Ownership Structure as a Context for Leadership Effectiveness: A Comparative Analysis of Leadership Styles and Their Impact on Employee Job Involvement, Work Motivation, and Job Satisfaction in Private and Company-Owned Tea Gardens of the Doomdooma Region

Abstract

The present study investigates the ownership structure as a meaningful organizational backdrop for leadership performance in the tea plantation sector in the Doomdooma region of Assam. The article is based on leadership theory, social exchange theory and work attitude literature. The paper compares private and business owned tea gardens with respect to leadership styles and three employee outcomes: job involvement, work motivation and job satisfaction. To illustrate a publishable empirical design, analysis and interpretation in SPSS style, a simulated pilot data set of 520 respondents from 17 tea gardens has been constructed. We examined five leadership styles: transformative, transactional, democratic, autocratic and laissez-faire. The results of the simulated analysis suggest that transformational and democratic leadership has higher average scores in company-owned gardens, and that private gardens have relatively higher autocratic and laissez-faire tendencies. Transformational and democratic leadership are positively associated with workplace involvement, work motivation, and job happiness, while autocratic and laissez-faire leadership are negatively associated. Independent sample comparisons also indicate that employee outcomes are stronger in company-owned gardens. The study provides a context-sensitive paradigm to understand leadership performance in plantation organizations and practical implications for tea garden managers, welfare officials, and policy stakeholders.