Thanaa Daraghmeh, a Ph.D student in the Educational Administration program, defended her dissertation entitled: "The Relationship of Participatory Leadership to Administrative Empowerment and Job Satisfaction in Palestinian Higher Education Institutions as Perceived by Employees and Designing a Proposed Model to Enhance Their Performance".
The research aimed to reveal the degree of practicing participatory leadership in its various aspects, and its relationship to administrative empowerment and job satisfaction in Palestinian higher education institutions from the point of view of the employees. In addition, the research aimed to identify the differences between the averages of the respondents' opinions on the degree of practicing participatory leadership in achieving administrative empowerment and job satisfaction from the workers' point of view. The study also aimed to come up with a proposed model to enhance administrative empowerment and job satisfaction in light of the participatory leadership style.
The researcher used the mixed-methods approach, relying on the descriptive approach and correlation for quantitative research, and the qualitative approach using the questionnaire and interview instruments to reach the results. The study sample consisted of (364) academics and administrative staff at Palestinian higher education institutions, while the interviews were conducted with (15) workers from the faculty and academic staff.
The most significant results of the study were that the degree of practicing participatory leadership with its aspects and the degree of achieving administrative empowerment and job satisfaction at Palestinian higher education institutions from the employees' point of view came with a high degree. The study revealed that there is a direct positive relationship with statistical significance at the level of (α≤0.05) between the degree of practicing participatory leadership in its various aspects in achieving administrative empowerment and job satisfaction from the point of view of workers at Palestinian higher education institutions.
The qualitative analysis of the study revealed, through the interviews that were conducted, that the degree of adherence to the participatory leadership style in all its aspects is well available among the directors of departments and heads of departments in the Palestinian universities from the point of view of the members of the administrative and teaching staff. Based on these findings, the researcher designed a proposed model to enhance administrative empowerment and job satisfaction in light of the participatory leadership style.
Based on the findings of the study, the researcher came out with a set of recommendations, the most important of which are: the adoption of the participatory leadership style in all higher education institutions as it raises the degree of administrative empowerment and job satisfaction among employees. Conducting a study on the degree of practicing participatory leadership by department heads in Palestinian public universities and its relationship to job satisfaction, and adopting a single financial policy for workers in governmental, private and public institutions to achieve justice and job satisfaction for all.
The study also recommended adopting the proposed model to improve the performance of workers in Palestinian higher education institutions as well as building a proposed model to enhance the participatory leadership skills of educational supervisors and principals at different educational levels. Furthermore, the study recommended building a proposed model to improve job satisfaction among workers in the directorates of education in the governorates of the West Bank in light of participatory leadership.
The researcher also suggested studying the obstacles of applying participatory leadership in Palestinian higher education institutions and the ways to address them.
The dissertation was supervised by Prof. Khaled Abu Asbeh, while the examination committee consisted of Prof. Magji Ali Zamel, Prof. Kamal Younes Makhamreh, and Dr. Mohammad Omran.
