Abstract
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This study examined the effects of decision-making approaches (DMA) of academic unit managers on the work performance (WP) of academic staff in public universities in Uganda. The study was prompted by the persistent complaints and reports from key stakeholders about the deteriorating quality of teaching, research, and community engagements, despite management efforts to improve the working conditions of the staff in these institutions. This was a mixed-methods study that leaned more towards the quantitative research paradigm. Data were collected from a sample of 287 respondents using survey and interview methods. The collected data were analyzed with the use of appropriate descriptive and inferential statistics as well as the thematic content analysis method. The key study findings revealed, among others, that the use of the democratic decision-making approach had a more significant positive effect on the WP of the academic staff than the delegated and autocratic decision-making approaches. Specifically, the results showed that a unit increase in the use of democratic and delegated DMA yields 19.1% and 5% increases in the WP of academic staff respectively. It was concluded that the use of different DMA has varying effects on the WP of academic staff. Therefore, it was recommended that academic unit managers should be trained and equipped with skills in the use of decision-making approaches that are more inclusive, consultative, collective, and participatory in nature.