INTRODUCTION:

Leadership is a prerequisite for enhanced performance and competitive advantage across various industries, including the media sector. In media organizations, leadership plays a particularly critical role due to the unique, creative nature of the field. Media professionals—such as journalists, producers, directors, and scriptwriters—are tasked with transforming ideas into compelling content, including news stories, features, investigative reports, interviews, and television programs.

Media management typically involves four vital functions: content creation, content delivery, content monetization, and audience engagement. As noted by Aris and Bughin, 2005, even the best facilities and technologies are insufficient if leadership fails to inspire media personnel to generate attractive and effective content.

The media industry in India has experienced rapid growth, and Kerala is one of the leading states in this sector. With over one lakh registered newspapers and 885 television channels nationwide, Kerala contributes significantly through a wide range of publications and broadcasting outlets. Since the early 2000s, the state has witnessed an accelerated proliferation of newspapers and TV channels, driven largely by technological advancement.

Despite the transformative role of technology, organizational leadership remains a cornerstone of media firm performance. Leadership behavior is closely linked to job satisfaction and productivity, both of which directly affect organizational outcomes (Richmond et. al., 1986).

In a democratic society, the media serves as a vital pillar, informing the public and holding authorities accountable. This underscores the importance of effective leadership in ensuring the integrity, relevance, and impact of media outputs. Strong leadership can motivate teams to deliver high-quality content, which in turn enhances organizational performance and meets the expectations of audiences.

The transformational and transactional leadership styles are widely followed in the media sector. This study seeks to find out the common leadership style adopted by Kerala’s print and visual media managers. With the help of a questionnaire, the employees have rated their managers’ leadership behaviour, revealing whether their heads adopt the transformational or transactional leadership.

Overview of Newspapers and TV Channels in Kerala

The media has the potential to either benefit or harm shareholders. It is suggested that the extent of this influence is largely determined by the media's credibility, while the overall impact, whether positive or negative, is shaped by prevailing societal norms and values (Abraham, 2014).

The media industry is a mixture of diverse media activities such as publishing and broadcasting. This industry consists of the broadcasting industry in the form of television and radio, the print industry in the form of newspapers and magazines, and the film and recorded music industry (Albarren et. al., 1996).

The press, television, and radio are referred to as the mass media. This is so due to the fact their reach to the audience is vast. They transmit the messages to the masses in a fast manner, particularly the electronic media. Mass media's functions center on information, entertainment, interpretation of events, bonding, or bringing people together.

Kerala has the highest literacy rate in India, and the level of newspaper consumption is one of the largest nationwide. The newspaper has been an essential source of information and news dissemination in the state.

Jeffery (2000) indicated that the development of print media in Kerala went through three stages. The first was the rarity stage between 1600-1870, when the printing press existed but was exclusive. The second stage was called the scarce stage, which happened between 1870 and 1970. In this stage, newspapers and periodicals went into circulation, but it was insufficient. The third was the mass stage, when the newspapers became available and accessible to the public.

Kerala witnessed the publication of the first newspaper in June 1847. A Christian missionary group of German origin started publishing the newspaper named 'Rajyasamacharam,' which focused on religious matters and intended to promote the Christian faith. The newspaper was published from Thalassery in Kannur district.

The second newspaper in Kerala came into existence in October 1847. That newspaper was called 'Paschimodayam.' It also began publishing from Thalassery, and its contents contained topics on history, natural science, geography, and astronomy.

In November 1848, Jnana Nikshepam newspaper was the third newspaper in Kerala. It started publishing from Kottayam.

The fourth newspaper in Kerala was Vidyasamgraham. It is considered the first educational publication, and it started publishing in 1864 from Kottayam.

In 1876, the fifth newspaper, Sathyananda Kahalam, began publishing under the Italian Carmelite Mission's auspices. It changed its name to 'Sathyanadam' in 1926. It was merged with Kerala Times in 1970.

Deepika newspaper came into being in 1887, and it covered various popular movements like Malayali memorial and Vaikkom Sathyagraha. It started publishing every fortnight. In 1927, it began circulating daily. It is known as the oldest Malayali surviving newspaper.

Today, Kerala is rich in newspapers in English and Malayalam. The circulation is tremendous, and the number of readerships is high. Malayala Manorama, Mathrubhmi, Deshabhimani, Madhyamam, and Kerala Kamudi are among India's highly circulated Malayalam newspapers.

TV Channels in Kerala:

Television is a powerful and influential medium, especially in times of national crisis or disaster. It holds the potential to either promote peace or contribute to unrest. Additionally, it can play a positive role in strengthening family relationships and mitigating domestic conflict and violence (Ayedee and Manocha, 2020).

