**4. Findings**

The study's objective was to determine students' preferred leadership styles. as part of this objective, the researchers measured preference for democratic leadership (see **Table 1**). We analysed frequencies for each item and presented the data as means. The scores for items that measured preference for democratic leadership style "SRC should involve us in decision making" (*M* = 3.67, *SD* = 0.53), "SRC should allow us to allow us to collectively brainstorm for decisions" (*M* = 3.46, *SD* = 0.64), "SRC should


### **Table 1.**

*Descriptive statistics for student preference for democratic leadership style.*


#### **Table 2.**

*Descriptive statistics on student preference for Laissez – Faire Leadership.*


#### **Table 3.**

*Descriptive statistics on student preference for autocratic leadership.*

implement the decision of the majority" (*M* = 3.43, *SD* = 0.70) and the overall score for students' preference for democratic leadership was (*M* = 3.52, *SD* = 0.45).

Also, we examined students' preference for Laissez-faire leadership (see **Table 2**). The scores for the items that measured preference for laissez-faire leadership were "Students should be allowed to make decisions that do not impede the functions and activities of the SRC" (*M* = 3.53, *SD* = 0.59), "SRC should trust students to be able to perform tasks assigned them by building their confidence" (*M* = 3.52, *SD* = 0.63), "The SRC should delegate some responsibilities to students" (*M* = 3.48, *SD* = 0.59). The overall score for student preference for laissez-faire leadership style was (*M* = 3.51, *SD* = 0.42).

Lastly, we examined students' preference for autocratic leadership (see **Table 3**). The scores for the items that measured preference for autocratic leadership were "The SRC should govern students by strict rules and regulations" (*M* = 2.60, *SD* 0.99) and "The ideas and judgement of the SRC should supersede that of students" (*M* = 2.37, *SD* = 0.93), "The SRC should allow no inputs from students in decision making" (*M* = 2.16, *SD* = 1.08) and the overall score for student preference for autocratic leadership was (*M* = 2.3, *SD* = 0.72).

Interestingly, mean scores for student preference for autocratic leadership demonstrate a preference for autocratic leadership in students, although it is the least preferred leadership style. A further regression analysis between age and level with a preference for autocratic leadership style shows a positive and significant relationship between student level and preference for autocratic leadership style [*R*<sup>2</sup> *=* 0*.*075*, F* (2.92) *=* 3.70*, p =* 0*.*028].
