style generally improves organisational effectiveness and performance. Following this trend, modern educational sectors need to embrace the importance of the strategic approach of transformational leadership, which serves to meet the need of others. Furthermore, it motivates and empowers students to attain a great mission [6] . Hence, the leadership style in the education sector should encourage, inspire, and motivate students to perform effectively. Consequently, leadership effectiveness in today’s educational system has attracted the attention of several educational management/ leadership researchers in the past decade. Given that leadership can positively motivate and influence the learning activities of students. Thus, a good leadership style is one core attribute that motivates students to learn more and improve success.
Ankoma-sey & Maina [7] argued that a weak relationship between leadership functions of educational leaders, academic motivation, and the outcome of students are the causes of educational failure. Therefore, educational institutions must be able to operate a robust leadership style to facilitate students’ learning motivation. The transformational leadership approach is a potential concept that would improve students’ learning motivation [8] . However, the level at which technological developments are introduced within universities and the academic motivation of students’ learning is reducing yearly has caused numerous problems. This is arguably due to ineffective educational leadership to facilitate learning and teaching goals. Therefore, this study examines how transformational leadership style influences students’ motivation in UK universities.
1.1. Research Aim
The main aim of this study is to contribute to educational leadership literature by examining, discussing, and demonstrating the contribution of transformational leadership style through change management to improve students’ learning motivation. Thus, this paper argued that school administrators’ adeptness to change through transformational leadership improves students’ motivation to reach higher grades.
1.2. Research Objectives
・ To critically analyse the transformational leadership theory for managing change on student learning motivation.
・ To investigate the impact of transformational leadership on the academic performance of university students
・ To analyse functional attributes of transformational leadership styles on the UK university students’ performance.
2. Literature Review
The dynamism of the educational system creates the need for appropriate use of leadership styles that will motivate and increase student performance. Therefore, leadership has been defined in many ways according to the author’s perception. For instance, Silcox, Boyd & MacNeill [9] defined leadership as a complex that considers the organization’s aspirations. In contrast, for Goleman [10] , leadership is the process that deals with the vision and motivation of people to meet a common purpose. The ability to perform leadership roles requires effective attributes that will enable a good leader to initiate great ideas for his or her followers. Thus, a good leader’s attributes can shape the student’s learning motivation to achieve better school results [11] . Given that if the quality of an educational leader is high, the achievement of the students will be high as well [12] . Similarly, Maduka et al. [13] states that leadership is the capability of an individual to control, motivate, and coordinate people within organizations to attain specific goals. Therefore, leadership has to do with the ability of leaders to influence a particular group of people to achieve desired objectives [14] . Balwant [15] argued that educational institutions could only achieve their specified objectives when a high relationship exists between educational leaders and students. However, for specific objectives to be attained in educational institutions, good leadership theories must be explored to form a degree of motivation between lecturers and students to carry out their duties. Thus, various leadership theories such as great man, behavioural, situational, and contingency have been discussed in different studies to ascertain how people develop leadership capabilities [14] [16] [17] [18] [19] .
Although empirical evidence has proven that the leadership theories mentioned above concentrate on certain goals, they do not generate detailed information for leaders and organizations to improve students’ learning motivation [16] . So, educational leaders need a leadership approach that can enable them to discern issues that may affect students and guide them to improve their learning motivation adequately [20] . Accordingly, suggested that an experienced leader changes his/her approach with groups being influenced depending on the situation and objectives needed to accomplish [17] . Consequently, many educational researchers have been interested in transformational leadership, searching for an alternative way to improve students’ learning motivation [21] . Transformational leadership aims to create an environment that motivates students to engage in creative activities, which can lead to novel outcomes [22] . According to MeCarley et al. [23] , transformational leadership inspires people to achieve higher goals, be more creative, innovative and show more concern to keep them motivated.
