Democratic vs. Authoritarian: Which Leadership Style Drives Motivation? A Correlational, Predictive, and Comparative Study in Gujrat, Pakistan

Abstract

This research study aimed at establishing the relation, prediction, and comparison of the democratic and authoritarian leadership styles with regard to employee work motivation among 200 employees located in Gujrat, Pakistan. It utilized Leadership Style Questionnaire and the Work Extrinsic and Intrinsic Motivation Scale in collecting the data. Pearson correlation showed that there was a significant, positive correlation between democratic leadership and intrinsic motivation (r =.45, p<.01), whereas there was a negative correlation between authoritarian leadership and intrinsic motivation (r =- 0.34, p <. 01), and there was a positive correlation between authoritarian leadership and extrinsic motivation (r =.41, p <. 01). The regression analysis revealed that intrinsic motivation was significantly forecasted by democratic leadership (R 2 =. 20, 8 =.45, p=.001), but extrinsic motivation was significantly forecasted by authoritarian leadership ( R 2 =. 17, 8 =.41, p=.001). The independent samples t-test showed that employees with democratic management had a much higher intrinsic motivation (M = 4.02) than the employees with authoritarian management (M = 3.42) t(198) = 7.34, p =.001. On the other hand, the high extrinsic motivation was significantly higher among employees who were under authoritarian leadership (M avg. 3.58) than among employees who were under the democratic leadership (M avg. 3.25), t(198) = -4.22, p =.001. The results have reached a conclusion that democratic leadership and authoritarian leadership have intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation respectively. The research has practical implications to the organization leaders and policymakers in Gujrat.

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