THE IMPACT OF NEUROTICISM ON LEADERSHIP ATTITUDES AMONG GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS IN ENUGU STATE: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY

Abstract

This exploratory study investigates the impact of neuroticism on leadership attitudes among government officials in Enugu State, Nigeria. Against the backdrop of Nigeria’s public sector reform challenges and rising citizen dissatisfaction with governance efficacy (World Bank, 2023), the research addresses critical gaps in personality-behavioral linkages within African bureaucratic contexts. Neuroticism refers to a personality trait characterized by a tendency to experience negative emotion such as anxiety, anger and vulnerable to stress.  Neuroticism affects  attitudes of leaders, which shapes their styles of leadership, for instance individuals high in neuroticism tend to exhibit more authoritarian and rigid leadership styles, while individuals low in neuroticism tend to exhibit more transformational leadership. The researcher employed cross sectional design and used purposive sampling to get 200 hundred participants from the population of 17,483 civil servants. Two standardized questionnaire were used to collect data which were multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) and Neuroticism questionnaire (coined from big five personality questionnaire). Descriptive statistics were used to summarize the demographic characteristics of the respondents. Inferential statistics,    including multiple regression analysis was used to examine the relationship between neuroticism and leadership attitudes. Results from the formulated hypothesis showed that there was a significant influence of neuroticism on leadership attitudes among government officials in Enugu State. There searcher concluded that neuroticism has significant influence on leadership attitudes among government officials and this has implications for leadership development and organizational effectiveness. It was therefore recommended that organizations should develop strategies to promote more transformational leadership and improve organizational outcomes, by subjecting aspiring leaders to mental health evaluation before considering them worthy of elective positions.