The Role and Effect of Secure Attachment on Leadership Style Optimism and Management Performance among the Management Staff of the Hospitality Industry in India and Nigeria

Abstract

This research was conducted to investigate the role and effect of secure attachment on leadership style and optimism. Furthermore, the relationship between attachment orientations and management performance was also studied. The research was non-experimental design, cross sectional, and correlational in design with samples drawn from the hospitality industry in two countries- India and Nigeria. The data collection instruments used was questionnaires and the sampling method used was purposive sampling. Out of three hundred questionnaires given out in both countries, two hundred were finally used for analysis after proper sorting out of the questionnaires to determine which ones were fit for data analysis. The respondents in this research were the management staff of the hospitality industry in Abuja, Nigeria, and Gurgaon, NCR, India. The respondents were from sixteen different top rated hotels in Abuja, Nigeria while the respondents in the India sample were from twelve different top rated hotels in Gurgaon, India. The study investigated the attachment orientations, leadership, styles, optimism indexes of the respondents as well as the interrelationships among these variables and also the performance of the management staff vis-à-vis their attachment and leadership styles, and optimism index. The data obtained were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) Version 16.0 and the results obtained showed a significant positive relationship between secure attachment and transformational leadership, optimism, and management performance. The results also showed a negative relationship between secure attachment and transactional as well as laissez-faire leadership.