In Kerala's context, the media scenario in the state saw a massive change with the arrival of television. The first television channel started broadcasting in January 1985, marking a new media era with the Doordarshan as the state's first government television station. This television channel began with a 10-minute news bulletin and an hour-long evening program. It relayed the Hindi programs of the national network for the rest of the day.

During the nineties of the past century, private channels began broadcasting in Kerala, leading to television popularity. In August 1993, Asianet emerged as the first private television channel in Kerala. The Asianet channel headquartered in Trivandrum had a dominant presence in the private visual media industry for a decade.

In 1998, Surya television was launched as the second private TV channel in Malayalam. It broadcasts entertainment programs and other reality shows, news programs, and talk shows.

Kairali is the third private television station in Malayalam. It was inaugurated in 2000 under the sponsorship of the Communist Party of India. It broadcast news and entertainment programs 24 hours from the beginning.

Jeevan TV channel is the fourth television channel in Kerala, and it emerged in 2002. It began broadcasting news and entertainment programs. It is headquartered in Kochi, Kerala. In 2003, another channel started broadcasting in Kerala. It was the Indiavision that focused on news around the clock. However, it ceased broadcasting in 2015. More TV channels have kept emerging in Kerala since early 2000. In 2005, Amrita television started broadcasting various shows and programs related to news, politics, comedy, and music.

The technological advancement in visual media has made television a favorite source to watch the news and follow events locally, regionally, and internationally. This matter has given immense strength to the television channels, making them the preferred traditional media platforms. Nowadays, over 40 television channels are broadcasting from Kerala, offering various news, movies, entertainment, and music. Trivandrum alone accommodates the headquarters and bureaus of 20 news TV channels, according to Kerala's 2018 Media Handbook.

REVIEW OF LITERATURE :

Nature of Leadership

Problems arising in organizations or even nations are attributed to leadership incompetence. Therefore, changing the leader is usually a requirement to remedy the situation. Leadership is tied to all walks of life. It is among the most observed phenomena but one of the least understood on earth (Burns, (1978).

It has been studied since the emergence of civilization (Bratton et al. (2005)). Given the significance of this concept, research has been carried out to further understand this social science topic. According to Luthans (1997), leadership has probably been written about, formally researched, and informally discussed more than any single subject. Rukmani and Jayakrishnan (2010) say leadership "is present in all cultures and has existed for as long as people have interacted." Though the nature of leadership nature cannot have one single explanation, Northouse (2004) postulates that the bulk of leadership definitions have a consensus on some characteristics, and they are as follows:

1. Leadership is a process.

2. Leadership is an influence.

3. Leadership requires action to direct a group.

4. Leadership achieves goals.

Gill (2012) proposed six fundamental themes of effective leadership and explained what leaders do and how they practice leadership. The six themes are briefly illustrated as follows:

Vision: Effective leaders have a vivid vision that is convincingly communicated to the subordinates.

Purpose: Effective leaders determine and communicate a persuading mission.

Values: Effective leaders present and promote shared values to boost the vision, the mission, and the strategies.

Strategy: Effective leaders put forward, communicate, and carry out feasible strategies and enable the people to pursue the mission and the vision.

Empowerment: Effective leaders empower people so that they can do what is required to be done.

Engagement: Effective leaders get people involved to do what needs to be done by using their personal power to inspire them.

Organizations can achieve exceptional success when leaders foster a mutually beneficial relationship with their followers; transformational leadership is the key to future progress (Jha, 2019).

There is a significant link between emotional intelligence and the transformational leadership style (Sood and Kaushal, 2018). Transformational leaders inspire employees to exceed expectations and consistently support others in managing their emotions, fostering effective communication, and resolving conflicts.

Effective service delivery heavily depends on both management and leadership. While they share certain similarities, they often require distinct perspectives, skill sets, and behaviors (Anbu, 2019).

Ethical leadership promotes ethical conduct, encouraging and guiding followers toward sound moral decision-making; it significantly influences both employee performance and overall organizational outcomes (Bansal and Kumar, 2018).

There is a meaningful connection between transformational leadership and institution-building practices. Transformational leadership has proven to be highly effective in fostering and advancing the development of strong institutional foundations (Mufeed, 2018).

Pattnaink (2014) found a strong positive relationship between employees' psychological attachment and effective leadership. The researcher concluded that a clear organizational vision plays a crucial role in enhancing employees’ emotional connection to the organization.

Leadership is key to handling the global challenges of the 21st century, and there is a need for leaders (both managers and executives) to think, act and lead differently while adopting a more caring management style (Lim, 2020).

Leadership can be viewed as a skill rather than an inherent personality trait. However, when this skill is nurtured and developed, it not only cultivates leadership qualities but also contributes to the overall growth and enhancement of one’s personality (Chakraborty, 2022).