Transformational leadership impact on students’ performance cannot be overemphasized. For this reason, transformational leadership is said to be an ideal leadership approach for educational management and has been identified to foster student performance [24] . It enables students to transcend their self-interest not only for their advantage but for the good of educational development. Traditionally, transformational leadership improves students’ learning and teachers’ learning experience [25] . Thus, transformational leadership could create a conducive environment that promotes teaching and learning motivation in students [26] . Practically, studies have shown that transformational leadership improves educational performance and students’ motivation to learn. Consequently, to identify the correlation between the transformational leadership style of educational leaders on school culture, Asad, Rind & Abdulmuhsin [27] identified a significant effect linking the transformational leadership approach of university leaders and school culture to foster students’ motivations. This was also confirmed by Yoo et al. [28] that school transformational leadership positively facilitates university students learning culture, which results in school knowledge creation; given that transformational leadership could enable students to identify personal goals and link them to wider educational goals [29] . Kouni, Koutsoukos & Panta [30] explored mixed methods and revealed that students are often motivated when university lecturers act like transformational leaders. Kouni, Koutsoukos & Panta [30] found that transformational leadership’s inspirational motivation is believed to positively promote students’ knowledge sharing and entrepreneurial behaviour to identify students’ entrepreneurial capabilities. Equally, Al-Mansoori & Koç [31] examined the innovation ability building of engineering students with the transformational leaders’ impact and confirmed that educational leaders’ transformational leadership approach is greatly related to students and system performance.
The study conducted by Tanuwijaya, Aseanty & Gunawan [32] , found that transformational leadership promotes student satisfaction and motivation to study at university. In a quantitative study of 350 students, Omar, Zulazmi & Ladin [33] reported that transformational leadership is substantially and certainly linked with students’ employability. The study further argued that educational leaders, teachers, and administrators must showcase inspirational motivation and intellectual stimulation to promote students’ employability improvement. Given that educational leadership approach could influence students’ learning motivation and employability by exploring transformational leadership practice. Moreover, to describe a strategy through which leadership style could effectively influence school activities, Abu, Nasra & Ara [34] documented that both lecturers and students perform effectively when a transformational leadership style is used. Therefore, transformational leadership is required in the present educational system because it could be used to restructure and enhance the educational management of schools [35] . So, to succeed and thrive in the changing management of the modern environment, it follows that transformational leadership could enable students to build new learning capabilities and competencies to promote intellectual stimulation through inspiration [36] . In this fashion, transformational leaders can operate efficiently in a steady changing of management styles to align with the education system’s culture, economy, and development. Traditionally, Harrison [14] asserted that transformational leadership practice adapts to change quickly and brings out people’s potential. Thus, transformational leadership is change-oriented and mainly aims for people’s intellectual development.
2.1. The Nexus between Change Management and Transformational Leadership
According to Coban, Ozdemir, & Pisapia ( [37] , p. 130), “organizations that manage organizational change have adapted themselves to changing society, and therefore, become more durable”. So, effective change management is imperative in any educational sector to succeed in today’s competitive and continuously changing environment. However, an inappropriate transformation of the change management process through leadership in the educational system may lead to educational failures. For instance, identified that the problem of organizational change management is a failure of the leadership style used by their leaders [38] . Change management is the transformation of organizational structure, strategy, and process to meet the needs of people. Change is inevitable, and it involves an individual changing for another using a specific strategy to accomplish intended objectives. The transformational leadership style enhances people’s knowledge and motivation about what is crucial in their everyday organizing. This requires perfect behaviour to change management; hence, educational leaders must be encouraged, inspired, and motivated to perform their duties adequately [39] . Leadership is all about change, and no organization is changed value-free, so all leadership and change management processes involve organizational values that influence the behaviours of every leader [40] . This means that the outcome of changes initiated could be determined by leadership styles adopted in organizations. Unfortunately, some organizations still live in an era where leaders put effort into satisfying their personal needs rather than organizational success. Following this, Ling, & Ling [41] proposed that transformational leadership ensures that leaders and subordinates behave in the interest of both organizations and employees. Change management to transformation varies the structure of an organization and contributes to potential benefits that will restructure the management by introducing new ideas in people. Consequently, Vaccaro et al. [3] reasoned that transformational leaders inspire employees to question the organizations’ current management operation. This notion agreed with Hoon-song et al. [42] assertion that employee engagement is a statistical factor that explicitly links transformational leadership and organizational change management.
