Assessing Leadership Efficacy of Department Heads: A Study of Faculty Perceptions at Two Historically Black Colleges and Universities in the Southeastern United States

Transformational leadership (TL) is a leadership approach that inspires followers and encourages their effective engagement to contribute adequately to organizational goal achievement. By inspiring followers to pursue and attain exceptional performance levels, TL accrues high follower satisfaction in their jobs and with their organizations (Asencio, 2016; Banks et al., 2016; Barnett, 2017; Bass & Riggio, 2006). This study examined faculty perceptions/ratings of transformational leadership behaviors of their department chairs at two Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) in the southeastern United States. A thorough examination of the data collected revealed that the faculty rated idealized attributes (IA) the highest (x̄=2.80, SD=0.13), followed by individualized consideration (x̄=2.58, SD=0.35), idealized behavior (x̄=2.51, SD=0.35), inspirational motivation (x̄=2.50, SD=0.29), and intellectual stimulation (x̄ =2.43, SD=0.35). Overall, the faculty ratings of their department chairs' transformational leadership behaviors appear low compared to other established transformational leadership norms (Avolio & Bass, 2004; Bass & Bass, 2008).