Leadership Styles and Perceptions in Policing: Evidence from Kuwait’s Police Stations

Abstract

This study examines potential relationships between police leadership styles and perceptions of policing issues in Kuwait. Police station leaders (n = 60) completed a Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ-6S) to assess their leadership styles—transformational, transactional, and laissez-faire. This accompanied a survey assessing their attitudes on prominent themes in policing, including cultural constructs unique to the Middle East—specifically wasta (favoritism). Linear models were used to identify demographic predictors of leadership styles and to explore potential links between leadership traits and perceptions on policing themes. The findings revealed significant relationships in both sets of analyses. Officers with college degrees strongly correlated with transformational leadership, while transactional traits showed only minimal significance; additionally, experience in the position was associated with higher levels of laissez-faire leadership. Further analysis showed leaders who adopted laissez-faire mentalities hold more favorable views on the use of overtime, whereas transactional leaders expressed more favorable opinions of the public yet were less inclined to acknowledge the negative influence wasta has on police work. This study addresses substantial gaps in the literature, offering valuable insights into the current state of police leadership in Kuwait. It is also the first to explore wasta in the policing and criminal justice context in the Middle East, providing discussion to the cultural dimensions influencing law enforcement in the Arab region. Future research should expand on these cultural dimensions, as well as examine the potential benefits of leadership assessment and its alignment with desirable organizational outcomes in policing.