Leadership Style on SME Performance in South-South Nigeria

This study examined the effect of leadership styles on the performance of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the South-South of Nigeria. The study explored the influence that leadership styles have on performance, based on their interaction with organizational culture, currently dominant economic conditions, and employee skill sets. In particular, transformational, transactional, and laissez-faire leadership were analyzed. Four hundred respondents were selected with the use of a multistage sampling method from three states in the area. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS. Results showed that transformational and transactional leadership styles had a significant effect on the performance of SMEs in South-South. In particular, transactional leadership had a greater effect compared to transformational leadership. In contrast, laissez-faire leadership had a nonsignificant effect on the performance of SMEs. This report concluded that SME leaders in South-South Nigeria should consider the enhancement of both transformational and transactional leadership to include most especially transactional elements, while balancing their leadership