Moderator variables, analysis, and operational definitions

Moderator analysis is an analysis method used to test the direction of the differences between subgroups and the average effect sizes of the variables (Karadağ, 2020). The statistical significance of the difference between the moderator variables was tested using the Q statistical method developed by Hedges and Olkin (1985). In this method, the Q_b value was calculated to test the homogeneity between the groups (Kulinskaya et al., 2008; Borenstein et al., 2009). In the study, leadership styles, the continent, national culture and HDI variables were determined as moderator variables since they were thought to play a role in the average effect size.

The first moderator variable is leadership styles. In this research, moderators of leadership styles include: (i) transformational leadership, (ii) transactional leadership, (iii) passive leadership, (iv) servant leadership, (v) spiritual leadership and (vi) other. Other leadership styles discussed in the research are the studies gathered under the title of “other” and include the styles of leadership in which research based on a single frequency are found.

The second moderator variable, the continent where the research took place, was evaluated in terms of whether they were moderators in the relationship between leadership styles in HEI and academic staff’s job satisfaction. In this study, there are 6 studies from the African continent (3 countries), 22 studies from the Americas (11 countries), 20 studies from the Asian continent (11 countries), and 9 studies from the European continent (3 countries).

The third moderator variable is the national cultures of the countries (individualistic and collectivist cultures) named by Triandis and Gelfand (1998) and classified in Hofstede Insights (2020). People living in societies with an individualistic culture use their preferences within the social framework in the society; individuals in collectivist cultures meet the needs of their families and social frameworks before their own needs (Triandis, 1996) and shape their national cultures by preserving the integrity and order of the society Biddle (2012). In individualistic societies, individuals shape the society according to their own decisions and preferences and accept life as their own Biddle (2012). In collectivist societies, the services of individuals to society are taken as basis for social order and the life of individuals is seen as belonging to the society, they are a part of (Biddle, 2012). In line with all these views, the relationship between leadership in HEI and academic staff’s job satisfaction in countries with individualistic and collectivist cultures has been reviewed. In this study, of the 57 studies included in the national culture moderator analysis, 26 (n = 13) belong to a collectivist culture and 31 (n = 14) belong to an individualistic culture. The majority of research on individualistic culture has been carried out in the United States and European countries.

The fourth and final moderator variable is the current HDI, which expresses the economic, social, political and cultural processes (United Nations Development Programme (UNDP),2019) that expand individuals’ choices. In this meta-analysis study, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) (2019) is based on the HDI classification United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) (2019). Human development reports provide information and comments to eliminate general disadvantages in all countries in the world (Koçal, 2018). In the report, countries are classified as very high human development, high human development, medium human development, and low human development United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) (2019). Human development indices range from zero to one. The closeness of the index value to one is an indicator of very high human development. Considering the distribution of the research according to the HDI, it is seen that 42 studies have a very high index (19 countries), 6 studies a high index (5 countries), 4 studies a medium index (2 countries), and 5 studies a low index (2 countries).