To be an effective leader/manager, you must obtain organizational change skills, project management skills, employee management skills, and the ability to control organizational performance [43] . These are components where transformational leadership is effective. Garcia-Morales, Jimenez & Gutierrez [44] propose that transformational leadership functions make positive changes in organizations and workers. Van der Voet [45] states that workers are not passive recipients of change management but are led to be active contributors to the change process. Several scholars have confirmed that transformational leadership is a key driver of change management in successful organizations [46] [47] [48] . Change management is merely concerned with change leadership, which means the process of organizing, coordinating, and controlling strategies to implement change [45] . Transformational leadership modifies this by impacting, motivating, and influencing the behaviours of employees. Change management is very important to organizations, but there is a need for an effective leadership style to be used [48] . Consequently, transformational leadership can be explored to transform organizations by ascertaining the need to formulate a new vision, change, and inspire followers to achieve these missions [3] . Usman [49] studied transformational leadership as a model for organizational change management and identified that transformational leadership is an adequate strategy to achieve organizational change in a dynamic environment. Abbasi [46] examined the link between transformational leadership and change enthusiasm and identified a positive relationship between transformational leadership and change management. Dillon & Manz [50] revealed that transformational leaders are the most appropriate and effective organizational change managers. The highest level of change management is expected when transformational leaders are committed and engaged in appropriate change behaviours [51] [52] . Also, Bradix [53] identified that transformational leadership is the most actively studied leadership style that transforms and changes an organization’s management activities.
2.2. Transformational Leadership in Education
The educational institution operates in a dynamic environment due to technological development, enhancement of social heterogeneity, and competition across the UK educational system [43] . Such changes are inevitable, and they influence inner educational changes that may affect students’ learning motivation. Hameiri & Nir [54] stressed that transformational leadership education has an important role in organizing and promoting the educational achievement of students. Thus, a series of empirical research has identified transformational leadership as a model for the educational system, to improve students’ motivation in schools [55] [56] . Biesta [57] defined education as an act of facilitating learning and acquiring useful knowledge such as skills, culture, norms, and beliefs. Hence, this form of education involves formal, non-formal, and informal, explicitly explaining how and where learning occurs in society. These educational activities are possible with good educational leadership practice, which requires lecturers, principals, and others to foster the learning and activities of students [58] . As a result, schools need transformational leaders in these activities to promote students’ learning motivation to a high level of ethics; because transformational lectures could create and put into practice the mission of education [59] [60] . Valentine & Prater [61] suggests that transformational leadership streamlines the organizational system to get the goals and vision of workers to be transformed and their duties to attain the goals. Following this assumption, this study proposed that the school transformation leadership approach would enable educational leaders to continuously evaluate educational performance, adopt appropriate leadership styles that would match school situations, and develop effective curriculum standards of learning. Unfortunately, no research has proven whether educational leaders have the required leadership knowledge and style to foster robust student learning motivation in schools [62] . For this reason, universities leaders could gain from this study and develop transformational leadership skills attested to promote student learning motivations in educational sectors. In addition, transformational leadership stimulates knowledge sharing among students in developing countries [63] ; by keeping constant communication and feedback with students. Nicdao [64] identified that through transformational leadership, educational leaders in different organizations could effectively understand students’ feelings, beliefs, and cultures to help them achieve goals in their respective schools.