Transformational Leadership:

Bass and Avolio (1994) suggested that transformational leadership is nearer to the leadership prototype people think of when describing their ideal leader. It is likely to provide a role model with which subordinates want to identify. Bass and Avolio developed the concept to categorize five transformational styles applied by leaders. These are as follows:

Idealized influence: Idealized Influence (Attributes) is associated with the leader being trusted and respected, while Idealized Influence (Behaviours) means that the leader demonstrates high moral standards, values, beliefs, and principles.

Inspirational motivation: It means that leaders communicate their optimism about the future; have a compelling future vision; talk enthusiastically about what needs to be accomplished, and exhibit confidence in their ability to execute.

Intellectual stimulation: Leaders seek different perspectives to problem-solving; encourage creative thinking; question ideas that have been questioned before.

Individualized consideration: Leaders spend time coaching and teaching individuals, consider individual's needs, abilities, and strengths, listen to people, and develop followers to become leaders.

Transactional Theory of Leadership:

This leadership theory was first coined by Max Weber in 1947. Weber stated that this leadership concentrates on the fundamental management process of controlling, organizing, and short-term planning. According to Hellriegel and Slocum (2007), transactional leadership includes followers' motivation and direction primarily through appealing to their self-interest. This kind of leadership sets performance expectations and goals and provides feedback to subordinates. The core source of power in this leadership comes from the formal authority and responsibilities in the organization.

Transactional leaders adopt a process of motivating subordinates by appealing to their self-interest (Bass (1985). According to Bass, this leadership style depends on the following dimensions:

A. Contingent Reward: This dimension includes identifying the task required to be achieved and the use of incentives and contingent rewards to influence motivation.

B. Management by Exception (Active): The transactional leader determines the standard for compliance and may opt for punishing staff for not complying with the standards.

C. Management by Exception (Passive)

It means failing to interfere until the problem becomes serious and waiting for things to go wrong before taking action.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY:

Design of the Study:

This study is descriptive. It reveals the leadership behaviour adopted by print and visual media managers in Kerala.

Sampling:

The state of Kerala is geographically divided into three divisions, namely north Kerala, Central Kerala, and South Kerala. Each division includes particular districts. One district from each division was randomly chosen. Kozhikode from North Kerala, Ernakulam from Central Kerala, and Trivandrum from South Kerala were selected. There exist 29 newspaper headquarters and bureaus and 17 television headquarters and bureaus in the Kozhikode district, according to the media handbook 2018. Ernakulam has 40 newspaper headquarters and bureaus and 17 television headquarters and bureaus. Moreover, Trivandrum has 56 newspaper headquarters and bureaus and 20 television headquarters and bureaus. The selected newspapers and TV channels have high rates of readership and viewership in the state.

After the random selection of districts, the newspapers and television channels were randomly chosen. Ten newspapers and five television channels from each district were randomly taken. The total number of newspapers is 30, and the total number of selected television channels is 15. The total of both is 45.

The Variables of the Study:

Table 1. presents study parameters of this study

Name of Variable

No. of Items

Transactional leadership

Contingent reward

Management by exception (active)

Management by exception (passive)

Transformational leadership

Idealized Influence (Attributes)

Idealized Influence (Behaviours)

Inspirational Motivation

Intellectual Stimulation

Individual Consideration

Questionnaire Design and Reliability:

The present study has utilized a structured questionnaire to collect the responses of the employees who were asked to rate the leadership behaviour of their supervisors. The present study has adopted the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ)-5X Short Rater Form (Bass et al., 1995) as a primary data collection instrument. This questionnaire measured transactional and transformational leadership. The MLQ is a universally accepted data collection instrument that evaluates transactional, transformational, and laissez-faire leaders' behaviours (Avolio and Bass, 2004).

ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION:

Table 2 presents the demographic information of the respondents.

Table 2. Distribution Employees by Their Characteristics

Characteristics		Employees
Characteristics		N	%
Age	20 to 30 years	197	56.61
	31 to 40 years	117	33.62
	41 to 50 years	34	9.77
Gender	Male	295	84.77
Gender	Female	53	15.23
Education	Diploma	30	8.62
	Graduate	222	63.79
	Post Graduate	96	27.59
	Ph.D./Doctorate	0	0.00
Years of Work Experience	1 to 5 years	154	44.25
	6 years to 10 years	157	45.11
	11 to 15 years	34	9.77
	16 to 20 years	3	0.86
	Over 20	0	0.00
Type of Media Organization	Print Media	253	72.70
Type of Media Organization	visual Media	95	27.30
Total		348	100.00

Source: Primary Data

The difference in the Perception of Kerala’s Print and Visual Media Employees regarding the Adopted Leadership Style in the Workplace:

Table 3 illustrates the difference in the perception of print and visual media employees about the leadership style. The employees have not shown differing views with respect to transactional leadership. In the first dimension (contingent reward), there is no significant difference in the employees' perception in the print and visual media. Moreover, employees' perceptions in print and visual media appear similar with regard to management by exception (active). Likewise, the employees’ perceptions did not largely differ in terms of the management by exception (passive).

