Leadership Styles, and Their Relationship with Quality Management Practices in Public Hospitals in Saudi Arabia

The purpose of this study was to determine the relationships between leadership styles (transformational leadership style, transactional leadership style and laissez-faire leadership styles), and quality management practices in Saudi public hospitals. A quantitative research design was adopted to collect data, test hypotheses, and answer the research questions. A cross-sectional survey method was used to conduct this study. Results of the study revealed that the transformational leadership style has a significant, positive relationship with quality management practices. However, the transactional and laissez-faire leadership styles were found to significantly and negatively relate to quality management practices. Based on the results, it is recommended that hospitals recruit leaders with transformational style, and also hold seminars to train current leaders to become more transformational.