Leadership styles and roles of information professionals in supporting academic institutions

Background Leadership styles and the roles that information professionals play in academic institutions are fundamental in the present-day knowledge economy. Many organisations including academic institutions in the context of some developing economies have been devoid of a good leadership style leading to deviating from meeting their organisational goals. Purpose It is on this basis this study investigates leadership styles and roles of information professionals in support of academic institutions. In so doing, three research objectives were used to guide the study. Research Design This study employed a qualitative research approach to explore the leadership styles suitable for information professionals in academic institutions, determine their roles, and identify factors that may interfere with these roles while applying leadership styles. The data for this study were collected through an interpretive content analysis of literature sourced from Scopus and Google Scholar. Only articles published between 2020 and 2024 were included in the study. Results The findings revealed that information professionals need to apply diverse leadership styles such as transformational, transactional, and laissez-faire to adaptive which would assist them in strengthening the tasks carried out in academic institutions. Information professionals should ensure academic institutions meet their organizational goals and teaching, learning, and research objectives through their leadership styles. Factors such as autocracy and dictatorship should be avoided to have smooth and balanced academic institutions’ productivity. Conclusion The findings of this study have implications for theory, practice, policy, and literature. First, the study’s findings advance theoretical understanding by highlighting the nuanced application of leadership styles in academic settings for information professionals. Practically, the study emphasizes the importance of selecting and adapting leadership styles to the dynamic needs of information professionals. More so, the study recommends overhauling the organisation’s leadership roles by changing policies that best suit how long information professionals should occupy certain positions.