There is a lack of research to prove that transformational leadership promotes students’ learning motivation in UK universities. However, evidence from studies in different countries has confirmed that the transformational leadership approach boosts teachers and students’ motivations in educational settings [63] [65] . For instance, a survey study of 378 teachers by Wang [65] revealed that school climate such as innovation and justice climate is extensively impacted by university leaders’ transformational leadership in China. Thus, Al-Husseini & Elbeltagi [63] argued that transformational leadership emphasizes students’ motivations and achievements by showing enthusiasm, vision for the future, and dedication to cultivating the plan to meet personal needs in Iraq. Questionnaire data from 655 Dutch schools by Beverborg et al. [66] showed that transformational leadership style promotes teamwork and maintains teachers’ range of teaching in schools. This suggests that university lecturers are transformational in teaching and learning methods [67] . Thus, both lecturers and students could be influenced when transformational leadership is explored by their educational leaders. For instance, Bouwmans et al. [68] identified that individual teacher information acquisition and teacher information processing are related to transformational leadership style in schools. This assumes that the more educational leaders explore transformational leadership, the more teachers and students are involved in information acquisition and information process learning activities to improve motivation.
Therefore, the transformational leadership approach could motivate individual students to improve beyond expectation and take responsibility for their everyday learning activities in the education context [69] . Furthermore, transformational leadership goes a long way to transforming teaching practice that is appropriate to positively influence students learning motivation [70] . Similarly, Schunk & Zimmerman [71] proved that motivation is an important mediating variable between transformational leadership style and students’ performance. Consequently, Kebede [18] claimed that transformational leadership attributes enrich students’ learning motivation through teachers’ encouragement and inspiration to achieve higher. However, it is advised that educational leaders adopt transformational leadership to maintain and monitor students learning motivation to improve their performance.
2.3. Student Learning Motivation
Educational scholars have indicated that motivation is one of the main components of learning that could enable students to focus more on school activities. It is also a potential concept to evaluate how far students can learn from academic activities [72] . Hence, motivation is defined in two categories: intrinsic motivation is the individual’s internal force or desire to achieve specific objectives. In contrast, extrinsic motivation is the external desire to achieve specific objectives [73] . Brophy [74] argued that the intrinsic motivation of students’ learning is more goal-oriented which occurs individually and involves the self-determination of students. Yet, this motivation is difficult to develop in a classroom context without an effective leadership approach. Despite this, educational leadership’s main objective is to elevate effective student learning motivation to improve their performance. Thus, the achievement of this objective requires an appropriate leadership approach by educational leaders because students learning motivation is a principal strategy to improve their academic achievement [75] . The leadership behaviour of school leaders forms the key element that determines the impact of students learning motivation [76] . So, teachers’ behaviour in terms of interpersonal communication with students in the classroom could be supportive, directive, and inspirational. In this fashion, Ryan & Deci [77] identified that teacher interpersonal behaviour is positively related to student learning outcomes and motivation. This aligned with Jovanovica & Ciricb ( [8] , p. 500) assertion that an effective leadership approach “will improve classroom practices, enhance the quality of teaching, student learning and achievement and student engagement as a learning outcome”. This suggests that a particular leadership approach connects with students’ learning motivations in classroom activities [78] .
Therefore, this study will significantly focus on how educational management of schools could improve students’ learning motivation by applying an effective transformational leadership approach. This would consider the contribution of transformational leadership through change management in developing students’ learning motivation, and the extent to which school leaders’ transformational leadership style promotes UK university students’ educational achievement. As well as how the functional attributes of transformational style such as maintenance of high educational standards, use of school authoritative leadership power to develop students’ knowledge, and students’ performance monitored promote student’s motivation and performance. This is because educational, transformational leadership practice in schools could continuously impact students’ motivation to obtain higher performance, self-efficacy, and employability [76] [79] .