In addition, the employees in print and visual media did not show a wide disparity in their perception of transformational leadership. There is no significant difference in employees' opinion regarding transformational leadership in print and visual media when it comes to the first dimension, idealized influence (attribute). Similarly, there is no significant disparity in the perception of print and visual media employees regarding the idealized influence(behaviour).

The employees in both print and visual media did not show a significant difference in their opinion about inspirational motivation. There is also no significant difference in the opinion of print and visual media about the individual consideration. However, the print and visual media employees show a difference in their perception regarding intellectual stimulation as the significance level is 0.031.

Based on the table above, it can be seen that the significance level from the MANOVA test is 0.164, which is higher than 0.05. Therefore, it is inferred that there is no difference in the perception of employees in the print and visual media regarding the adopted leadership style is accepted. The result can be interpreted that print and visual media tend to practice transformational leadership more than transactional leadership. The transformational leadership style pleases the employees, encourages and empowers them (Khan et. al., 2012).

Table 4. Mean scores of transitional and transformational leaderships with the test of significance

Type of leadership	Mean	S.D.	Paired t-test
			T	Sig.
Transactional Leadership	2.81	0.44	-32.577	0.000
Transformational Leadership	3.64	0.39

Source: Primary Data

Table 4 shows that the mean score of transformational leadership is higher than the mean score of transactional leadership. It can be inferred from the results that the transformational leadership style is more prevalent than the transactional leadership style. This result is consistent with other studies conducted outside India. Tsourvakas et al. (2007) conducted a study on the leadership styles in the Greek media companies, finding out that media leaders adopted a mixed leadership style that engages both transformational and transactional styles to predict the peculiar internal and external media environment. The transformational leadership style is a recipe for good performance in the media houses. Former Director-General of the BBC Greg Dyke adopted transformational leadership during his tenure from 2000 to 2003. Dyke’s policies, such as brainstorming workshops, smooth communication between employees and managers, and valuing and implementing the staff's suggestions, led to a substantial change in the organization (Kung, 2008).

CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS:

This study has concluded that the contingent regard leadership is prevalent in the print and visual media of Kerala. On further examination, it was revealed that managers use and recognition and rewards to influence the motivation of the employees. The management by exception (active) leadership is less prevalent in Kerala's print and visual media. Based on explanation of this parameter, it was revealed that most managers do not resort to practicing this leadership behaviour.

The management by exception (passive) leadership is less prevalent in Kerala's print and visual media. Based on the adequate analysis, it was found most managers do not adopt this leadership behaviour. The transformational leadership style is more prevalent than the transactional leadership style in Kerala's print and visual media.

Not all managers are familiar with the leadership styles. This entails conducting leadership training for managers. The training needs to equip managers with leadership theories so that they know what kind of leadership is required and in which context. Besides, the leadership training needs to include motivation-related theories. This training can arm the managers with the needed knowledge pertaining to the employees’ hierarchy of needs and how managers can understand the media workforce and take action accordingly.

Print and visual media managers in Kerala can adopt both transformational and transactional leadership based on their understanding of the employees' motives. Some employees are motivated by financial rewards, and others are interested in and proud of organizations that articulate great visions and missions.

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Received on 01.06.2025 Revised on 10.07.2025

Accepted on 12.08.2025 Published on 18.02.2026

Available online from February 21, 2026

Asian Journal of Management. 2026;17(1):1-7.

DOI: 10.52711/2321-5763.2026.00001

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Creative Commons License.

Leadership Parameters		Print Media		Visual Media		ANOVA		MANOVA
Leadership Parameters		Mean	S.D.	Mean	S.D.	F	Sig.	F	Sig.
Transactional	Contingent Reward	3.62	0.89	3.53	0.76	0.742	0.390	1.477	0.164
	Management-by-Exception (Active)	2.55	0.89	2.71	0.85	2.303	0.130
	Management-by-Exception (passive)	2.29	0.44	2.22	0.62	1.319	0.252
Transformational	Idealized influence (Attributes)	3.44	0.75	3.58	0.66	2.361	0.125
	Idealized influence (Behaviours)	3.80	0.61	3.80	0.60	0.007	0.933
	Inspirational Motivation	3.92	0.80	4.02	0.61	1.128	0.289
	Intellectual Stimulation	3.17	0.82	3.38	0.68	4.700	0.031
	Individual consideration	3.78	0.74	3.77	0.61	0.012	0.913