The mediating role of organizational culture in the relationship between leadership styles and academic staff job satisfaction in Somaliland higher education institutions

This study investigates how leadership styles influence academic staff job satisfaction in Somaliland’s higher education institutions (HEIs) through the mediating role of organizational culture. Anchored in Path-Goal Theory and the Competing Values Framework, the research aligns these organizational dynamics with Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4 (Quality Education) and SDG 8 (Decent Work). Data were collected from 263 academic staff across six universities using validated questionnaires. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) utilizing the lavaan package in R showed excellent model fit (CMIN/df = 2.40, CFI = 0.961, TLI = 0.948, RMSEA = 0.073). Leadership styles strongly predicted organizational culture (β = 0.89, p < 0.001), and culture positively affected job satisfaction (β = 0.55, p = 0.024). Mediation analysis using bias-corrected bootstrapping (5,000 iterations) confirmed a significant indirect effect (β = 0.487, p = 0.019, 95% CI [0.142, 1.159]). The direct effect of leadership on satisfaction was non-significant (β = 0.28, p = 0.276), confirming full mediation. The model explained 81.1% of the variance in organizational culture and 63.4% in job satisfaction. Findings indicate that leadership enhances satisfaction exclusively by shaping a supportive institutional culture. The results suggest that sustainable academic environments in transitional states like Somaliland require leaders to function as “cultural architects”. The study recommends integrating cultural diagnosis into leadership development and prioritizing institutional culture as a primary strategy for faculty retention and academic sustainability.