3. Research Method
The research will examine how transformational leadership style influences student learning motivation in UK universities. Thus, data were obtained through a quantitative research method due to its suitability to address the research phenomenon. Following this, Neuenschwander [80] argued that the quantitative approach is a well-structured method designed to systematically collect data, manage, and concentrate on formulating the theory inferred inductively. So, a survey study was carried out by disseminating online questionnaires to university students across the UK.
The participants (students) were chosen through non-probability convenience and snowball sampling techniques to access students’ opinions quickly. Thus, enabling this study to explore qualified respondents to meet the target population [81] . In addition, participants’ gender, qualification, and leadership knowledge were employed as an instrument to elicit independent and dependent variables of this research. The questionnaire instrument consists of 35 items developed based on important information obtained in the literature with designed research objectives. The participants responded to the question adopting a 5-point Likert options scale from 1 (totally disagree) to 5 (totally agree) and 1 (extremely often) to 5 (not at all often). Out of 150 questionnaires distributed between students through social media, 120 were returned, demonstrating a reply range of 80%. The data arrangement and analysis were conducted using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). After data cleaning and weighting, the mean and standard deviation were considered to generate a descriptive presentation of the class of data obtained. Spearman’s rho and Kendall’s tau correlation was utilized to ascertain the range of which transformational leadership impacts student learning motivations and change in universities. The effect of school transformational leadership style on academic achievement of students and university performance in the UK (e.g., educational learning facilities, leadership style, communication, students’ culture, school standard, and performance evaluation) was studied using descriptive statistical analysis.
Results
Section 1: Descriptive statistics and correlations of participants variables by gender, qualification, and leadership knowledge (See Table 1).
The chart displayed the qualifications of participants that were analysed to determine how well the study met the needs of the targeted respondents. Accordingly, the chart clearly shows that many participants are master’s students at UK universities (See Figure 1).
Table 2 describing the proportion of variance in students’ leadership knowledge level. This analysis indicated that 80% of participants have the required level of leadership knowledge and its attributes, whereas 20% lack leadership knowledge. However, a brief explanation of leadership added to the questionnaire distributed to participants helped them understand all questions and respond accurately.
Section 2:
The coefficient of change management and students’ learning motivation, the results of the correlational analysis used Kendall’s tau b and Spearman’s rho ensure the validity of the results that show a significant relationship between student motivation, organizational change management, and the responsibility of a transformational leader to create an effective learning environment. A set of transformational leadership concepts was employed to design the survey instrument distributed to 120 participants. Therefore, perceived students’ motivation for
Gender disparity among participants
Frequency
%
Valid Percent
Cumulative Percent
Valid
Female
66
55
55
55
Male
54
45
45
100.0
Total
120
100.0
100.0
Proportion of variance describing student’s leadership knowledge level
Valid
Leadership Knowledge
Knowledgeable
Frequency
Percent
Valid Percent
Cumulative Percent
96
80
80
80
New
24
20
23.6
100.0
Total
120
100.0
100.0
change management and the leader’s responsibility was the transformational leadership style dimension identified by the findings of this analysis. The table indicates that the correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). The sig 2-tailed level is .000, which reveals a significant correlation between students’ motivation and change management organization; as a result, the relationship is positive at 71.4%, which shows that one variable goes up and down (See Table 3).
Table 4 shows the descriptive analysis of transformational leadership impact and achievement of UK university students. The result demonstrates that four out of six variables analysed have a significant range of values to investigate the influence of educational leaders’ transformational leadership on students’ achievement in UK universities. Thus, educational performance has the highest mean value with 4.19 and a standard deviation of 0.396, illustrating that transformational leadership style is greatly correlated with students’ educational performance. Constant communication and feedback score the second highest mean value with 4.15 and a standard deviation of 0.362, illustrating that communication and feedback are fairly student performance, adopting leadership style according to the situation with a range of 4 to 5 with a standard deviation of 1.427. At the same time, the mean score of curriculum standards designed to
Analyze the coefficients of transformational leadership theory for managing change on student learning motivation
Correlations
Students’ motivation
Change management organization
Responsibility for creating learning environments
Kendall’s tau_b Students’ motivation correlation coefficient Sig. (2. tailed) N Change management organization correlation coefficient Sig. (2. tailed) N (TL) Responsibility for creating learning environments coefficient Sig. (2. tailed) N Spearman’s rho Students’ motivation correlation coefficient Sig. (2. Tailed) N Change management organization correlation coefficient Sig. (2. Tailed) N (TL)Responsibility for creating learning environments coefficient Sig. (2. Tailed) N
**Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).
An analysis of transformational leadership at university and how it impacts students’ academic performance
z
N
Range
Minimum
Maximum
Mean
Std. Deviation
Educational performance.
27
1
4
5
4.19
0.396
Learning facilities.
27
0
4
4
4.00
0.000
Adopt leadership style according to the situation.
27
3
2
5
3.96
1.427
Curriculum Standard and Learning Performance
27
0
4
4
4.00
0.000
Constant communication and feedback improve student performance.
27
1
4
5
4.15
0.362
Students’ cultural background.
27
2
2
4
3.48
849
Valid N (Listwise)
27
improve students’ learning performance was 4.00 as a mixed result of constant communication, feedback, and students’ cultural background with a range of 4 to 4. There is a greater difference in how an educational leader adopts their leadership style according to the situation, ranging from 2 to 5, showing that leadership flexibility is a primary component of transformational leadership style, which has a significant impact on the educational achievement of students. Therefore, these results demonstrate that transformational leadership within the educational system promotes student motivation to learn and improves academic achievement.
Based on the mean and standard deviation, Table 5 shows how leaders cooperate to maintain a high level of educational achievement. As shown, there is a significant direct relationship between the transformational leadership functional attributes such as using leadership power to develop student knowledge is 4.74 with a standard deviation of 0.656. The mean of monitoring student performance is 4.00 with a standard deviation of 0. Conversely, the mean for educational performance is 4.19, with a standard deviation of 3.96. These results demonstrated that students are highly motivated when educational leaders collectively share ideas and goals with them. So, there is a strong relationship between transformational leadership with leadership power used by educational leaders to improve student knowledge and educational performance.
4. Discussion and Implications
The results of this research have proven that the educational transformational leadership approach in universities improves students’ academic performance. In addition, the results also confirmed a correlation between student motivation, organizational change management, and the responsibility of a leader to create a good learning environment. The outcome of this research is confirmed by the study’s results [82] . For instance, the correlation coefficient of students’ motivation under the concept of change management showed a direct correlation in all dimensions of transformational leadership on students learning motivation (R = 71p < 01). These results are akin to Van der Voet [45] assertion, which argued that change management involves change leadership that organizes, coordinates, and manages strategies to implement changes.
The results of the coefficient analysis of transformational leadership dimensions
The table presented the functional attributes of transformational leadership style on the educational performance of UK universities
Descriptive Statistics
N
Mean
Std Deviation
Ensure that the university maintains high educational standards.
27
3.96
0.437
Student knowledge is developed by 3. school authorities using their leadership power.
27
4.74
0.656
Students prefer to be monitored.
27
4.00
0.000
Educational performance. Valid N (listwise)
27
4.19
0.396
explored in this study, such as educational performance, learning facilities, leader flexibility, curriculum standard of a school, constant communication, and feedback, have a significant influence on students learning motivation [59] [83] . Thus, this study proposed that adequate implementation and practice of these dimensions could motivate students to learn more and achieve higher educational performance. Given that advanced educational systems need suitable learning facilities, curriculum standards, and a transformational leadership approach flexible in imparting knowledge to students. These results support this statement and are consistent with prior research on transformational leadership that examined the impact of transformational leadership in school [75] [22] [79] . However, unlike other research, this study explored different forms of transformational leadership dimensions that match the school context. It revealed that transformational leadership helps university leaders create a conducive learning environment and adapt to change that stimulates students towards a greater level of inspiration to achieve educational goals. Furthermore, results from the functional attributes of transformational leadership on the educational achievement of universities exploring components such as co-operating to maintain a high educational standard, school authority using leadership power to develop student knowledge, and student preferring to be monitored have positively contributed to the educational performance of the university. This result shows that students in various schools could engage with teachers collectively to share ideas and suggest ways to achieve their educational goals [84] . Given that transformational leadership flexibility promotes students learning motivation and enables university leaders to use their leadership power to develop knowledge.
