Gender Variation in Leadership Behavior Traits among Healthcare Managers in Government Health Sectors in Bangladesh

Authors

  • Rezwana Islam Department of Public Health and Hospital Administration, National Institute of Preventive and Social Medicine (NIPSOM), Dhaka-1212, Bangladesh
  • Md Nazmul Hassan Refat Department of Public Health and Hospital Administration, National Institute of Preventive and Social Medicine (NIPSOM), Dhaka-1212, Bangladesh
  • Abu Sadat Mohammad Nurunnabi Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, ON, Canada
  • Shabnaj Aktar Department of Public Health and Hospital Administration, National Institute of Preventive and Social Medicine (NIPSOM), Dhaka-1212, Bangladesh
  • Gul-E Noor Tasmia Department of Public Health and Hospital Administration, National Institute of Preventive and Social Medicine (NIPSOM), Dhaka-1212, Bangladesh
  • Abu Sufian Shojon Department of Epidemiology, National Institute of Preventive and Social Medicine (NIPSOM), Dhaka-1212, Bangladesh
  • Kawser Ahamed Department of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, Bangladesh Medical University (BMU), Dhaka-1000, Bangladesh
  • Md Rezaul Islam Department of Anesthesiology & ICU, Shaheed Monsur Ali Medical College Hospital, Uttara, Dhaka-1230, Bangladesh

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.31344/ijhhs.v10i4.997

Keywords:

Leadership behavior, leadership traits, gender variation, healthcare managers, public health sector

Abstract

Assessment of leadership behavior has become more important than ever in recent years to enhance the managerial and leadership qualities of health managers to improve the capacity of healthcare delivery to the people of the country. A descriptive type of cross-sectional study was conducted among 154 medical doctors working in different management positions, between January and December of 2023, to observe gender related variation in their leadership behavior traits. Data was collected by face-to-face interview using modified Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ). Four leadership styles (autocratic, democratic, transformational and laissez-faire) were assessed. 15 factors were taken into consideration; each factor had 3 associated questions. Using factor analysis, leadership behavior was classified as high, moderate and low; low value was 0–4, while medium and high values were 5–8 and 9–12, respectively. The mean age of the respondents was (43.25±8.387) years; 35.7% belonged to 41–50 years age group. 74.7% were male and 25.3% were female (male-female ratio was nearly 3:1). Most of our study participants exhibited moderate levels of autocratic (66.2%) and laissez-faire (50.2%) leadership behaviour in their managerial roles. In contrast, they displayed high levels of democratic (96.8%) and transformational (93.5%) leadership behavior. Regarding gender difference, there was an association between gender and autocratic and democratic leadership behavior traits (p<0.05). However, no association was observed between gender and transformational and laissez faire leadership behavior traits (p>0.05). Male managers possessed moderate autocratic (φ=0.245) and laissez-faire (φ=0.073) leadership behaviour traits and high democratic (φ=0.315) and transformational (φ=0.819) leadership behaviour traits, as compared to their female counterparts.

International Journal of Human and Health Sciences Vol. 10 No. 04 Oct’26 Page: 257-262

Downloads

Published

2026-08-30

How to Cite

Islam, R., Refat, M. N. H., Nurunnabi, A. S. M., Aktar, S., Tasmia, G.-E. N., Shojon, A. S., … Islam, M. R. (2026). Gender Variation in Leadership Behavior Traits among Healthcare Managers in Government Health Sectors in Bangladesh. International Journal of Human and Health Sciences (IJHHS), 10(4), 257–262. https://doi.org/10.31344/ijhhs.v10i4.997

Issue

Vol. 10 No. 4 (2026)

Section

Original Articles

License

Copyright (c) 2026 Rezwana Islam

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Authors who publish in the International Journal of Human and Health Sciences agree to the following terms that:

  1. Authors retain copyright and grant International Journal of Human and Health Sciences the right of first publication of the work.

  2. Creative Commons Licence
    Articles in International Journal of Human and Health Sciences are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License CC BY-4.0.This license permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
  3. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
  4. Authors are permitted to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as greater citation of published work.

Most read articles by the same author(s)