PERCEPTION TOWARD LEADER’S CREDIBILITY AND DOMINANT DIMENSION DETERMINATION

Credibility is an important element for leadership. Without credibility, the leader could not influence their follower and lead. This study is to identify the dominant credibility dimension of the leader based on the respondents’ perception. Furthermore, this study also identifies if there is any differences of demographic factors towards the leaders’ credibility. This study involves the final year students at the public university around Terengganu and Kelantan. The three instruments that were used to benchmark the ethos/credibility involve 18 questions with six bipolar adjective by referring to McCroskey Teven, (1999). The data were analysed using the SPSS software. Overall, this study indicates that there is no significant difference within the demographic factor and the perception towards the leaders’ credibility. The study demonstrates that the dominant dimension of credibility is the competency. This study shows that the implication to the aspect of competency should be given more attention in selecting the leader or representative for the election in Malaysia.