4.1. Theoretical Implications
This study generates various contributions to the body of knowledge on educational leadership and management studies by critically exploring the roles of university leaders’ transformational leadership style on students learning motivation. Thus, firstly this study confirmed that transformational leadership style was significantly related to student motivation. This research postulated that the more university leaders are transformational, the more students are motivated to study harder. Transformational leaders proffer important goals and shift students’ affairs from their self-interest to collective goals. Secondly, this study proposed a new dimension of transformational leadership in educational settings which includes co-operating to maintain a high educational standard, professional development, design of curriculum and assessment within the needs of the student, and use of leadership power to develop knowledge, which is positively related to students’ motivation. Furthermore, transformational school leaders tend to help teachers understand that a school’s objectives can be attained and at the same time improve students’ learning motivation.
Hence, it arguably ponders these dimensions as a variable when studying the relationship between transformational leadership and students’ motivation. Furthermore, considering that students learning motivation is directly related to transformational leadership, which served as an implication to improve their performance. This study also provides possible explanations of participants’ responses high on the transformational leadership style attribute that enhances students’ motivation. This evidence is consistent with the assertion that effective actions of university leadership style improve students’ performance [39] . Thus, educational leaders should ensure that their transformational leadership approach motivates both academic staff and students to concentrate on the institution’s desired objectives and goals.
4.2. Practical Implications
Transformational leadership style builds strong confidence in individual students and inspires their university leaders to foster school changes. For these reasons, educational leaders who adopt transformational leadership effectively could significantly improve student learning motivation and accomplish educational goals. Practically, the results of this research are very important in university settings because the dimensions of transformational leadership used in this study provide school leaders with the mechanisms through which students can be motivated. In addition, the transformational leadership style provides a medium through which university leaders and students can share ideas to develop a vision that gives a clearer understanding of educational goals. Therefore, sharing ideas with the lecturers will help students assimilate the educational goals and equip them with new changes implemented in the universities. Transformational school leadership involves developing students’ knowledge and individual teachers; by transforming the university leaders to give individual needs, professional development opportunities, and support towards innovative ideas. These activities enable a good communication strategy that creates positive ideas and suggestions that would continuously lead to students’ development and change management practices within universities [85] .
5. Conclusion, Limitations, and Directions for Future Research
This research has revealed the transformational leadership approach as the key leadership style that brings out the vision, individual support, intellectual stimulation, and technological development as a vehicle that transports educational mission to the desired destination. Thus, this study argued that effective transformational leadership explored in the university’s context could impact and influence student learning motivation. However, empirically, this study has some limitations, which require further study; firstly, the research examines the influence of transformational leadership style on student learning motivation. Hence, further study should investigate the influence of other leadership styles such as transactional leadership, authoritative, democratic, and laissez-faire leadership on student motivation. Secondly, this study only examines university students; therefore, future research could study the influence of transformational leadership on teachers’ job commitment. Finally, this research focused on only universities; further study should also focus on both colleges and public sector organizations in the UK.
Conflicts of Interest
The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
Cite this paper
Emeanulu, L.U. and Sayed, H. (2024) The Influence of Transformational Leadership Style on Students’ Learning Motivation in UK Universities. Open Access Library Journal, 11: e11295. https://doi.org/10.4236/oalib.1111295
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