Relación entre el liderazgo transformacional y el clima orientado al servicio de los estudiantes: Evidencia exploratoria desde Chile

This study aims to explore the relationship between the transformational leadership style and the service-oriented climate of the students within the university academic units, trying to discover what dimensions or variables of transformational leadership (attributed idealized influence, behavioral idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, individual consideration) are related to a climate oriented to the quality of the service to students within the academic units and, subsequently, with the quality of the professional careers. We worked with a sample of 38 academic units belonging to four Chilean universities. The results show that there is evidence to relate the attributed idealized influence and the intellectual stimulation with a climate oriented to student service. The variables that define transformational leadership, as a whole, explain 23.0% of the variance in the climate oriented to student service. In turn, the service-oriented climate for students explains 31.1% of the degrees' quality, measured by the years of accreditation of the careers recognized by the National Commission of Accreditation. This exploratory research reveals preliminary evidence of the relationship between transformational leadership / climate oriented to student service / quality of professional careers and discusses the scope and implications of these findings.